car5car

Moderators, please delete the thread.

Trakhak

As long as you're fit enough and not much over your healthy weight, cycling (in a leaned-over position that gently stretches your spine, relieving pressure on the discs) might be one of the few exercises available to you that would be safe and comfortable for your back.

I traumatized some discs in my lower back many years ago---and then did it again, very painfully, a couple of months ago. This time, I could barely move, let alone walk, for the first couple of weeks.

But once I was able to hobble around, I went back to riding my bike. That became a largely pain-free oasis during days that were otherwise not much fun. I'm almost completely recovered now, and I suspect that riding the bike helped my recovery.

Possibly relevant: all my bikes are set up with clamp-on aero bars, so I tend to ride in a flatter-backed position than most people. May have helped, doesn't seem to have hurt.

10 Wheels

Try some Vitamin B-12 for Pain.
It works for me.

rydabent

If you want to continue to cycle there is probably a solution to your back problem that many people have found that works. But Im not allowed to use the word ********* on this forum. Maybe some one else could.

Carbonfiberboy 

Click on this: Any old guys here doing strength training?

It's never too late.

Start doing 3 X 30 at the gym (3 sets of 30 reps, all sets same weight in each exercise), in this order: barbell squats (full depth), seated rows, back extensions, leg sled, bench press, one-legged calf raises (unweighted), plank, stiff-legged deadlift, lat pull-downs. Do that for a full year, twice a week, gradually increasing the weights. If the 45# barbell is too heavy for 30 reps, start with unweighted squats, then do goblet squats with a dumbbell.

The next year, decrease reps to 20, adding weight. After that, you'll be good to do anything you want in the gym. It's a slow process, but that's the whole idea - and it works. Consistency is everything. Really, you don't want to be using a walker in a few years.

The standard road bike position, back at about 45°, is a good position for the spine. Though riding won't make your spine any stronger, it will strengthen your back muscles. Holding the spine in column is most of the battle and that requires strong back muscles.

MoAlpha

Spine imaging does not correlate very well with symptomatology, except when there is specific nerve root or spinal cord involvement. I would venture a guess that virtually everyone reading this has some lumbar spine degeneration. To take an admittedly extreme example, my spine looks absolutely horrible and I ride 14 hrs a week (with 4” of drop) and no pain. By contrast, of many people with mild or minimal changes on imaging are crippled with very real back pain. I saw countless numbers of them as a neurology resident.

Polaris OBark

A recumbent might be an ideal solution in this case.

(I hope you are making a joke. If you are genuinely being prevented from using the word "recumbent", that solution is vastly worse than any problem you created that it was designed to solve.)

zandoval 

X-Ray Meh... You can have horrible back pain and nothing wrong on X-Ray!

Look man... This is the time ya get to really build your own bike. There are so many things you can do. Raise or lower your bars and seat. Change out your bars, go recumbent. One of the first things you can try is ridding a "Belgianese" style commuter bicycle. If I had seen the way my bicycle is currently set up for my ridding 50 years ago I would have laughed.

" Improvise, Adapt, Overcome " Have... Fun, Fun, FUN!

gobicycling

One of my better docs told me "I don't treat xrays. I treat symptoms.".
And you need good strong back muscles to hold the spine together.

davester

<br /><br /><br />That's also what I've heard from my orthopedic doc and chiropractor. I would say that your "make decisions based on X-rays" statement is the exact opposite of what I've heard should be the best approach. Most older people's back X-rays show all sorts of "problems" that don't actually cause any problematic symptoms and can therefore be ignored. Perhaps you would be better off seeing a physical therapist or chiropractor. Have you gone that route yet?

cb400bill

Thread moved to 50+ P&I.

Carbonfiberboy 

So true. If I'd done that, I'd have just crawled into a hole. Not happening, nope. IME when I feel pain somewhere, I work that area. So far that's always fixed it. Mammalian bodies are really resilient. We have seen a 3-legged beaver around here for years. We had to put up a chicken wire fence to keep him from destroying our fern garden.

That said, my torn meniscus needed surgery. I almost had to drag one leg behind me on our 10-day backpack that year - the backpack didn't help. After the backpack, I kinda had to get up on my doctor's desk to get an MRI and a diagnosis so I could get it fixed. He couldn't believe I could possibly have a torn meniscus. My doctor says the time to go in for back surgery is when you can't walk anymore - because you might not be able to walk after the back surgery either.

car5car

del

boozergut

https://www.youtube.com/@GentleYogaandWellness

TiHabanero

Bulging disc and no disc left are two very different problems with two very different solutions. Bulging discs can be "reformed" into cooperation with certain stretches and exercises, and those items are individual specific, not one size fits all. No disc material left in the cavity is not fixed by the former solution that I am aware of. Consult the doc.

Disclaimer: I bulged 3 discs in the lower back in my late twenties. Have managed the pain and disability with consistent application of specific stretches and exercises. FWIW, yoga caused issues so I only use a two poses in my stretching routine. i do lift weights that do not stress the lower back, and i also do crunches, but limited to 20 per day and I have to be very aware of how I do them, form is of essence.

MoAlpha

"No disc left" generally solves itself over time by auto-fusion.

Leisesturm

Doesn't appear that you have heard a single word of anything anyone has said to you. Why did you ask? Oh, sorry, you were just ranting. But help??? How are you helping? I don't want, or need to be infected with your defeatism. I am speculating, but I doubt I would lose a lot of money betting that you are several tens of pounds over the line and you have never done a single plank in your life. Why wouldn't your back hurt? When my wife hurt her back years ago, her PT put her on a Plank regimen. So I started doing them with her. Mostly to be supportive. But now neither of us need to be convinced. Planks and other Core (abdominal exercises) are known to be very effective in the treatment of back problems. I haven't seen any mention of core strengthening exercises (till now) in this thread. They are key, in my opinion, to getting to the bottom of any problem involving the back except possibly an accident or other trauma. Even then, I would at least try and address the Core, especially if like most of us, we have never paid any particular attention to maintaining core strength.

car5car

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p...fgprpwrtwrxmec