Disc Injury

[Chickma2]

I suffered a disc injury the other day picking something up and twisting awkwardly at home (had an exceptionally shitty round back set of 5 deadlifts at 400 lbs 2 days prior, which may have contributed).

Anyway, now, my spine is very crooked due to the injury, and it's very painful. My whole body is shifted to the right, which is common with a disc injury according to online research. This has happened to me once before also.

I've been doing some Mackenzie lateral glide exercises to try to straighten it (suggested by John Hanley last time this happened), and otherwise just trying to walk a lot and hang in traction.

My question is, I had been hitting PRs on every lift recently, and I'm stubborn as hell, and don't want to have to take a major reset once I can tolerate lifting. Once my spine straightens out and I can perform the movements again, Id like to just jump back to the weights I was at (405 deadlift, 415 squat, 315 bench, 202.5 press) or take a very small reset.

Is this possible, or completely unsafe? Should I start really light and work my way back up? Also any similar experiences or recovery tips for this type of injury are appreciated.

I'm 28, 6'3, 250 lbs.

[Michael Wolf]

First to clear it up: there may be some esoteric PT expertise I'm unaware of here, but I don't think your spine is now crooked due to your injury. I think you may be holding it in an awkward, bent position to avoid pain, but I really don't think the structure of your spinal lateral curvatures changes due to a disc injury. The key thing here, I think, is if you are doing that, to stop holding it in that crooked way just as absolutely soon as possible, so it doesn't become your embedded pattern.

That said, I don't recommend being overly aggressive on your return. It's the easiest way to re-tweak something before it's fully healed, a mistake I've made myself several times, and seen others make innumerable times.

On the other hand however, you don't need to start really light and slowly work your way back up once you really do feel fine. Instead, start light the first time to make sure and test it out and see how it feels both during and after the workout (and the next day) is a good first step. Then do another workout, heavier, but not immediately back to old working weight, and make the same evaluations. Then if you're fine, go back up in bigger jumps so you're there quickly. If you're not fine yet then you've just saved yourself a lot of potential trouble. Then you stay light, or wait longer altogether, as symptoms dictate.

I am absolutely NOT saying these are the exact #s you'll use, but just an illustrative example.

First workout back: 95x5, 135x5, 185x5 - all feels ok during, all feels ok after.
Next workout, a couple days later: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5 - all feels ok during and after.
Assuming everything continues to feel fine,
Next workouts: 275x5, 315x5, 355x5, 385x5, 405x5 - or something like that, with appropriate reduction in DL frequency as the weight goes back up towards your old working weight.

[Chickma2]

Thanks for the detailed response! I agree about the spine, the crookedness is a compensation for pain. However, it is interesting because no matter how hard I try to stand up straight I can't do it after this type of injury. The lateral glide exercise is incredibly painful but does straighten it out quite nicely.

Anyways, my recovery has been remarkable and much faster than last time this happened. I've been trying to walk as much as possible, and did some light prowler pushing standing straight up, and hanging in traction. I think now that I am strong, I recovered much better than when I was weak.

Tomorrow I will take your advice and start light and see how I feel.

[jbackos]

Not to be a pain in the butt but how do you know it was a disc injury? Did you get an MRI diagnosis?

I'm not a dr. but I've dealt with this type of tweak a number of times and each time it was a muscle spasm. The muscles on the side of the "injury" will tighten up to avoid further injury. I use heat and NSAID's for a few days. I'm usually back to pull strength in a few weeks.

[John Petrizzo]

It actually is not uncommon for people to display what McKenzie refers to as a "lateral shift" in their spine following an acute disc injury. The thought process is that the shift is an attempt to avoid compressing the disc in the area of the bulge/herniation. The McKenzie lateral glide exercises that you are doing will work really well to help correct the issue. As soon as you can tolerate it, I would get back under the bar but as Wolf suggested, be conservative. You are asking for another injury or tweak and more lost training time if you try and jump back in right at your old numbers. I think Wolf's advice is pretty much spot on.

Good luck with your recovery.

[Chickma2]

Thanks for the great responses, very helpful. I started back where I was with bench and press and had no pain setting PRs. I just started squatting again today, and worked up to a set of 5 of 225 and same with deadlift. Some slight discomfort on squat so I stopped there. I squat in front of a mirror at my gym (no other choice) and when I unracked the bar on 225, I noticed that it looked like my spine was crooked again, whereas when I was standing it appears to be straight. This actually was something I noticed before the injury and have noticed for a few years. My hips seem level when standing but when I unrack a heavy weight, my left hip always seems to be slightly higher than my right, making my body look uneven in the mirror. And consistent with that, on the descent, my right side feels lower than my left.

I've squatted with this feeling for many years and heavy, with minimal to no pain, but I'd like to know why this is happening, as it is probably not good. I don't think it's leg length, as I've asked a few doctors to check that (they may not have known what they were doing), and they said they were even, and like I said I look even when standing.

Any idea why this is happening and how to fix it going forward? I can post a squat video from the front next time if that would help.

[Michael Wolf]

A video would probably be good, and I'll see if Dr. Pretrizzo can check back in as he will have some more insight here than I do, but if it's not leg length, then my next guess would be an uneven pelvis.

[Alexander Dargatz]

I just want to chime in here regarding getting back to your previous working weights, because of this statement:

had an exceptionally shitty round back set of 5 deadlifts at 400 lbs 2 days prior

Maybe you should evaluate your form on deadlift, and if you're using optimal weights. Continued progression in the weight might have led to form creep.

I personally would not do a full set of 5 with a shitty round back. If you start to round your back, and you can't force yourself to keep it locked the next rep with more effort and focus, leave it. It's not a competition effort, it's training.

Speedy recovery!

[Chickma2]

Hey guys. Sorry this took so long, but the recovery has been slower than expected. Anyway, here is a video from behind and a few from the front. This might be a more serious issue than I thought. There is some weird uneven hips / twisting / leg length issues and I have no idea what they are, but they have been going on for a while. I always (ALWAYS) have a "tight" low right back. I know my knees are a little loose also. Also I have horrifically flat feet if that's pertinent. Let me know your thoughts, I'm pretty frustrated I can't figure this one out.

Back view: YouTube

Front view:
YouTube (workset)
YouTube (Warmup)

[stef]

Maybe start with trying a shim.

See: Leg Length Discrepancy