Charlie, what is Tony Galea’s area of expertise? I saw that you mentioned him and Wolfhart in the past.
Awesome!!! Congratulations!!
Thanks, I just need to get healthy and on the field. I don’t want to have to deal with this for the rest of my career.
The main issue besides a quality surgeon is the PT. Ask what the exact timeline is. I would get the minimal surgery IMO. With microdiscectomy some take longer than expected.
Surgery is set for Sept. 3 with Dr. Lieberman in Weston, FL. According to him, I’ll be able to begin exercising in 3 weeks and should be ready to return to the field in 6 weeks. I’m actually excited to get this fixed and be able to perform like I know I can.
geez man - what caused it in the 1st place? sounds very painful.
congrates too on the making the team, nice job
I had three herniated discs long ago. Did not have surgery. I’m guessing you are now much more fit than I was when I did mine. You will recover. You will probably be stronger and better conditioned as a result of your desire to keep your spine healthy. Good luck.
They say that most disc issues subside with time and rest, unfortunately I can’t afford a year of rest. I’m exceedingly confident that I’ll come back better than ever.
Ronnie Lott could not afford to rest, so he cut off his finger to keep playing. But this is your spine, not a finger. Your drive to excel is (probably) one reason you are in the great position you find yourself. Don’t let your drive put you in a bad position. I regret all those times I “warmed up” with loads that should have been work sets. I am certain that many on the board were at one time “bullet proof”. One year from now, would you rather be the guy who tried to come back too early or the guy who made a great comeback? Don’t forget the tale of the Old Bull and the Young Bull. This old fart is done giving advice. Good luck. Seriously.
I hear what you are saying and I’ll do my best to be safe coming back. The challenge will be knowing when to push and when to rest.
What kind of rehab protocol have people had success with similar injuries?
I would strongly suggest contacting Charlie and seeing if you can work with him for a week or two when you’re ready to get back into training. Charlie’s primary specialty these days seems to be repairing athletes, particularly football players. I spent one week with him a fews years ago and the benefit was nothing short of amazing. It’s mind blowing what he can do in just a week. And that was with little old me. It was the best investment I have ever made in my training.
It’s been two weeks since surgery and I’m extremely satisfied with the procedure, no more nerve pain!
I’ve been doing a lot of walking and I’m starting to use EMS tonight. Additionally I’m going to start with some isometrics and walking speed sprint drills then progress to doing bike series on the recumbent bike.
The only tricky thing is that pain is no indication whatsoever because there isn’t any! I’m going to be conservative and smart with this and build up slowly.
Very good - glad it went well
i had a back operation in 1984, my wife was told i would never walk again.
suggest you do some balance work, CF has covered this somewhere, never take the knee in front of the ankle. a broken bone or ruptured discs heal pretty much the same. how heavy would you have the weights 2 weeks out from a broken arm.
Glad it went well…from what I remember when I was a PT aide when people had any spinal surgery we did overall flexibility more than strength work right after surgery then shift focus to strength work (following the doctors recommendations) we would do isometrics all over the body/underwater treadmills/pnf stretch/EMS/and some machines mostly seated rows and lat pulldowns/isometric back holds
sorry for being so vague but that is all i can remember
9/16/09
EMS- glutes, hamstrings, shoulders- 10 on/50 off x 10
1/4 Squat Isometric (focus on contracting glutes)- 5x20’’
Lunge Iso (focus on contracting glutes)- 5x20’’ each leg
Side plank from knees- 90’’ ea. side
Front plank from knees- 60’’
Kneeling prone hip extension- 45’’ hold ea. side
Standing static hamstring stretch- 30’’
Hip flexor/ quad stretch- 30’’
Comments:
Started out with lower volume to stay on the cautious side, will progressively build up each day from here. Making sure to maintain neutral spine on every exercise. Left hamstring is very tight, seems like a lot of neural tension. Any suggestions for this? Right quad is also tighter than my left one. Not a bad start, hardest part will be restraining myself to some degree.
9/17/09
Stretch and gentle circles on Swiss ball
X band walks- 2x10 strides ea.
1/4 squat ISO- 6x20’’
ISO Lunge- 8x20’’ ea.
Hip Adduction- 2x15 w/ 30 lbs.
Hip Extension (not to full range)- 2x8
A1. Hammer Bench Press- 4x12
A2. Hammer Row- 4x12
Comments:
Very sore from yesterday’s session, glutes and hamstrings are hammered. Left glute med. is acting up a bit, fairly tight. Tonight’s workout went well, nothing too difficult. Starting some formal PT on Monday.
Did you ever have any tight muscles from neural tension before the surgery? Or do you think you did?
Yes I’ve had some tight muscles, something I’m looking to remedy to ensure that I’m keeping as much pressure as possible off the disc.
In my case, tight muscles especially in my hamstrings was a huge cause for putting undo forces on the discs. But it seems that no matter how much stretching and massage I did, the muscles would still be tight after just walking. This was before the surgery.
After the surgery the neural tension wasn’t as near as bad. But as I started doing speed work, etc there were still some areas that just don’t seem to get loose no matter how much therapy I get. Particularly the whole posterior chain (usually one side is tigher than the other).