[fireguy10720]

Went to Doc. 2 months ago. He told me i have 2 bulging discs @ L5/S1. Tried therapy since then with no relief. Go in tuesday for MRI to see how bad it is.. They want to try injections with surgery last resort. I dont like either of these but the pain is getting unbareable and not makin it easy to work. still hitting the gym 5-6 days a week, doing lots of streching and massages once a week. Anybody had any similar problems and have any insight to injections?? What to expect or if they help at all?? Been very stressed lately with the back. Any advice is awesome.

[azr101]

Surgery isn't always that effective for back pain, if you can avoid it stay off the table!
Have you tried any sort of traction in your therapy to relieve some of the pressure?

[fireguy10720]

Got traction every therapy session (around 7 times). Did not seem to do much for me.. And yes going to do everything to stay away from tha table. Have any info on injections??

[azr101]

The only injections I know of (for pain that is) I'm going to be getting for my knees, and that's hylaron, sorry!

[AM07]

If I were you, I would completely stop training and rest for awhile.

[bpmartyr]

The two people I know that had the injections ended up with surgery. They are still in some pain but not nearly as bad as before. Scares me just thinking about it. Best of luck to ya.

[BADBACKJACK]

Badbackjack is my name - Ive had similar lowerback injury(s) in 1994 my L2,3 & S1 (or 2 i think) bulged,herniated - its all the same. Basically one bad rep on a good day squatting thats all it took. Careful with the shots - more than (2) is too much. Find a Neurologist or Orthopedic Doctor with an athletic treatment history. Do not let a chiropractor touch you until the doc says so. Rest and elevate that area and best of luck to you.

[chitownz]

I have had a bad back for years, there are times where I had to rest for months before getting backing into a good workout.. hence the rapid weigh gains. What helped the most is to lose weight, less stress overall.

About 14 months ago I had a bulged/herniated disk that was so bad that I had to go to the hosiptal for the pain. I couldn't even walk.

So what I did was lost alot of weight, watched my form, sit up lower back exercises, streching and went to a Chriopractor.

She was the best! Helped to put my spine back into a better alignment and I havn't had a problem since. If you have constant back pain, maybe some readjusting will help.

[fireguy10720]

Thanks for all the info.. Not too sure which route to go yet. Have people who swear by chiropractor so might try that first. The doc wants to send me to get injections which i dont care for too much. wish me luck..

[LilPsychotic]

Originally Posted by azr101

Surgery isn't always that effective for back pain, if you can avoid it stay off the table!
Have you tried any sort of traction in your therapy to relieve some of the pressure?

I agree, back surgery fails 90% of the time.

[abragers]

Something else you may want to consider is prolotherapy.

[fireguy10720]

Originally Posted by abragers

Something else you may want to consider is prolotherapy.

What is prolotherapy????

[abragers]

I'm not a doctor, but here's my basic understanding of it. Prolotherapy is a medical procedure in which a solution is injected around the joints/area causing pain. The solution causes localized inflammation of the injured tendon and ligaments to promote faster healing. As they heal, the tendons and ligaments tighten up the joint which will cure or relieve the pain. If you go to wwwdotgetprolodotcom, you'll see a listing of doctors (MD's and DO's) and their web pages have better descriptions of the procedure. There are not many in the USA; this is definitely alternative medicine.

I'm currently receiving prolotherapy for my lower back, among other areas, and am pretty pleased with the results so far. Multiple treatments are usually required about a month apart; I'm getting my 4th next week.

[Wide]

Mate, it depends what part of the back anatomy is being injected. Personally I have had good success with CT guided facet joint injections of local anaesthetic and cortisone, followed up by physio and PROLOTHERAPY 2 x a month for 4 months, for a disc problem which the back surgeon suggested surgery for 10 years ago.

Having said that the above therapy made the pain bearable, didn't make it disappear.

Of the lot PROLOTHERAPY was the best one for me followed closely by the cortisone shots.

Look into it.

Good luck man.

[Ninjo]

Originally Posted by fireguy10720

Went to Doc. 2 months ago. He told me i have 2 bulging discs @ L5/S1. Tried therapy since then with no relief. Go in tuesday for MRI to see how bad it is.. They want to try injections with surgery last resort. I dont like either of these but the pain is getting unbareable and not makin it easy to work. still hitting the gym 5-6 days a week, doing lots of streching and massages once a week. Anybody had any similar problems and have any insight to injections?? What to expect or if they help at all?? Been very stressed lately with the back. Any advice is awesome.

I injured myself lifting in the exact same area in early 2006. For the longest time I had to give up certain aspects of my jiu-jitsu training, namely the grappling side of things. I tried everything in 2006 to avoid going to a chiropractor for the first time in my life. But by April '07, I was getting desperate and decided to go see a chiro who was recommended to me by some of my co-workers.

A handful of visits to this guy changed my life. I was able to lift heavy again without causing an increase in the pain I felt in my back and I started grappling again in no time. I still wake up with a little bit of back pain in the mornings but I'm back on the jiu-jitsu mat 3 times a week grappling with guys that outweigh me by 50 lbs.. For me, it was the right choice.