Anyone experience A Herniated Disc

[CSD]

I suffered a good bit of neck trauma 5 weeks ago from a work incident. I had severe pain in my lower neck and down my right arm. An MRI shows I have a posterior disc herniation at C6-C7. At C5-C6, a central and left posterior disc herniation. Also, mild bulging of the annulus at C2-C3, C3-C4, and C4-C5.

I'm currently doing traction exercises 2-3x a week for 10-12 weeks. Any advice or experience with this type of injury?

What was your outcome after treatment?

 

[Serpent]

Damn, what a coincidence, I have lower back pain that I have been putting off for basically 3 weeks now. I ****ed it up trying to deadlift 315 without starting in the lower weights and haven't dead lifted in months.

Needless to say I scheduled a doctor visit but I know all they will do is an xray and give me motrin. Not sure what an xray will show compared to an mri. How much is an mri anyways? I was supposed to get one for my ankle and was put off by the naval hospital.

In for the answers, my home solution is to hang upside down from me feet to uncompress my back, either hanging from monkey bars or getting moon boots, maybe even getting an inversion table. I went to the park last night with a belt and tied a loop to slip my feet through... I was lucky enough to tie the loop at the edge of the monkey bars where I can grab on to something to bring my upper body closer to my feet to untie the loop. Trust me, if you can't do sit ups, you will not be able to untie yourself and will be stuck. Flexibility plays a good roll too. Reminded me of i am legend when will smith got noosed up from his foot and he was stuck. Just another case of my stupidity. :nonono:

 

[CSD]

An x-ray only shows your bones. It shows fractures, dislocations, etc.

An MRI shows organs, soft tissue, bones, cervical nerve roots. It's more expensive, anywhere from $1,500 to 3,000

 

[TaraFirma]

C4/C5 bulging for years. Tried traction, inversion tables, chiropractor "adjustments" with no real decrease in discomfort. It's now just something I live with. I take 800mg motrin on the bad days. Sitting in a vibrating helicopter for 8+ hours with body armor and survival vest with ammo hasn't really helped much in the last 10 years either though. Even without flying in combat for the last couple of years, it really hasn't gotten any better. Hate to tell you, but you just may have a new pain that you have to live with for the rest of your life.

 

[7998]

I have a hernia on L4-L5. I also have degeneration from L2-S1 as well as stenosis and facet disease. My MRI reads like commercial for one of those Laser spine places.
What makes it even better is I work n the construction industry.
They wanted to do surgery but after talking to a few people I decided to try and live with it. If I sit down for more than 20 minutes my entire groin goes numb down into my legs.

I went back to work but after a few months I got hurt again. I was picking up a buckets and made it about 5 steps until I went down.

My best advice is to learn the triggers that will knock you down and exercise.

 

[Dusten]

Serpent, hernatied discs rarely result in back pain. The disc has no nerves in it. The resulting bulge will effect your nerves and cause pain in the extremities.

CSD I had a 6mm protrusion at l4-l5, a 2mm at l5-l6. I had surgery on the one at l4-l5 and was pain free as soon as I woke up. A lot of peoples reocuring pain after surgery comes from muscle atrophy and poor posture resulting from the injury before surgery. Core strength and posture go a long way to correcting back pain. In your case, with it being neck none of this applies, its more for the other readers. If traction and PT don't help, I recommend looking into your surgery options.

 

[CSD]

CSD I had a 6mm protrusion at l4-l5, a 2mm at l5-l6. I had surgery on the one at l4-l5 and was pain free as soon as I woke up. A lot of peoples reocuring pain after surgery comes from muscle atrophy and poor posture resulting from the injury before surgery. Core strength and posture go a long way to correcting back pain. In your case, with it being neck none of this applies, its more for the other readers. If traction and PT don't help, I recommend looking into your surgery options.

So far the traction is helping, I feel great for 1-2 days after the session. I'm trying to be optimistic and right now surgery is my absolute last option. I also need to figure out how to re-develop strength in my right arm. My right triceps is weak, I can't do one pushup. But I can do bicep curls with no problem.

