Squatting After Spinal Laminectomy

[Joshua Denny]

Rip,

I had a spinal laminectomy last year, April 27th, 2012 to be precise. It was done to six vertebrae in the cervical to thoracic area (sorry I don't have the numbers) to remove a cancerous tumor. There were/are other tumors in the upper cervical and lumbar areas that were not surgically removed, but were treated with radiation. At the one year mark my MRIs show the other tumors are under control, but still there, most likely scar tissue now.

After the surgery they told me no roller coasters, no wrestling, fighting, etc. So here I am 14 months later and trying to get my strength back up and stay in the gym.

I would like your opinion if you have one on if there is an issue with squats after this procedure or if my vertebrae are more or less normal now? Of course my dr. can't understand why I want to squat heavy weights so he cautions against it. My strength is abysmal compared to before cancer and I have gone back to working out but figured I would seek your input.

Thanks for your time.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I have had no experience with this extensive a remodel. My advice would be to start very light and add weight as you can. Standard deal.

[VTXDave]

I have had a laminectomy and discectomy at L5-S1. My family doctor and surgeon told me to not do any barbell training ever again. One year out I began with an empty bar and have been back at it for over three years now with no regrets. My pain specialist actually encouraged me to keep lifting even though my other doctors had said not to. If you get back into it, start light, listen to your body and never be afraid to drop poundage to work on form, and do not worry about how fast your rate of progress measures against that of others.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I trained a spine surgeon (61 yo IIRC) who had a laminectomy of L5-S1. Got him up to 275 x 5 x 3. I decided he didn't need to deadlift anymore after he got up to 300 x 5 and kept tweaking his back doing other shit.

[Joshua Denny]

Thanks for the replies. I have been easing back into it and have worked up to 145 so far. A far cry from the 315 before all this shit but one day at a time. Figured the standard work into it slowly applied but wanted to make sure it wasn't a procedure that never fully healed or something. My logic was that bone heals so at some point it would be close to normal. After a year plus my logic was that it was long enough. The doctor told me it will always show up different on an x-ray, in that you'll always be able to see which ones were cut, but that it would heal.

[Mark Rippetoe]

It heals, but it doesn't grow back. You understand that, right?

[Joshua Denny]

In all honesty I am not completely clear on what the healing process is. At the time, keeping me from being paralyzed & treating the cancer was most of what was on my mind. Now that I am trying to get back to normal I am trying to make sense of it all. All of my Dr visits since the 8 week post-op have been with the oncologist, so he hasn't been much help (understandably) with the neurology part. No information I have found on my own has addressed the bone healing part of recovery, just stages of post-op and shortly thereafter.

So if you are familiar with the healing from a procedure like this I would be very greatful to hear it. I broke my femur years ago & it is probably stronger than the other but realize in this instance bone was removed.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I am not familiar with the details of bone remodeling in this particular situation. Perhaps Sully can add the details. If not, I'll make some calls.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

I am not familiar with the details of bone remodeling in this particular situation. Perhaps Sully can add the details. If not, I'll make some calls.

I have no expertise in this area. I'll just reiterate what Rip said: the bone heals, but it doesn't grow back. You'll form some fibrous scar where the laminae were, which will protect the canal and its contents. And all the muscles, including the erectors and their attachments, are still there. But the spinal laminae were resected. They're gone.

I would assume that careful, progressive overload would not be a problem in this situation. But as far as I know, it's not described in the literature in any systematic way.

[cully]

I had a microdiskectomy/laminectomy at L5-S1 and returned to heavy squatting and deadlifting, but it took time. Since then I also had knee surgery, but before my knee surgery I was squatting over 315x5x5 and deadlifting over 350x5x5, don't remember exact numbers because it was a year ago for the knee surgery. Right now, i am easily squating 250x5 and deadlifting 350x5 and neither has any impact on my back, my only restriction now is knee pain.

This may seem against all common wisdom, but what I did was light weight, high volume work. 5 sets of 10 reps, 2x per week. I also purchased a 45 degree back extension bench and did 3 sets of 10 as a warmup before every workout and after this got easy i did sets of 10 all throughout every workout, between sets. I never even counted sets, but i would guess that I did more than 10 sets per workout.

The weight bearing part of your spine has not been compromised, so I can't understand why you shouldn't be able lift normally. But your situation sounds pretty extensive and maybe you could ask for a referral to a sports therapist. In your situation, leg pressing is not gay.