Spinal disc herniation - Ski park/powder again in the future?

Posts: 0 - Karma: 11

Apr 27 2014 4:43AM

6 months ago i had an MRI and they discovered a spinal disc herniation in my lower back (L4-L5). I skied a lot of park and powder which was incredibly bad for my back and caused this injury. This is pretty uncommon for someone in my age (18 years old),but my youth makes me a good candidate for a 100% recovery.

This has absolutely been the most painfull and worst 6 months of my life. I went directly to physio after discovering my injury, and have trained harder than ever improving my core. They said it would take about 6 months for someone in my age to recover, and i'm feeling much better now,but still have pains down my leg.

In the end of August i'm leaving home for a year to attend at a skiing school, and have put A LOT of money into this, so i need to recover within that time. Has anyone else had experience with a 100% recovery from this? I'm planning to train core for the rest of my life to allow myself to ski, and are just praying for a healthy back at the moment

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El_Barto.

Posts: 11630 - Karma: 24,465

Apr 27 2014 9:38AM

My mom has had both a ruptured and herniated disk and still skis. I would stay away from the park though.

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0123456789

Posts: 9226 - Karma: 148

Apr 27 2014 1:25PM

i have 3 in my neck, and am fine, different areas, but despite the pain its not bad, havent done anything besides get prescribed painkillers, havent had time for physical therapy or anything. 23 yrs old btw

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T-Pency

Posts: 738 - Karma: 827

Apr 27 2014 3:12PM

Been 2 seasons on mine, I've been pretty hard on It because I ski almost year round.. About this time last year I could only sleep on my chest, and was In terrible pain all the time... From April to August I decided to do pretty much no impact activities, and was feeling pretty good for the beginning of this season.

It still bothers me a little after this season, but hopefully I can get back to 100% this summer!

I would recommend taking the time off, and using an inversion table. It really helps to get everything decompressed.

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Anathema

Posts: 21048 - Karma: 5,061

Apr 27 2014 3:22PM

50% of everyone has a disc bulge or herniation at some point in their life.

fact posted by the american journal of sports medicine in a recent paper. i know, this is my career.

i.e, don't catastrophize an otherwise inconsequential issue. if it's really really bad you get surgery. if you weren't told you immediately need surgery, you physio and exercise your feeble ass muscle back into shape so your muscle can hold the load you put on your back and other joints and mechanically you compress from a neutral spine and not all bent and fucked-up like.

other relevant stats were about necks, knees, and feet. everyone has some kind of arch / plantar fascia related issue, everyone gets some kind of mcl / meniscal injury, and everyone gets a fucked up neck and back at some point or another. the thing is, you have the power to undo what you've done to yourself with poor muscle tone / coordination and bad mechanics. or who knows, maybe you just train so fucking hard that you repeatedly strain these common stress areas. either way, it's not a big deal unless you're told by a specialist that it's a big deal and like i said you can undo it with simple exercise.

i've seen a marathon runner rehab 4 lumbar disc herniations and horrible patellofemoral issues that resulted in severely arthritic knees (and this is a girl who is like 34) back to 100%, so it can be done. you just gotta want to do it.

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