Please read help advice and motivation needed re slipped discs

[jxdoskpg]

Hi guys,

My names Tom and I'm 24 years old. I have been browsing the forum for sometime now and I have finally decided that I should take the time out to ask for your thoughts and to see if I can get some inspiration as I'm feeling very very low at the moment. Please read on, although if you get bored halfway through - you know what to do!

I have been weight training since I was 16 whilst I was swimming competitively at national level and for the last 5 years I have been weight training 5 times a week along with 3 cardio based training sessions aswell. I work in an office based job and I'm 6ft 5 and weigh around 15 stone. I always thought I knew how to train correctly due to my sporting background - I now think I was totally ignorant and completely wrong.

Towards the end of 2009 I was suffering from pretty bad back pain and I was referred to a physio by my GP. After a few sessions the physio said my back pain was down to the fact my hamstrings are ridiculously stiff and in his words the worst he has seen! He said because of this it affected *the way I stand as I have no curve in my spine as my pelvis was being pulled down. I was advised to stretch every day religiously to improve flexibility. I took his advise and he was right I felt much better after four weeks. 6 weeks after my last visit the physio rung me to say His department were conducting a study into people In my age bracket with chronic back pain and offered me the opportunity of a free MRI scan even though I was feeling better! the results came back and it showed thAt I had two slightly 'bulged' discs in my lower back. I was told not to worry as many people have this with no side effect and to keep stretching.

As I was feeling better around this time last year, I *gradually started to reduce my stretching day by day, and it got to the point where i stopped the stretching fully, as i felt it was taking up to much time out of my sessions (naive and stupid) and at the same time I started to play golf and was focused on lifting more weights and doing more leg exercises as I was conscious I was big and muscluar top wise but *my legs were like drain pipes. Still no problems.

Everything was fine and then in June last year, my back started to play up a little . Instead of listening to my body I was training harder and longer (but not smarter) along with using a slender tone *machine to help my abs as I had a holiday planned. Around the same time, i decided to play for the first time in years tennis.......BANG i hit a forearm shot and the worst pain I had ever imagined had shuddered through my body , it felt like my whole body had collapsed a level. I won't try to explain what the pain was like but I couldn't walk or roll over in bed without excruciating pain. A week or so after I noticed my body was completely lop sided from where my body was trying to ease the discs away from the nerve~ it was horrible. I was lop sided from June onwards.

I eventually was referred to a spinal surgeon in September after 12 weeks in agony. The surgeon conducted another MRI scan and it had shown that I slipped both discs. The Surgeon was extremely concerned by one disc though as it was sitting on top of the nerve that gave me the sensation of going to the toilet and he was adamant sooner or later the worst would happen. He was sceptical about operating on me and so I had various epidural and nerve root blocker injections up until January this year when due to no progress in pain and a further MRI scan showing the disc had come out even more he would need to operate asap. And so 2 weeks ago i had a discectomy decompression on the disc he was more concerned with and the other one has been left alone. The thing I'm worried about is after the op he said I have to be really careful for next 6 weeks as he feels the disc may relapse and if it does il need to have a fusion done - *not great at any point in your life but I'm feeling sorry for myself due to my age especially as the other disc has been left alone. I start hydrotherapy next week and I'm doing my bed bound stretching now although I don't feel confident at all as I am paranoid Im going to do myself more harm than good. I was never this paranoid before. To make it worst I haven't do ne any exercise since June which is driving me insane and my mood has totally changed for the worst. I'm very conscious now about my body as I think I'm putting on weight and my muscle has now finally vanished.

I have nowhere near as much confidence as before and I question will I ever be able to do weights running swimming ever again as that's my passion in life??

I had my op at Clementine churchill

Thanks for reading Tom

 

[Zkjfg Z]

Having myself had a spinal fracture from a fall, and now am a practicing osteopath who sees many similar injuries, I can tell you that the human body does recover, give a chance. And yes, you can get strong again.

By the way, the spine is a very tough piece of kit, so although your situation is not trivial, you can be reassured that you are not dropping to bits. Reading your story, however, I do remember that feeling of vulnerability in the early stages, but I also remember the sensation of being a tiny bit stronger each day, and having enough confidence and faith that I would return to my sport to accept what came with willingness and positivity.

I also did a lot of research about my situation, and in turn called upon a very experienced osteopath, who was brilliant and taught me a great deal - 'I was so impressed I bought the company', to coin an old cliche.

