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Question:
I was hoping that some of you might be able to help me with recovery from a lower back injury. I have been
struggling with an injury to a disc in my lumbar area (L3 or L4). The diagnosis has been that the disc has
been injured from excessive bending and pressure. The disc is not ruptured.
This injury (I think) took some time to set in and did not appear over night. I had noticed that after long
hard rides (particularly ones with a lot of hills) my lower back would get pretty sore. But usually it would
be fine in a day or two. Unfortunately I ignored this until one day I rode a little too hard and then
followed it with a weekend sitting in an uncomfortable car. I was so sore afterwards I could hardly climb out
of bed. It has been a problem since.
I can stand and run with very little aggravation. Sitting aggravates the injury in minutes. The most
comfortable position to be in is laying down on my back or stomach.
I have been going through physical therapy for about 2 months now (ultrasound and traction). My treatments
were twice a week for the first month and have gone to once a week now. I avoid sitting whenever possible. I
have not been on my bike since the injury either. I have seen improvement but it is a slow recovery. I was
told by my therapist that an injury like this can take up to 6 months to heal.
Do any of you have some advice on how to speed up the recovery? Also, what might be wrong with the way I am
riding or my bike geometry to help cause this? I know also that my job ( which involves a lot of sitting) did
not help my back either.
Answer:
I'm not a medical expert, but I've had my share of low back pain and I've
learned a few things. When in doubt, go see a medical professional.
1) there is a great deal of misinformation about backs,
including in medical circles. There's a lot of just plain witch-doctor
treatment, all of which "seems" to work at times because most backs get
better. 2) Chiropractic manipulation can provide symptomatic relief for
many people. Care must be exercised as it is often oversold however. 3)
The latest state of the art treatment for back pain can be found in the
consumer guide to the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research's Low
Back Pain Practice Guideline.
It's at
http://text.nlm.nih.gov/ahcpr/list.html. It's worth a look.
No
witchdoctory or folklore, it's the latest data from the Back Pain Patient
Outcome Research Team project and other sources of actual
*evidence-based* work on back pain. You'd be amazed and dismayed by how
utterly unscientific many of the treatments for back pain are.
Just echoing some advise given to me about 14yrs ago when I cracked a
vertibrae and crushed a disc in my lower back.
I was told that the back bone as such will not support any weight at all,
that it merely acts as a form for the muscles of the back and abdomen to
cramp down onto thus forming a support column for the weight. This is
backed up by the fact that a wieght belt works by increasing this
intra-abdomenal pressure. When you have a belt on and lift something the
muscles have a wall to press against in stead of simple expanding outwards
as they cramp so forming a stronger column.
Using this info I have found if I keep my back and stomach muscle strong
(using your normal weight excersizes) I don't have any problems with my
back. When I get lazy and let them go for a while I start getting
problems.
So strengthen and support ( a simple belt) helps out. I used to have to
use a belt but have not worn one for years now as I believe keeping the
muscles strong is enough.
Hope you get it sorted. There is nothing like the dibilitating back injury
to attack your confidence.
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