Time out for herniated disc

Don't despair.  There are quite a few athletes who are still quite competitive with herniated discs.

I myself have one at L5-S1 and outside of a few flare ups I'm still able to work out regularly.

I personally think the key is finding a doctor who understands your goals.  There are a number or treatments available depending on the degree of herniation.  Just remember the general rule of thumb...no knife till absolutely necessary.

In my case I was able to get by with a few epidurals, PT, massage, and core work.

Right now it looks bleak I'm sure (that pain can be crippling) but don't get too down!

I have had it with some success.  I tend to relate it to massage therapy though in that the results are only as good as the practitioner.  I don't know how to identify good acupuncturists so I only go to ones I have been referred to.

If you have a good reference I would say give it a shot it can be helpful.

L4/5 here... do a search on this forum and you'll see several posts from people who have also suffered from the amazing pain that a tiny little displacement of a nerve can cause.

I had a diskectomy 4 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did.  That was after 2 years of every conceivable non-surgical treatment available.  So while I'm not pushing for surgery, I don't think it's necessarily evil.

For what it's worth I did have a re-herniation in October of last year, and was quite sure I was on the path to a second surgery.  This one, however, responded much better (albeit slowly) to non-surgical treatment.  I did end up having two epidural blocks (steroid injections) into the herniation, and then stretching and rest took care of the rest.

I still have MINOR discomfort every now and then, and know that I'll always have a "bad back" and am at high risk for another herniation.  Good news is I never have to help a friend move again

Good luck with your treatment, whatever route you choose.

I hope my post didn't make people think I thought it was evil, just that IMHO it should be avoided until after those attempts at the non-surgical treatments.

Working in a hospital I hear so many stories from people who have had a surgeon say "Oh your a perfect candidate for microdisc ablation!" without ever having made any serious attempt at less invasive alternatives first.

There are definitely times when surgery is the best option.  I just caution people to maybe get another opinion when someone says that surgery is the first option.

I have two herniated discs in my neck (C4 and C5).  I have avoided surgery for 15 years, as I was told surgery would reduce my neck range of motion by 30%.  Stretching and trigger point massage are very important for me, as well as avoiding heavy lifting.  I find that if I lift something heavy or with poor posture I pay for it the next day.

For me, I find that I need to religiosly keep to my stretching and exercising even when I'm not having problems.  Complacency can lay me out for weeks.