Degenerating Discs

[bimmere92]

After a year of excrutiating spasms every few months or so, my doc did an XRAY and MRI and determined I have a mild case of degenerative discs... essentially from poor posture and sitting at a desk all day long. My C5/C6 and C6/C7 discs are wearing down...

Anyone have similar issues? Damn desk jobs...

[Swank]

Thread from the dead, didn't see any reason to start a new one.

I was diagnosed with degenerating discs too, mine in my neck too, and I was spending a lot more time at my desk in the years leading up to it. Took me years to get it figured out, I thought I was just pulling muscles from going too hard at the gym, unfortunately the gym did contribute a bit. Occasionally I'd hyper-extend my neck on rows to get that last rep in and feel a bad tensing pain in my neck, pain would last for days, then my right arm would go numb a lot for 6-8 months. This caused a lot of grief at the gym as any lifts/presses involving arms resulted in about a 20% loss in strength - very discouraging and frustrating.

First time it happened I thought it was a one time bad move, 2nd time I went to the doc and he said it was due to my posture at my desk, 3rd time I went to a chiropractor who ordered x-rays and diagnosed the clearly degenerating discs. I have since changed my gym routine; instead of doing 5 sets of 6-8 reps I do 4 sets of 8-10 with a slightly lower weight, and I do each muscle group once a week instead of twice. This has helped in giving my body more time to recover between workouts. Obviously it's taken a lot longer to get my strength back up but I'm feeling great once again. Shoulder presses and upright rows helps a lot, shrugs are still uncomfortable so I'm taking it very easy on those. Also recently got a neck harness and it's really helping a lot for strengthening the neck muscles (http://www.roguefitness.com/neck-harness).

Other big thing that helped a lot was my new bed, old one was about 15 years old. Helped with back aches in a big way too. I feel like I'm in my 20's again, what a big change over the past few months. Just wanted to share in case I can help others avoid or recover from what I've been wrestling with for years.

[UndrgroundRider]

I'm in the same boat. C2 through C6 are desiccated and bulging. Years of poor posture and way too many hours at a desk.

The things that helped me the most were raising my monitor height (even higher than recommended, my eye level is slightly below half way down the screen), firmer mattress, thinner pillow and better posture habits. It's unbelievable how much of an effect small adjustments like that can have but it was night and day for me. I'm pretty much back to normal now except I'm extra cautious about any sort of activity that would strain my neck.

[Nufy]

Yep...welcome to my world...

Way too many years slouching at a desk caused mine...

I have it under control now because I am conscious of how I sit and am careful not to over exert myself.

Mine is actually compounded with a bad case is sciatica every now n then...

Getting old sucks...

[Dumbass17]

Not sure if my are degenerating but I had a slipped (pronated) disc in January 2015.
It put me in bed for 3 weeks and short term disability for 3 months.
I blame poor posture/incorrect core form/lack of any core training at the gym for many years.
Haven't been to the gym since, too fat and scared now haha

[jsn]

how old are you guys? I'm nearly 30 now and my back has been giving me issues on and off. It's usually after going to the gym. At first I thought it was bad form (which at first it probably was), but I've been keeping conscious about keeping good form and keeping my back straight. I just "tweaked" it again yesterday. Usually after these incidents, my back is in pain for week or so after the incident (not the "good work out" type of sore).

How do you go about getting this diagnosed? Do you go to your regular family doctor? Or do you need to book an appointment with a sports med clinic? I want to find out if I have an issue with my back or if it's simply weak back muscles/bad form.

[theken]

At 30 I herniated 2 discs. 8 months or so of disability, cried from pain for the first time since I was a child, couldn't sit, stand, lay flat or drive without the worst pain, had to sit in a 3/4 position for most of the day and sleep that way. My posture is amazing now to say the least.

[Swank]

Originally posted by jsn
how old are you guys? I'm nearly 30 now and my back has been giving me issues on and off.

How do you go about getting this diagnosed? Do you go to your regular family doctor? Or do you need to book an appointment with a sports med clinic? I want to find out if I have an issue with my back or if it's simply weak back muscles/bad form.

I'm 39, started having problems about 5 years ago. My chiropractor diagnosed me. If you have a health plan of any kind chances are you can go for a few sessions for dirt cheap ($13 a visit for me for the first 8 visits per year).
Almost everyone eventually gets DDD (degenerating disc disease), I recently read that the prevalence of DDD is roughly described in proportion to age such that 40% of people aged 40 years have DDD, increasing to 80% among those aged 80 years or older.

