Lower Back Injury MRI Results

[Jstrause]

My apologies, I thought that you were being sarcastic in response to my earlier post about core strengthening.

I am very familiar with this model as it's what is primarily taught in physical therapy school. I'm glad it's worked well for you but I have not experienced the same results.

[reckless]

I'm surprised the PT thought about the issue as much as he/she did. After meniscal tear knee surgery, the most my PT wanted me to do was absolutely unweighted range of motion "moves" for months. I told him I wanted to squat. The look on his face was as if I'd killed his pet. Emotional, offended, hurt and mouth agape. I am not a doctor nor professional in the field of medicine or rehabilitation. My comments should not be construed as advice. I only pass along my thoughts as what I might do and what my experiences have been.

First of all, I'm fearful of an MRI on my back because I think my report might look like yours. Any time I tweak my back, I find that squats with the 45lb bar are the very first thing to do. I avoid acute pain but as soon as I can do the bar without acute pain, I am on it. Add weight slowly.

This morning I could not navigate stairs normally due to bad ankle sprain and knee problems (recent meniscus repair). (I chronicle my ankle sprain with an attempt at levity in another thread). I got in the cage with just the bar today and pulled off 5 reps with no acute pain. I added 50 (2 25's) then replaced the 25's with 45's. 5 reps with each. I decided to leave good enough alone for today. I don't count this as a workout and feel like I could do that daily or even multiple times per day. I am now navigating stairs. I feel like I must sound like an idiot because I almost don't believe it myself (every time I'm recovering). The advice on this site (Bill Starr Injury Protocol) for recovering from injuries is borderline magic. Don't get me wrong, my knee and ankle are still not perfect but they are far more usable with less pain.

thanks for the reply...Even my PT had a similar reaction when i told him i want to deadlift and advised me against it. He asked me not to do any physical activity till 4-6 weeks. i followed his advise for 6 weeks during which i also started getting tingling numbness, so i thought if resting and those core exercises he prescribed aren't making things better so i should start lifting.

Glad the star protocol is working for you ....even I used it after 6 weeks to gradually get back, starting with a light 7 kg bar and increasing the weight 5 kg every day resting after 2-3 days i got upto 65kg in about 2-3 weeks. I stopped increasing the weight further because this numbness/tingling in my groin area wouldn't go away and from what ive read star protocolt is for muscle belly injuries and my symptoms are now related more to sciatica and nerves.

In my experience (I am also a PT) most people tend to respond better to lumbar extension movements (deadlifting) with these types of issues. If you are able to deadlift without drastically increasing the symptoms then I see no reason for you to stop with your LP. If you told me you finished a set of 5 and walked away with a drop foot, then I would be concerned. I would just make sure you are extra vigalent about your form to avoid any lumbar flexion throughout the pull or other lifts - maybe a form check from a SSC would be beneficial?

As far as the PT and the doc recommending "core strengthening", this is just the default recommendation when they do not know what to do about your problem. They are just hoping you take a few weeks of doing absolutely nothing (glute squeezes, transverse abdominus exercises, clamshells etc.) and you just get better on your own. This is why most PT is worthless and it has the reputation that it does.

There was an excellent podcast episode about a year ago that spoke to a military member who went through something similar and rehabbed with barbell exercises. Might be a good listen to give you some more info and reassurance.

thanks for the reply...i read the article of the military member u mentioned it was very motivating....my only worry is this dull numbness / tingling in my right side of my groin, edge of my dick and balls. it goes from here down to my quad, knee upto the sole of my big toe. i know that it isn't solely because of deadlifts or my form as any activity even slow walking makes it happen. even if i do free squats, planks or the deadlift action without the bar this starts.

pain wise...deadlifts are fine. just lots of stiffness on the right back muscles which happens even if i dont do anything and just hyper extend my back while standing. so should i take the weight up regardless of these symptoms..my plan is to go upto 80 this month and to 100 the next.

the PT did made me do all these exercises u mentioned (glute squeezes, transverse abdominus exercises, clamshells) now this new PT on seeing my MRI says since the disc protrusions is posterior i should avoid all lumbar extension based movements and focus on flexion based core stability while lying down

I highly recommend the McGill Big 3

thanks...have already done / been doing the 1st 3 exercises ... will give the 4th (stir the pot) a try

[reckless]

oh and btw...the mri was done only last week that is after i had gone through the PT rehab and after 3 weeks of deadlifting

[Jstrause]

I can understand how the numbers/tingling can be concerning and uncomfortable. My thought would be if you're not getting worsening neurological symptoms then I would continue training and make adjustments if there was something that you could not tolerate.

Since getting in the normal deadlift position causes numbness/tingling, maybe try rack pulls for a few weeks to allow that nerve root to calm down? Or high bar squat instead of low bar for a bit if the low bar back position causes symptoms to increase.