cod.peace

I herniated my L5-S1 disc two weeks ago. That disc has given me trouble off and on for years and the volume of yard work this spring did it in. The house we bought last year was greatly neglected, when I say "yard work" I mostly mean "clearing the land". While the acute pain has (mostly) receded, my left leg and foot have significant numbness, likely due to the disc impinging the sciatic nerve. I attempted a very short (~1 mile) test ride on my 'bent the other day and called it quits. It didn't hurt but with the left leg putting out about 50% of its usual strength the right was overworked and that knee started aching.

So...an MRI is being scheduled and I've asked my MD for a referral to a sports medicine specialist. With lower back injuries the MDs seem to declare victory if the patient can do office work and watch American Idol without pain. My fitness goals are rather more ambitious than that, although I can accept that I will probably not be doing the heavy deadlifting/squats I did until about 8 years ago. I shouldn't have stopped - back then my back felt great!

Anyway, the cycling is out for now so I will work on getting some gentle swimming in while continuing with the docs. I had high hopes for good mileage in 2010.

CPFITNESS

" I shouldn't have stopped - back then my back felt great!"

Your exactly right, you don't just build legs doing those exercises, it takes a huge amount of core recruitment. When your back gets back to a level where you can move around again you need to get back into doing a proper strength training program. The fact that your looking for a sports med specialist is the way to go. You'll probably never get back to lifting heavy, but you don't need to. Just getting people to do bodyweight squats with correct form can go a LONG way to resolving back issues.

cod.peace

I used to be pretty pleased with my 340 lb good mornings too! Oh well. These days I'd rather work on charging up hills on the bike anyway. I've got some other weights left over from that period - some kettlebells and a sandbag. My goal is to be able to use those more moderate weights in workouts, which when applied properly results in plenty of strength for anything I'm likely to do with my body.

CACycling

I did that last year but mine was a mild herniation. I tried riding the next day and made it 5 miles before the pain won out. Problem was I couldn't get off the bike. Had to spread my legs as wide as I could and drop my bike (NDS down) to the floor to dismount.

My chiropractor had me back riding a week later with minimal pain but it took a while to get distance built up.

I've had back issues for years but this was by far the worst pain my back had ever given me. I am much more careful with twisting and lifting now.

Wogster

If you have to clear a piece of land bigger then about 1 square metre, it's time to call in heavy equipment, it's probably cheaper. I was off from did April until the beginning of June -- Hernia, and it sucks big time, surgeon said I'll probably blow out the other side going back to work in 2 weeks, not something I look forward to.

TrojanHorse

I dug my last fence post 3 years ago... with a broken foot (didn't realize it at the time, how pathetic is that)

I'm with wogster, I'm never digging another one without renting equipment.

Good luck with your back. I gave up heavy lifting years ago, my joints just can't take it anymore.

cod.peace

The 'brush pile' now dwarfs the minivan. And there's still more to go, I expect it to at least double in size before we're done and I call in someone to chip it. I'm starting to re-think my luddite approach to yard work a bit...perhaps a decent small gas chainsaw would be a good investment next spring. The digging bar and nursery shovel I bought a few months ago saved a vast amount of labor for stump removal, but clearly carrying the damn giant stumps around the yard to the pile helped lead to my current predicament. A smarter man would have used a wheelbarrow.

TrojanHorse

Screw that, a smarter man would have hired it out!