I've had herniated discs for a while, mostly around the c4-c5, c5-c6 area. I do what I can at the gym multiple times per week, combining my upper body workouts with physical therapy exercises that I've done thoroughout the last few years. I also do a cervical traction device once or twice a day. I don't feel like I'm making enough progress always though. My muscles in the neck area are a bit weak and it's frustrating at times to deal with chronic pain and also work out to improve my body. Does anyone have any sort of unique combination they do to strengthen the muscles without damaging or harming anything? I'm a little scared of Yoga or trying new things. I also do cardio workouts a few times a week to balance my workouts with not too much upper body stuff. I don't take much medicine. Just ibuprofen or tylenol occasionally. I use BioFreeze periodically. I stretch 3 times a day for about 10-15 mins using specific neck stretches from my PT. I take a muscle relaxant at night. I'm thinking about a C5-C6 disc replacement as well this year. Kind of rambling, but wanted to ask everyone here since I figure more than a few of you playing sports have had some kinda issues disc wise, injury wise, etc. Also, does anyone have any really good symptom relief techniques or devices they use? The biggest thing for me isn't putting in the work, it's being too sore after and discouraged that I don't have any kidn of muscle tension or ache relief.
Have you tried a chiropractor? Theyve done wonders for my neck and back! However that pesky sciatica keeps cominh back..
To be honest I don't know much about the neck because my problem is lower back. Drink more water. You might want take a break from working out and doing things that put a strain on your neck. Drink more water. Get a better pillow. Drink more water.
Right now, I do the following: 1) YTI's (a PT exercise I was shown) , about twice a week at the gym. With 5 lb weights 2) Rows w/ a black resistance band. Pull down towards my hips, pulling in towards shoulders, pull outward towards chest. 3) AB machine (the little torso twist machine, around 130 lb) 4) back extension machine (around 210 lbs) 5) cervical traction in the mornings, around 17 lbs, 15-20 mins. 6) stretching 3 times a day 7) shooting hoops or fat burning on treadmill about 2-3 times a week. coupled with the upper body stuff 2 times a week.
the c5-c6 disc is "touching" the spinal cord. so eventually a disc replacement I think. I'm in progress w/ this one and consulting some neurosurgeons. I can still do most everything working out wise except heavy weights I'd say.
Sounds like you need a different PT...you're not doing any soft tissue work? Myofascial release? Stretching won't cut it. This workout isn't very good..it's not surprising that you're not feeling better.
Not to take away your fun but I don't think you need to be shooting hoops or any kind of running. Take it easy.
I feel your pain. Just has spinal fusion surgery yesterday. Chronic lower back pain due to a herniated disk and degeneration. Mine was l5/s1 though so I don't think my advice would benefit you, but I did months or pt, chiropractic care, and epidural injections. You seem to be working out quite a bit for chronic pain and herniation. Maybe you should scale back and focus on stretching and strengthening core. I had to have the surgery after years of flair ups and eventually got to the point where I couldn't even jog. Haven't been able to exercise since March. I had surgery yesterday morning and I feel absolutely amazing. I did anterior lumbar fusion/diskectomy so they went in through the front, that's my only pain, the incision in the abs. Best of Luck to you! Back pain is a b****...
For sure, that's how I reaggrevated mine. I don't understand how you're able to be so active with such a condition.
I've been doing this for a while now though. And my PT said it was fine for me to workout, shoot hoops. Usually I'm doing just that... shooting. Games from time to time. As far as cardio, that's for the weight loss so I don't carry around so much for my neck.
well i think thye're mostly referring to being careful since the spine is a sensitive area and sudden movements may aggravate the disc.. But also consider that usually the herniation is going to happen because of a sudden incident or over time because of poor movement.....considering that it's cervical...my guess is it developed over time, which means your movement is compromised. already. In order to reverse that, you need to try to move better a lot more than you move wrong, in order for it stick. so that means alotof corrective work and movements in a controlled environment, so you know it's good...if you're doing sports though, those are quick movements that are mostly ingrained reflexes..so you risk reverting back to the bad patterns of movement. So you could kind of say that it can cancel out whatver corrective work youre doing.
RV6 really summed it up. Running, jumping, and basically anything that would have your head bouncing around are all things that can make your problem worse.
Gotcha. That helps me to understand much more. Yeah it was caused by I'd say 3 accidents over the course of like 2005 to 2009-2010. At least I THINK it was. I honestly didn't think any of them were that bad you know? But the docs have said that even a minor accident can put a pretty good amount of force on discs. I think I'm going back to my PT that I did some work with in July and do from time to time. Ask him about everything I do including shooting hoops, treadmill at an incline (for fat burning), and some of my stretches that I don't know if they compromise my cervical spine. Thanks Noted, I'll remember that as well!
I only say so out of experience, but every injury is different. I kept trying to return to the court too early and it really ended up destroying my disk. Its one thing to do yoga, light lifting, aquatic exercises and such, but to do impact sports and heavy weight training just seems like it would put a lot of strain on your injuries. But you know your body better than anyone else.
Could be a combination..like having bad movement/poor posture and then you have an accident, so it screws up the disc because your body wasn't up to the task of protecting/bracing itself. And you should probably stop using the treadmill....your mechanics change some when using a treadmill because you're not really pushing off the same way off the ground, as you would normally, since the belt is moving. if you're interested...check out neurokinetic therapy on IG under david weinstock...the Myodetox staff pages might also be helpful...as well as Functional Patterns, although they can be aggressive with their marketing and some people odnt like it, they are good and have tons of videos on Youtube.
