Bulging Disc Injury Question

[tdhill87]

- 27, Male, Competitive 242 Powerlifter. Been competing for about 2 years.

- Left Side Glute Pain. It has been diagnosed as a disc injury. Straight leg test is positive. Pain is in glute. Left side. Can't squat without pain. When I do squat my body favors the left side extremely.

- Missed a new Pull PR from 2" Blocks. Roughly 102% of previous max. Assistance for the day was Snatch grip deadlifts off 4" Blocks. Did 70% for a set of 15 and aggravated it then. That is when the troubles started.

- Pain is a 8 in the am, gets better as the day goes on down to like a 3-5
- Dull Pain mostly. Was worse, have self-treated it a little, but it hasn't gotten much better.
- What makes it better? That's what I'm here for.
- What makes it worse? Squatting and deadlifting hurts
- How do your symptoms behave throughout the day? More pain in the am after sleeping, gets better throughout the day.

Any others with these symptoms or bulging disc injuries let me know what you did to get it right. Haven't squatted well for a while now, and am wanting to get back on track ASAP. Life is boring without training.

[PhishyFeat]

I tweaked my back during a clean... Ended up with a bulging/herniated disc. Tried training around it to no avail. The only solution I came up with was to stop lifting altogether for 2 months.

[Calvo]

Spinal decompression--using the ab straps to hang relaxed from a pullup bar for around a minute or two at a time--helped me out a lot when I hurt my back in November. I don't know if I had a disc injury, but people on this site have used it for disc injuries and muscle tears, and probably other stuff too.

[tdhill87]

Bump

[Zach Passman]

tdhill-
I was a competitive lifter for 10 or so years, and have suffered with disc injuries. Not being able to squat or deadlift without pain is very frustrating. My injuries were accumulated from many years of squatting poorly, and learning to use my ass when I squat has been a big help. I didn't find much relief using decompression, but I DID find much relief with the reverse hyper machine.
I train in my garage, and built a reverse hyper platform to install in my rack. It cost about $50 in materials, and was very easy to build.
Additionally, I used hip thrusts with a barbell and glute bridges to help "activate" my glutes. That kind of business is frowned upon here, but I found it beneficial. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss.
Good luck,
Zach