[Nufy]

46 here,

Diagnosed about 4 years ago after a bad couple weeks working in the US.

Bad flight plus lots of hours aggravated the injury to a point where I couldn't sleep due to the pain.

When I got back my doctor had a bunch of tests / scans etc...done and revealed all to me.

Told me it will probably get worse as I get older still...

[Dumbass17]

31.
As soon as you turn 30, your back goes, it seems.

Be very careful in the gym, jsn.

As another stated, I hadn't cried in ages until I hurt my back and couldn't move. If I didn't have my girlfriend, I don't know how I would've gotten by for the 3 weeks of bed ridden. Even farting/pissing and oh god, taking a dump was the worst pain. I'll never take that for granted. Any pelvic movement sent incredible agony down my leg. One time, I had to get my female roommate to help me put on a slipper so I could take a taxi to my chiro appointment. I completely lost it and broke down. I wanted to end it haha, it's that bad. I am not a crier and jesus christ, worst pain ever!

Anyways...

[theken]

Exact same thing dumbass, I cried on my stairs when I couldn't make it to my car. Then I proceeded to lay on the floor for 2 hours until I decided to go to the hospital. I was still working at this point. Pain pills do nothing.

[Dumbass17]

Originally posted by theken
Exact same thing dumbass, I cried on my stairs when I couldn't make it to my car. Then I proceeded to lay on the floor for 2 hours until I decided to go to the hospital. I was still working at this point. Pain pills do nothing.

Agreed. I had lots of drugs but nothing helped. I didn't sleep for months. I'm feeling ALOT better (been back to work since may) but I can still feel it in my sciatic nerve/piriformis from time to time and am extra paranoid to injure it again

[theken]

Haha same time frame with me, and same situation, I felt a tweak today and was like oh fuck. My surgeon told me nerves heal (if at all) around 1-2 mm a month...so depending on how much was damaged it could be a long time for full recovery.

I took a nerve pill that was supposed to help, all it did was make me gain 15lbs in a week and tired. Shitty thing is the surgery recovery time is roughly the same as natural recovery time, surgeon was impressed I was walking when he looked at my MRI. 18mm herniation almost complete nerve block.

[scboss]

I found out that i had this 2 years ago after experiencing back pain thinking it was from a gym injury. Turns out having a tight psoas muscle combined with some shitty posture was the culprit. Since working on my mobility and beefing up the muscles around the discs I have been pretty much pain free.

I hit a 480lb deadlift two weeks ago pain free and ive gone even higher with the trap bar. I think the biggest mistake I made was not keeping the muscles in my lower/upper back and hips loose. Having full ranges of motion has been key for relieving the pressure.

This vid might help you guys out



I think the biggest mistake you can make with this issue is being sedentary. Even if that means just going for daily walks and stretching out it will help keep your back pain free.

[Kloubek]

You know Beyond is getting old when....

[Pacman]

Been there, done that. I'm 40 years old.

2007 had a massive herniation at L4/L5. Left leg and foot were numb. Rushed into surgery as I lost bladder control. Had a microdisectomy.

Feel good for about a year, then I slipped on some ice. Disc reherniated and foot went numb again. That was a minor issue compared with the throbbing pain I had in my groin. Felt like someone was hitting my testicles with a sledgehammer. Had another "micro d" in 2008.

2010 re-herniated. Foot numb. Had a lumbar fusion with titanium rods/bolts/disc spacer.

Have felt pretty good since then. Last month I tweaked something and I've got some nerve issues down my leg, really tight back muscles etc. No back pain which is a good sign. I'm hoping it's tight piriformis muscles causing the issues. If it's a disc above or below the fusion, it will be rinse and repeat.

[Unknown303]

Originally posted by warcaster
Turns out having a tight psoas muscle combined with some shitty posture was the culprit. Since working on my mobility and beefing up the muscles around the discs I have been pretty much pain free.

This caused me a lot of back pain and doing psoas stretches and hitting the gym more has help me be pain free for over a year and a half now.

[Robin Goodfellow]

Can yoga or swimming help with these issues?

Not recommending - Just curious.

I'm sure my day isn't far away.

[Robin Goodfellow]

Originally posted by Kloubek
You know Beyond is getting old when....

It seemed like just last week you guys were all getting kids.

What's next, a motorized scooter thread?

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by Robin Goodfellow

What's next, a motorized scooter thread?

in!