Anyone got any positive stories of recovering from a slipped disc?

I Herniated a disc last March which took about 12 weeks to get to the point where I could ride a bike again. However since about the beginning of last September I’ve had niggly pain and stiffness in my lower back and right hip which gets worse the more I ride a bike.

I’ve seen a physio, been doing loads of stretching and core work (about 1-2 hours 4-5 times a week). I even tried an extended break from any biking (3 months) which showed some improvement but now I’ve started biking again the same problems have resurfaced.

I’m beginning to think my biking ‘career’ as it was is now over and that the best I can hope for is managing it so that I can get out on the bike whenever my back allows, which is a miserable prospect to say the least 🙁

….waits for the MTFU replies.

Yes, had a slipped disc a few years back and for about 2-3 months I was a bit of a wreck. On strong painkillers so I could actually sleep at night, walking with a real hunched back and bad sciatic pain. Once it had actually been diagnosed as a slipped disc then started physio work, basically lots of core stability stuff. As the weeks rolled on then things improved and I came back to 100% operational capability 😉 Still do core work three times a week as a preventative measure and touch wood all is still OK.

I did fear the worst re: biking future when I was really suffering but now, no probs 🙂 Hope you end up with the same outcome…

I am currently suffering terrible pain with sciatica. Been going on since xmas. Currently waiting for referral from GP as i don’t know the root cause but i’m not holding out much hope.
I want to do all the core type stuff but have found it too painful but i suppose its the only way?
No biking and constant pain/shuffling like an 80 year old (38) is really doing my head in 🙁

Good luck! I’m lucky in that I’ve got private cover through work so once I actually got to see a (private) doc then an MRI was sorted within 48hrs and the slipped disc confirmed following that.

I’m not covered and self employed so a bit anxious. Everything is a struggle pain wise.

My back has been a weakness for a while i think. Lots of cycling, but nothing else. I think i can pinpoint it to a particular sneeze before christmas when something definitely ‘went’

Not a happy place!

L3/L4 disc hernia here. It got worse with increased stress when it was troublesome. I was fortunate that my last employer had private medical insurance for us all.
Symptoms of the last flare up were sciatic pain and a muscle spasm in my right calf that would not go away. Loads of physio and acupuncture to manage the pain while I waited on the MRI results. I then had a foraminal nerve block carried out under sedation and there has been no recurrence of the pain. I’ve kept my core strong, good for cycling and climbing too.

L2 about 10 years ago repeatedly. 18 months of hell (beautifully iced by ex-wife upping unexpectdly and tryimng to get the house, but that’s another matter). Physios, doctors, osteopaths all shook their respective heads. Then one day it just eased and that’s when i strated biking. Never stopped since and now look at it as a rather odd silver lining.

Keep your chin up, I know it’s hard when you’re in pain / immobile.

Zbonty, if you haven’t already, go see a physio. That way at least you’ll get a diagnosis quickly without having to wait for a scan. It’ll cost in the region of £40 but just having a diagnosis and a plan for recovery is a massive mental boost. Also try to stay away from the horror stories on the internet. Very difficult I know but they just lead to paranoia, fear and depression.

Good luck!

Mine went 20ish years ago. Months of pain. Mylogram showed two slipped discs. 4 weeks ago I sneeze or something and within an hour can’t move. Still suffering.

Really pissed that I’d lost all that weight and got really fit and bang it still goes.

Actually this has just cheered me up hearing about how long everyone else has been suffering – makes mine seem not long. Second the mental boost for a recovery plan. I checked on my go referral from three weeks ago yesterday an found they hadn’t done it. Went to pieces. Today sat with go while referral happened in the room and now have appt in two weeks. Feel loads better. Physio tomorrow will also cheer me up no end.

recovery is a subjective word….

I slipped my first disc at 15 now at 46 have several prolapsed discs including lumbar region but my worse have been c5 c6, lumbar ones have flared up over the past 30 yrs but in that time i have skied, climbed, cycled weight trained , run,swum but had to give up rugby and footy.
In that time had relapses of sciatic and pain but nothing prepared me for the pain of a slipped/prolapsed discs in my neck.
I would suggest everyone is different and what works for one will not work for you but this is what worked for me

acupuncture followed by physio treatment
core work and stretching, gently to start with
cycling
osteopath every 8 weeks
learning that if your hips are out your back will be out taking more strain…bio metrics…alingment is really important

what did not work
sitting around doing nothing blood flow does help
chiropracters
surgery back in the day….differeent now but skeptical
putting weight on after 9 months on no actvity on consultants orders.

on your bike, sorry but it may be anything from the saddle to sadddle height, are you riding spds. they wrecked me, have you or do you get tight hamstrings when riding…..lots of little things can flare it up

Good luck and be patient do not MTFU but as my daughter says WomanTFU,,,,meaning do not listen to macho bullsh*t listen to your body!

The after-effects of the nerve block were amusing, I was in possession of someone else’s legs! Attempting the room traverse to the toilet it was a barely controlled fall to each support point.
The relief after 15 years of intermittent suffering was great.

Flexi-icepacks and strong painkillers were my previous best friends. I haven’t needed them now for 4 years (touches wood).

Sandwich are you recommending this nerve block? Presumably you learn to walk again?