 

[oldmodman]

Yep. Three.
Lower spine.
Tried every non invasive method.
Took so much morphine (by tablet) to control the pain that I was hallucinating. So I finally went around my insurance company and saw a neurosurgeon and had the proper test done.
I was in the hospital for nearly three months before and after my surgery.
Left leg was by that time, paralyzed and I was losing all feeling too.
All three bulging discs were "trimmed" and I woke up after the surgery and all the "disc pain" was gone. But it was three years before I regained all the control I was going to get in my leg.

When I had the surgery done the doctors were still wearing lion skins and using stone hammers. The same surgery today is actually done from the front. And it's only minimally invasive. I kniow a woman that had the exact same bulging discs and she was in and out of the hospital in three days. And back at work in less than a week. With a 100 % recovery too.

 

[NastyNate420]

Ive had herniated discs in my neck for the past 5 years. c4-5 and c5-6. Ive have PT and epidurals ... not much relief. What Ive learned over the course of injury is that you need to learn your new limits. Manage what you do and dont overexert yourself or youll be in pain the next days ....Itll be something you deal with for the rest of your life. That being said Ive been able to manage mine. I jus got a new MRI but havent seen the results left.

 

[BoostedByV]

Drop weight/ Heath diet/stop smoking / strengthen your core

 

[tomustang]

Yup.

 

[big dad]

Get it fixed. Been there done that 39 years ago.

 

[Outlaw99]

Hey Chris...and yes.....quite regularly. Its very painful and disconcerting for days. I have intravertrable disc degeneration and sometimes when I roll out of bed the wrong way...pop. Pooping will do it too. Oh man tucking in a shirt...like twisting and pushing the shirt in makes it pop. Playing guitar on stage I have to be very careful. Pain meds do nothing...it's just a part of my life I deal with. My doctor said I should bitch out and go on disability...not this guy.

 

[PowerWheels]

C7 bulge here, therapy did nothing, take antiinflammatories daily now.

 

[CSD]

Hey Chris...and yes.....quite regularly. Its very painful and disconcerting for days. I have intravertrable disc degeneration and sometimes when I roll out of bed the wrong way...pop. Pooping will do it too. Oh man tucking in a shirt...like twisting and pushing the shirt in makes it pop. Playing guitar on stage I have to be very careful. Pain meds do nothing...it's just a part of my life I deal with. My doctor said I should bitch out and go on disability...not this guy.

Try muscle relaxers, they're helping me when needed.

 

[BlckBox04]

Try muscle relaxers, they're helping me when needed.

Only problems is you're really going to have to get used to dealing with any pain without the muscle relaxers. Back problems tend to stay with you forever.

 

[CSD]

My back is ok, it's my neck and arm. Some nights trying to sleep is impossible, so the relaxer helps.

 

[BlckBox04]

you ever try using melatonin pills for sleeping?

 

[Sinister04L]

A coworker of mine recently was experiencing severe hip and leg pain. After he finally went to a doctor to have it checked out he had a herniated disc in his lower back. They tried injections but it didn't do anything. He just had surgery a few weeks ago and so far so good. He's still out of work but he said all the pain is gone.

 

[MysticRob]

Back in May I felt horrible sharp shooting pains down the left side of my lower body back after trying to pull a large rock toward me. I knew it had to be nerve related because the pain shot down to my left foot. Like an idiot, I later that day went gold panning, then continued to re-injure it by working out, then made it way worse than ever 2 months later attempting to pass a difficult physical fitness test requiring an extra 75lbs on my body (vest and shoulders). After that test, I could barely move for the next few days, and coughing or sneezing caused even more pain.

My lower back, left glute, upper left hamstring, deep rotators, etc, were all affected. I had a huge knot in my left glute and lower back. I could barely walk, nor could I move or stretch the area without sharp shooting pains. I finally decided to stay off it altogether, and ice the lower spinal region after verifying heat made it worse. This again took many weeks to improve, and only within the last couple of days have I been able to walk normally and stretch the affected muscles.

After all this, I now know the issue was a herniated lower disc that I made even worse after the test, since those pinched/pressured nerves on the left side in turn caused all those left-side muscles to tighten and cramp, causing the knotted tissues. Lack of proper stretching and conditioning beforehand didn't help. I'm now a believer in yoga and stretching, and will hopefully begin cardio and weights in the near future. Never again!!