Even after ten plus years of chronic back pain and a history of physical trauma that likely started and fueled it, this diagnosis has let me feeling very discouraged, but I cling to my progress. So far, I have avoided injections and surgery by starting my healing process with 5 days on muscle relaxers and a 7-day oral steroid pack. That gave my body the relaxation needed to simply begin laying down comfortably in the McKenzie Method poses.

I am an avid recreational equestrian and have been able to ride occasionally. I find that bending over and lifting heavy objects tends to set me back a bit. I am supported by a wonderful partner who spent about two weeks initially helping me with normal activities as simply getting out of bed was a struggle.

Long car rides, bike riding, and sitting/standing for prolonged periods absolutely worsen my condition. I have gained hope from self MFR treatment, largely focused on releasing the psoas, with a 4-inch soft ball. My PCP also shared that she has avoided surgery on four disc herniations. She suggested an inversion table.

I appreciate what everyone else has shared and hope that this may also help someone else. A big thank you you Brittany for the original post. Like her, I currently spend several hours each day on rehab strategies/self-treatment.

I have a bulging disc at L5-S1. I am very proactive with my injury, seeking out as many perspectives/opinions as I can. I saw the exercises that you do on a daily basis, however, most of the hyperlinks no longer work. I wanted to know if you have made an updated stretching/exercise routine. No worries if you have not. Thanks!

Best,

Matt

An update on my case one year later. I ended up having the surgery at the end of April 2015. If I would have been seeing ANY type of progress I wouldn’t have done the surger, but I was getting weaker and feeling more pain, numbness on a daily basis. I would have to sit down after walking for 5-10 minutes and it ruined my 2014-15 ski season and our spring break — which was the last straw for me. Even though the science shows that eventually your body will absorb the intrusion, I unfortunately wasn’t one of the lucky ones where that happens early on. I didn’t want to live like that for the next 6-8 years and run the risk of permanent nerve damage.

So nearly a year later I’m pretty happy with my decision. They fused my L5-S1 and replaced my disc with an artificial sponge. The recovery has been a series of highs and lows. First couple weeks were really tough, as expected after major surgery, but I made good progress every day. By 3 weeks I was out walking a 2-3 miles a day. Months 2-3 were really promising and I was really committed to doing the PT and walking 5-7 miles every day. I thought I’d be back in full health by month 6 (Tiger Woods thought the same thing). Then reality set in when I went back to work full time. Progress and activity slowed down to a halt, and I had a few set backs of more pain then normal. Between months 4-8 I really questioned whether the surgery worked and if I’d be back out on the mountain any time this year. But once ski season started coming around and we booked a few trips I pushed myself to be more active during the week and go out there on the mountain as many days as I could. The first few days were a real struggle. Leg strength was totally gone and every jiggle and bump seem to radiate up my spine. I couldn’t make it a quarter way down a green without stopping and I probably looked horrible trying to keep my body clinched. I was with my 6 yr old so it wasn’t a big deal and I was happy just being out there with her, but I knew I needed to ease myself back into skiing shape. By Day 6 or 7 I was pushing more, doing a few harder runs on my own but taking my time, soaking in the tub at night to keep any swelling down, stretching, etc. Now by day 20 I’m able to charge relatively hard, chase the powder stashes, and haven’t had any type of real back pain to mention. As I type this sitting down in my office, I can still feel the little knot in my lower back and buttocks, but it’s nothing compared to this time last year and it is no longer holding me back. The doc said that the 2 years of nerve compression, may require up to 2 years of non-compression for the body to go back to “normal”. Not sure I remember “normal”, but I’m in better shape then I was a year go so for me it was worth the pain of getting to this point. I sincerely hope for everyone that their body can resolve it naturally through PT, exercise, stretching! Best of luck!

This past October (2015) I herniated L5S1 while moving some large rounds of wood. I have had slight recurring back issues off and on since 1986, but I always resolved these with some simple stretches and decompression exercises. This time, I had a pain that dropped me to my knees in tears and fear. I did not go to any doctors, as I felt this would go away. I had a bit of slight issue with my bladder, and some serious numbing and tingling down my right side, calf, and outside of right foot. I could barely walk. I did extension exercises, used ice and got a prescription of 500 mg Naproxen that I took 4 times per day. After a month, the nerves settled down and I was able to walk about two miles. In December, I finally went to see my MD and we had an xray taken of my lumbar region. You could clearly see that my L4-L5-S1 complex was screwed up. This lead to an MRI that took another month to wait for. In the meantime, I increased my daily walking to 2-3 miles and cross-country skied twice per week. I could tele-turn to the right, but their was no way I could pressure my right foot and make a left-turn arc.

The 3-Tesla MRI was done in Medford, OR and the results devastated me! If anyone would like to see the MRI’s send me an email at lognotrees@yahoo.com and I will send you two views. You will wonder how any signal can get out of my back. The blown out L5S1 cuts off nearly 80% of my spinal nerve route! The next step was to see a neurosurgeon, This took another month (late February, 2016.) He felt that I really needed to have the protrusion and other material removed from around the spinal nerve bundle. He offered no other options. The truth is that I was getting better and it had been 14 weeks since the injury. My bladder symptoms had abated, and I mostly had

I went home and thought about surgery for a week and decided I would put a bit more effort into my own recovery. I picked up my walking and hiking to 4-6 miles four times per week. I do stretches and extensions twice a day. My nerves burn and tingle, and my feet go numb, but I am getting better without surgery. I tried a bit of AT skiing on Mount McLoughlin this past weekend and did a pretty good job at faking technique. I don’t know what the future will bring. What I do know is that when I blew out L4L5 in 1986, I got 30 more years of a good life before this latest S1 issue. In fact, the recent MRI shows a bulge at L4L5, but the protrusion and massive herniation from 1986 is completely gone. It was absorbed. Amazing!

I am going to keep living with my pain and nerve issues and give this current problem three more months. As long as I keep gaining slowly, I am going to forego surgery. Some days are really bad, but when I think back to early October, I have made great progress.

I wanted to share this as there is plenty of research now that suggests if one can tolerate a bit of pain and weakness, there is excellent hope for those of us with massive disc herniations. Surgery is not necessarily the best option. As always, everyone’s mileage will vary, but take the time to do some research.

Thanks for letting me share this. Maybe my long comment will help others.