So it's less a question of how to make this recover, and more a question of dealing with anything that may be an obstacle to good recovery - do that and recovery is itself automatic. Additionally, trying to deal with the reasons why such a brilliant thing as the human spine managed to acquire this vulnerability during your life, will help you imprve the long-term result and avoid further injury.

This touches on some huge subjects, I'm afraid, the point is, though, that with the right mindset and good help and information, and supportive energy from friends, family and professionals, there is every reason why you should be able to make a good recovery.

And as the saying goes, you'll be fine as long as you don't do anything silly!

Hope that helps!
Good luck!

 

[bitch]

Thanks for your reply I really appreciate it. Everything you said there does make sense.... I think! Regarding osteopaths, maybe I'm being a cynic but when the event happened before being diagnosed I went to an osteopath who I was recommended for a few sessions and I was pulled about a fair bit and she was unable to even mention possibility of a slipped disc. What I suppose I'm getting at is, can seeing osteopaths do you more harm than good with regards to recovery?

 

[Walt]

Hi Tom
I am a Bowen therapist and just wondered if you are familiar with the Bowen Technique?, as I think you could maybe benefit from some kind of treatments to help you;if you are wary of trying something, Bowen is a very gentle and relaxing therapy with no situations where it cannot be used.

 

[TrerelinedY]

Hi egreen, no I'm afraid I have never heard of the Bowen technique? Can I ask what it is or why it could help? Thanks for your time tom

 

[markdaviid]

Yes, seeing an osteopath could make things worse, just as any intervention can. Even an aspirin can kill you, however, and I can reassure you that osteopathic treatment is much safer than taking NSAIDs.

It's also possible that the treatment prevented this injury from being even worse. Or perhaps it enabled you to carry on doing the things that you now know were causing you harm. Who knows exactly where you would be now without that treatment? Not knowing your osteopath, all I can say is that there are many differences within any profession, she might actually be very good indeed for all I know.

As to the diagnosis, she could just as easily have listed many other things that it could have been and wasn't. To the osteopath, what is often most important is understanding the various stresses and strains that you are under, rather than necessarily the precise effect they are having.

So - whether slates are falling off the roof of your house or you have a crack in the bathroom wall - if the cause is subsidence, then it is the foundations that need underpinning, precise analysis of the crack or the tiles may not be relevant to the solution.

The precise effect on the local tissue is more interesting to the medical mindset, that might see this entirely as a problem of the disc and seek to ignore the context as much as possible.

My own experience is that, I have seen many cases that could perhaps have justified a diagnosis of disc problem, but that improved dramatically with straightforward intervention in a timely fashion whilst taking appropriate care. I have also seen enough cases treated by every kind of professional, that might not have been a disc to begin with, but by the time an appointment for an MRI came up, certainly were a discal problem. This difference in outcome is not necessarily in the precise diagnosis, but more often in the understanding of the context of the problem and how that is managed overall.

Importantly, I should say that nobody has ever cured a slipped disc - all we can do is try to create the conditions whereby a good recovery is more likely. The cure comes from the patient - always.

So, where does that leave you? Most important are the quality of the practitioner and their vision, rather than what school they went to, so I would always go on a recommendation, and speak to your chosen practitioner before you start to make sure you are happy with their vision of the problem. It matters not whether you go to an osteopath, Bowen therapist, whatever - what you want is to go to somebody really good. The best way to find that is to look for a recommendation.

 

[Devaanata]

Hi Tom. I agree with all the above from kvdp, well said! There are numerous therapies available which many people find they benefit from alongside conventional medicine; but it is about finding something that you feel works for you with a practitioner that you feel comfortable and confident with and, as kvdp says, recommendations/ reviews are a good way of finding someone.

Bowen is a holistic therapy which means it always treats the body as a whole, never just a specific condition. Bowen involves the therapist using their fingers & thumbs to make rolling type moves over soft tissue at specific points of the body. The work is very gentle using little pressure. A key part of bowen is that there are breaks inbetween sets of moves where the therapist leaves the room..this allows the body to take on the information it has received and process it. Bowen works to encourage the body to heal itself and rebalance, helping with many physical and emotional conditions. (see www.thebowentechnique.com)

You mentioned that as well as having the slipped discs and surgery you are also feeling low and lacking confidence, which is why I mentioned Bowen because it is a whole body approach.

I hope what ever you decide to do that you can remain positive and make a great recovery

Emma