22yr old w/ degenerative disk in lower back, any hope??

[envies]

Hello,

Just got back from the doctor after having lower back pain for over a year that would not go away. After comparing old x-rays with ones taken today....he said I have degenerative disk disease in my lower back....the lowest disk. He said to stay away from heavy lifting such as squats and deadlifts if I want to have any chance of living a normal life in 15 years....keep in mind I am only 22.

Anyone have any experience with this? Is my 'serious' weightlifting career over for life now?

Thanks for any help, suggestions..

 

[Zyglamail]

Often times the degeneration of disks is due to injury that isnt allowed to heal. The strenghtening of tendons and ligaments in that area often will take the strain off and allow the disk to repaire itself. Prolotherapy has great success in this area and some of the prolo docs are even combining GH with the injections to help promote disk regeneration.

Check out prolonews.com

 

[The Wenis]

/\ what he said. plus some.

i've had it since i was in my early 20s as well. around 10 years. strengthening the muscles in your abs and low back will help a little. the available surgery is risky and sometimes doesn't work. my degeneration has peaked. that's the good news. at some point it stops getting worse. i get injections every few months and it keeps the pain away for a while.

 

[envies]

Thanks for the replies....

/\ what he said. plus some.

i've had it since i was in my early 20s as well. around 10 years. strengthening the muscles in your abs and low back will help a little. the available surgery is risky and sometimes doesn't work. my degeneration has peaked. that's the good news. at some point it stops getting worse. i get injections every few months and it keeps the pain away for a while.

What type of injections do you get?

What types of exercises are you not able to do now? Can I ever hope to do squats again one day?

 

[Zyglamail]

Thanks for the replies....



What type of injections do you get?

What types of exercises are you not able to do now? Can I ever hope to do squats again one day?

The injections I am referring to are comprised of lidocaine and an inflamatory agent and it is injected directly into the tendons and ligaments cause severe localized swelling. WIth it comes very rapid healing, thickening and strengthening of the tendons and ligaments that are treated. The problem with "modern" medicine is they throw the fundamentals they learn out the window and forget that with inflamation comes essential healing and without it healing can be all but stopped. The prolotherapy injections actually cause some discomfort and stiffness for a couple days but they work and they work well. Going under the knife should be a last resort. If your serious, and have an open mind check out prolonews.com for more details on what prolotherapy is about, they also have a doc listing so you can see if there are any in your area.

 

[envies]

I will definitely check out the site, thanks.

The injections I am referring to are comprised of lidocaine and an inflamatory agent and it is injected directly into the tendons and ligaments cause severe localized swelling. WIth it comes very rapid healing, thickening and strengthening of the tendons and ligaments that are treated. The problem with "modern" medicine is they throw the fundamentals they learn out the window and forget that with inflamation comes essential healing and without it healing can be all but stopped. The prolotherapy injections actually cause some discomfort and stiffness for a couple days but they work and they work well. Going under the knife should be a last resort. If your serious, and have an open mind check out prolonews.com for more details on what prolotherapy is about, they also have a doc listing so you can see if there are any in your area.

 

[The Wenis]

Thanks for the replies....



What type of injections do you get?

What types of exercises are you not able to do now? Can I ever hope to do squats again one day?

epidural injections. and i'm not going to tell you to do something your doc said not to do, but i still do squats and deads. not as much as in college but pretty heavy for a 30 something guy. i had acl surgery 8 months ago so that's why i can't do as much on deads and squats now, it has nothing to do with my back. before the knee surgery i was doing 405 on both deads and squats as a 4th set for maybe 5-9 reps. now i'm back up over 300 on both. so yeah, there's hope.

 

[_Yossarian_]

Often times the degeneration of disks is due to injury that isnt allowed to heal. The strenghtening of tendons and ligaments in that area often will take the strain off and allow the disk to repaire itself. Prolotherapy has great success in this area and some of the prolo docs are even combining GH with the injections to help promote disk regeneration.

Check out prolonews.com

havent seen that name in a long time. Where ya been Zyglamail?

 

[mlende]

I also have degenerative disk disorder. I finally had to have surgery and ended up getting L4 & L5 fused. I did not lose any noticeable flexibility and have been able to build my lower back strength back up. IMO, the surgery is better than the shots, although the recovery is very slow. As for deadlifts and squats, the key is taking it slow to regain your strength.

 

[envies]

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

[slat1]

Great post.. I'm 31 and my bottom two disks are pretty far gone. I have not squatted, deadlifted, or done bent over rows in well over a year! It sucks. They told me not to run too. I hate cardio... but.. .since they told me I can't... I want to.. lol.
*When you guys got the shots... how long were you out of the gym?
*How many times have you gone for shots?
*Did insurance cover any of it?

Thanks in advace!

 

[chris1972]

My god this has been a great post. I have been dealing with this for about a year now. My doctor just told me I have two chooses 1. to just try and live with it and 2. going under the knife. Well I'm not big on getting cut up so I have been tring to live with it. It's been a hard long road and it's still not better. My work outs have not suffered too much but my days of squating and doing heavy dead lifts are gone. Even doing dumbell flys kill my back and all benching I have to ware my weight belt to keep it from hurting. I have seen that the FDA has approved a synthetic disk replacement and it's much better than the current technic of fusing bones. So this might be for me down the road. Thanks for posting this info I will start looking into Prolo docs.

Thanks for posting this info.

 

[Ulter]

Nice to see you Zyg

Nandrolone and gh. It will change your life.

 

[Zyglamail]

Guys, before you take what you doc says as gospel, PLEASE do some reading on your own at prolonews.com. I have nothing to gain from this but the satisfaction that I may have helped someone.

Ive made quite a few posts about prolotherapy here over the years. I have had it done for misc injuries on my foot, both elbows, shoulder and my back. This was all after "regular" docs told me there was nothing they could do.

Time and time again people on these forums turn away from modern medical recomendations when it comes to AAS use because they feel the medical community is biased but when it comes to injuries they fall back into the same old rut of "My Doc says.....and he help this athlete or that athlete".

Prolotherapy often times isnt covered by insurance, but you can certainly try, more and more insurance companies are looking at alternative medicine seriously nowdays and preventative medicine as a whole.

Prolotherapy is NOT cortisone and in fact is the exact opposite. I would wager that I would even be able to lift today had I followed the bad advice of my doc a few years back. Ice, anti-inflamatories etc all PROMOTE the destruction of your joints/tendons/ligaments sure it helps with the pain but you bay a great price for that comfort.

Prolotherapy is fast and hardly interferes with your normal life. It involves localized injections of an irritant directly into the affected tendons/ligaments. This causes some stiffness and a little soreness but shouldnt keep you out of the gym for more than a day or two. If you can time your treatments like I did it doesnt affect your gym time at all.

The body is an amazing thing it will and can repaire so much damage, the problem is that man often times thinks he knows better and circumvents the natural healing process and this is where things go horribly wrong.

A question to those of you with so called "degenerative disk disease", what triggered the pain that you are noticing? Did you suffer some sort of initial trauma to your spines?

 

[dacdac]

Look into taking 3ius/day GH for about 4 months. Just a guess but maybea it will help. I had an awful problem with my hamstring tendon/knee that GH cleared up. At least it would be a big coincidane if the injury healed at the same time that I had been on a GH cycle for about 1 month.

 

[Zyglamail]

I agree GH can help, and some prolo docs are even using it in their treatment, BUT the underlying problem has to be addressed and if its not it will take much longer to heal, if it even heals at all.