Bulging Disc in Lower Back, Need help maintaining muscle during recovery

[THBench]

Alright guys I apologize for my lack of contribution to the forum in these past months but a big problem in my weight training has come about. In July or so I started feeling deep sharp pains in my lower back, usually after doing my deadlifts. I figured it was just muscular because it would only hurt for 1-2 days after. So I continued to do my deadlifts (400+ lbs every week) and noticed that it was actually getting worse until one day I experienced an extreme pain in my lower back after doing a warm-up set of deadlifts (315lbs) and I stopped immediently. Went to a spine specialist, had some MRI's done, and it turns out I have a small bulging disc in my lower back. He sent me away with corticosteroids for a week and Physical therapy for the following month. On a side note he said there is a high possibility I was injured due to constant intense pressure on my lower back with the 400-500 lbs I was lifting week by week (2-4 reps, so lifting very heavy), and not due to poor form. I have worked on my form for years now and know that its fine.
Now here comes my question. What exercises can I perform in the gym that will not aggrevate my lower back? To be honest, I find that most exercises do not even bother my back condition (excluding deadlift, squat, leg press), but my PT does not want me to do ANY lifting, even though we usually do some sort of ab workout in my PT sessions. I need to know what I can do to maintain my muscle size and strength with this condition as much as possible, I've worked so hard for 5 years to get where I'm at now. Thanks guys

And I should probably update my stats since I havent posted in almost a year
Age: 19
Weight: 175
Height: 6'1
Bench: 285
Squat: 335
Deadlift: 505

 

[Robinn]

Stretching exercises are a good way to prevent injury. Learn simple stretches that can be done to increase your range of motion. Stretching first thing in the morning is a good way to waken up tired muscles. Incorporating this activity into your daily routine will help lengthen tight muscles and prevent injuries. During the eight hour work day muscles can become tight and stiff, especially if your job entails sitting at a desk. Regular exercise relieves back pain by strengthening and stretching the muscles that support the spine and helps to prevent future injury

 

[mama3]

Bulging Disc

Hi there, I am new to this forum but I have been in your situation. 6 years ago I had surgery for a bulging disc at the L5-S1 site. I was very close to being confined to a wheel chair. I went through months of conservative treatment like anti-inflammatories and physiotherapy to no avail. Here I am now with quite a bit of weight to lose and still have the odd pains. When I started my personal training several months ago, dead lifts were part of the program. However, I had to stop them because they irritated the area so badly that I again was having trouble with walking. My doc says this: your body must be straight when you are lifting weights. You can not be bent over without any support. I have followed this advice and am doing quite well with my weight training. You will get to know when something doesn't feel right. One thing that has helped me immensely is hot yoga. The power of this demanding exercise is amazing. Good luck!

 

[jakenash]

Actually, studies have shown pretty conclusively that there is VERY little stress on the spine if form is good. It only takes one very small slipup to herniate a disk though. Stuart McGill (THE lower back expert) and collegues did a study on weightlifters doing deadlifts to determine how they were able to repeatedly lift such monstrously heavy loads without any long-term back problems. The lifters performed repeated deadlifts while the positions of their spines were recorded in real time with specialized equipment. By chance, during one of the lifts, a lifter felt something go wrong and complained of lower back pain. Upon examining the video, it was found that for a brief moment during the lift, one of the lumbar joints went from a neutral to a flexed position for a brief instance. None of the other lifters complained of pain, and examination of all of their videos showed no other instances of their spines losing their neutral position. (Cholewicki, J., and McGill, S.M. (1992) Lumbar posterior ligament involvement during extremely heavy lifts estimated from fluoroscopic measurements. Journal of Biomechanics, 25(1):17.)

I've worked with a LOT of lifters with back issues (including myself). This is my recommended progress (an excerpt from a longer chapter on the subject in my book):

1. Start with a general-purpose, full body routine. All exercises should use light weight to start, and meticulous attention should be paid to making sure the spine stays in a neutral position throughout. The only core exercises that should be performed at this point are static planks (front and side). A front plank is similar to a push-up off your elbows and toes, except that you just hold the position. Side planks are the same, except facing to the side.

For cardio, do plenty of fast walking. Studies have shown walking fast (at a pace where the arms swing), is distinctly better for a recovering back than slow walking or running. Stop ANY exercise if pain is experienced. This is not a toughman competition, and pain is a warning sign that should not be ignored!

2. Build up the weight gradually. Realize you will have good days and bad days. Don’t force yourself to go heavier with each workout if you don’t feel up for it. Do not let anyone persuade you into doing balance or stability exercises at this point (exercises that require sitting or standing on an unsteady surface), as this is an easy way to accidentally put the spine into a compromised position where it could be reinjured.

3. Once you have gone a month or so without any pain and your weights are back to normal, you can slowly reintegrate bending and twisting exercises. Start with small range of motion crunches on a padded floor, and work up from there. Again, if a particular exercise causes pain, stop immediately and go back a step.

4. Don’t be discouraged if it takes a long time to return to normal. Depending on the actual cause of the pain, certain parts of your back may take a long time to heal, even under the best conditions. Some injuries are severe enough that they will NEVER heal completely. If you truly herniated a disk, chances are you will have to deal with it for the rest of your life. At that point bending and twisting will always be problematic, and should be minimized. From then on, you’ll really have to concentrate on using your hips and legs not your lower back.

In the past, conventional wisdom was to stretch the back to help restore range of motion. This may feel good in the short term, but recent studies have shown any stretching of an injured back will cause more damage. Range of motion in the spine is actually not very important to overall back health. Mobility is extremely important in the hips at this point though so that you do NOT have to articulate the lower back.

You should probably think about reevaluating your goals. If your buldging disk herniates, it will NEVER heal completely and you will be dealing with it for the rest of your life. Cortisone is something to be extremely careful of as it will only mask the problem, and long term use WILL weaken the surrounging tissue.

 

[THBench]

It is interesting you talk about stabilizing exercises because in my physical therapy session I do stabilizing exercises with bungie cables and whatnot. We also do all sorts of ab exercises including the 3 types of planks you described. Nothing hurts my back anymore, even when i did something similar to a back extension on a swiss ball. Ive made good progress in just this past month and have gotten back in the gym as of 2 days ago. The only time my back is aggrevated is when i bend over to do something such as tie my shoes or try a hamstring stretch. I tend to feel it most when sitting down and then extending one leg outward completely, so I know that its not completely gone. I was also told that this bulge is a small bulge and has a good chance to go back into place. I will however never perform a deadlift ever again just because I fear that exercise and what it will do to my back. My PT says that I should never squat heavily ever again either. Its almost to the point where I dont want to lift anymore without heavy deadlifts and heavy squats. I also suffer from a shoulder injury in which my shoulder popps and cracks out of place when doing dumbell press every year or so, which makes me think I should avoid doing shouldr exercises (this happened to me again yesterday with only 50 lb dumbells). I think these problems have been caused by my complete lack of hypertrophy training and 100% focus on max strength by lifting heavy (85-95% of 1RM) week after week for 5 and a half years. No muscle mass causes more pressure on the joints and ligaments of my shoulder and more pressure on the spine in the back. I've always been EXTREMELY skinny at around 150 lbs benching over 250, deadlifting over 400, squatting over 300, and i feel it has come back to bite me.