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Thread: Herniated Discs and Starting Strength

  1. #11
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    I started at 95 pounds for 3 sets of 20. I probably did that for a week to ten days, then increased 10 pounds per week, still doing 3 sets of 20 every day until I got to 135. Like I said, that's when I had to drop the volume some. It's also probably about when I started squatting very light weights again. I had the same experience in that the light deadlifts relieved a lot of the sciatica I was experiencing.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by RyanWhittemore View Post
    I had the same injury, also from getting out of position on a deadlift. My injury occurred on May 2nd of this year. The doctor gave me the same gloom and doom. She said MAYBE after 8-9 months I'd be ready to start doing some lifting again. After consulting with Rip, I immediately started decompressing my spine by hanging from two weightlifting belts on a pullup bar several times a day. Two weeks after my injury, he had me start deadlifting 95lbs for 3 sets of 20. It really sucked that it was actually difficult to do! It took about a month before I could squat without pretty severe sciatica. Now, just over 3 months later I am at 95% of my previous deadlift, and 90% of my previous squat. My press and bench have gone way up as well. I will say that now that I am approaching the weights I could handle before, it is a bit of a mental game. I'm keeping the jumps pretty small, but overall I'm feeling really good. So based on my experience, yes you can start a linear progression again immediately.
    Quote Originally Posted by RyanWhittemore View Post
    I put the belts up into my armpits and then held onto the bar. I tried to relax and blow out all of my air. I would hang for 15-30 seconds probably. I'd do that between each deadlift set, and maybe a couple of additional times per day. Occasionally, my lumbar vertebrae would 'crack' and scare the hell out of me, but it provided great relief from the sciatica. As for deadlifts, I did them every day at first. It wasn't too long before I started raising the weight and reducing the volume. I'd have to check my log, but once I got over 135 I think I went down to 10 reps, and soon after that went down to 5 reps in a normal linear progression. The idea with the high volume initially was that since I couldn't load the injury with heavy weight, I needed to load it with high volume. Like I said before, the squat took a lot longer. I tried to squat just a bar at two weeks as well, but the sciatic pain was pretty bad, and very intense the next day. It took a few weeks of decompression and deadlifts before I was ready to do much else. I was very happy with the results. I hope it works well for you.
    Quote Originally Posted by RyanWhittemore View Post
    I started at 95 pounds for 3 sets of 20. I probably did that for a week to ten days, then increased 10 pounds per week, still doing 3 sets of 20 every day until I got to 135. Like I said, that's when I had to drop the volume some. It's also probably about when I started squatting very light weights again. I had the same experience in that the light deadlifts relieved a lot of the sciatica I was experiencing.
    Well I am glad to hear you are back to almost 100%, it gives me some hope. My injury occurred in the first week of May as well. I meant to initially ask you, did you stopped pressing, cleaning, and benching until you were able to squat comfortably again?

  3. #13
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    Deadlifts seem to just make my sciatica worse In fact it's one of the few movement patterns that does.

  4. #14
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    I most definitely stopped pressing and cleaning. I've only just started cleaning again recently. I never stopped benching, and I got back to pressing very light weights about the same time I started squatted again. Chins and Dips were no problem either.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by RyanWhittemore View Post
    I most definitely stopped pressing and cleaning. I've only just started cleaning again recently. I never stopped benching, and I got back to pressing very light weights about the same time I started squatted again. Chins and Dips were no problem either.
    Interesting, well I can Clean fine, but Squatting more than 135 hurts. Well we all have to find our paths I guess. I'll work cautiously with what I can and eventually add Squats. Thank you for all the info.

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by JB1981 View Post
    Deadlifts seem to just make my sciatica worse In fact it's one of the few movement patterns that does.
    From all I have read all this weeks, stretching before deadlifting may help. And of course strengthening with other lifts and time will also eventually help it heal. Don't give up on deadlifting.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cambero View Post
    From all I have read all this weeks, stretching before deadlifting may help. And of course strengthening with other lifts and time will also eventually help it heal. Don't give up on deadlifting.
    I had herniated l5 s1 a while back and ended up with sciatica, which lasted 6 months before starting to get better. I attribute the lack of positive response initially to not ever taking a substantial break from lifting, running, sports (judo). At great length I saw I wasn't getting better and took about 3 months off completely, and then was able to work back in slowly squats and deads pain-free.

    I waited until I was actually pain free before starting lifting again. For therapy I had just walking, McKenzie extensions, and ibuprofen at prescription doeses, and during that time also had a 14 day prescription of prednisone which seemed to have the biggest effect on the pain before/after. I think during that time I was also doing front planks fairly often.

    After those 3 rest months I ended up spending about 2 months doing '531' at somewhat low for me training maxes, which ends up being a main lift a day 4 times a week with fairly high reps. After that I was pretty sure I wasn't ready to break in half, having no pain, and then went back to linear progression. Since then was able to get back to over my previous levels in most things.

    More than anything I'd say use your common sense...if you get the feeling your sciatica is not improving or getting worse, and you notice the weeks/months going by. It's time to change something, which is probably taking a break. I feel like I wasted so much time because I refused to take any time off, which if I had just done earlier I would have been recovered in the long run much sooner. It can be pretty discouraging to have daily pain for months on end, so don't be too stubborn if you gut is telling you what you're doing isn't working.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roy View Post
    More than anything I'd say use your common sense...if you get the feeling your sciatica is not improving or getting worse, and you notice the weeks/months going by. It's time to change something, which is probably taking a break. I feel like I wasted so much time because I refused to take any time off, which if I had just done earlier I would have been recovered in the long run much sooner. It can be pretty discouraging to have daily pain for months on end, so don't be too stubborn if you gut is telling you what you're doing isn't working.
    Yes, use your common sense, very good advice, everyone's injury, daily life, and recovery is different. For example, in my case, deadlifting actually helps with the pain, so I'll cautiously do a linear progression with deadlifts. Squats are another story, I need to give them more time.

  9. #19
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    I also have a similar injury, though it was not as severe and I have not had an sciatica. Did you guys keep squatting low bar or did you switch to high bar? And did start using a belt for all weights?

  10. #20
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    starting strength coach development program
    No sciatica here also, at the very least anything that even resembled one was helped by the Chiropractor. I am doing low bar squats 3x5, started with only the bar and increasing 10 pounds each workout; been careful, going below parallel (of course) but not too deep.
    Last edited by Cambero; 08-20-2011 at 11:35 PM.

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