Hmmmm. Losing control/feeling in your legs doesn’t sound like ‘relief’ to me. It probably would have me a state of utter panic and depression. I assume these after effects weren’t permanent?

Yes, I had a prolapsed disc 18 years ago.lot of sciatic nerve problems and shooting pain. Eventually had an op. Took a while to recover but haven’t been to bad since. Can still do 12 hour solo races. As has been said,chin up, you can recover.

Somebodys spamming machine is a bit slow!

Robbo in answer to your question the lack of walking was the after effects of the sedative nothing to do with the nerve block itself.

I have two herniated discs, diagnosed a couple of years ago via a scan. Been doing core, stretching and foam rolling 3-4 times a week so 1-2 hours/week as per one of the above posters and all seems fine. I do get the odd twinge, but that is generally due to tight leg muscles, generally my calves. But, a week of targeting them with stretches and foam rolling and I’m back to normal :).

So hopefully you should make a full recovery. I did also go to an osteopath who clicked and crunched me for a few weeks until he eventually managed to straighten me out, so you might find that helps.

I had sciatia caused by a herniated disc about 4 years ago. I was agony and left me unable to do any exercise or even able to sit down for more than a few minutes. Work with NHS physio, lots of core exercise and reintroducing exercise really produced massive improvements.

I have occassional relapses, I can put my back out doing anything from climbing to just a bit of light jogging, but now I know what to do I can sort myself out quickly.

I also go to a Yoga class twice a week which has really helped to loosen me up, not just my back but also shoulders, ankles, legs – too be honest I was a wreck of accumulated injuries

I am able to ride, run, surf without problems. Need to be careful when I climb, but have given up tennis as the rotation continued to cause issues.

I am a bit stiff even at the best of times, but nothing more than the feeling after a good day of riding. But it is improving still and doesn’t really bother me.

It is a frustratingly long process, but get professional help and stick with it.

Good luck

Recovery with conservative manual therapy (eg osteopathy) is favourable, and almost all of the lumbar disc bulges I treat make good, full recovery.

Looking after your damaged disc is inextricably linked to good recovery progress, so avoid the sofa like the plague (except to lie on it), NO hot baths, any kind of sitting should be avoided, if you’re driving decline the seat rake, and strengthen core if necessary.

I agree with Bonesetter about avoiding sofas. I’m pretty sure that posture was what caused my problems more than anything else.

I had a prolapsed disc in my lower back nearly 3 years ago. Woke up one morning and couldn’t get out of bed, across the room, down the stairs – took about half an hour. I got a bit of physio, improved my posture, had a few weeks off work and things got a lot better, to the point where I was camping, walking up mountains and booking train tickets to take my bike to the alps. Then it went really wrong.

I made one bad movement and the disc ruptured. The pain and immobility were far worse than before – basically I had 6 months off life. Couldn’t go to work at all – fortunately I could do a lot of my work from home so spent a lot of time lying on my front propped up with pillows in front of a laptop. I couldn’t do any journeys in cars that were more than a few minutes or anything that wasn’t standing up straight or lying down. Sitting wasn’t an option. My left leg was numb with regular agonising spasms, so I could only walk for a few seconds at a time.

That was 2 years ago. Now, I cycle just as much as I ever did, play badminton, dance, work, swim (do I sound like a tampon advert?), all with no adverse effects. The thing that aggravates it most is slouching in a sofa, but I can get away with the odd hour of it. It got better very slowly and still twinges occasionally but I know what to do about it when it does.

What I did have to do is get a shorter frame – moved from a 19″ rockhopper to an 18.5″ trek and raised my handlebars a lot(I posted a pic of my bike on here once and people were horrified, but that doesn’t take much tbh). But I can cycle for more than 5 hours a day for weeks at a time without any pain.

It’s different for everyone, of course, but don’t write anything off. Look after yourself and there’s a very good chance you’ll be able to do everything (or if not then almost everything) you could before.

Also, getting glasses helped. It’s only when I couldn’t lean forwards to get closer to computer monitors that I realised just how bad my eyesight was. My posture’s loads better now I wear specs 🙂

Good to hear there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m still recovering from a herniated disc in my neck. Been nine months now, although I didn’t know what was wrong for first four months as I didn’t see anyone about it. I carried on riding when I was able but made things worse and as a result i’ve been told it will delay recovery. Some days I feel like it’s getting better, other days it feels like it did when I originaly hurt it.

I’m hoping it’s sloooowly getting better, but as above, I have to be very careful what positions I get my upper body into as a wrong move causes my right arm to go instantly numb – I don’t mind a bit of pain but this is worrying. My physio has been posture and mobility work mostly and i’ve had to re-learn day-to-day stuff (like brushing my teeth, putting socks on etc).

The two worst things I can do for my condition are sitting for long periods and cycling. That was pretty much all i did as work involves 12 hours shifts using computers and days off are for cycling and wrestling my boys.

I’ve been out once on the bike since I started physio (advised 20 mins should be ok – I stayed out all day 😳 ) and realised that it’s still too soon. I’m in the process of adapting my hardtail so i can sit more upright when the time comes and I’ll be ditching the glasses in favour of contacts for riding as there’ll be no ‘blind spots’ so I can move my neck less.

i got back having done pilates exercises religiously for the six weeks i was off work and then for years after. completely sorted me out, i appreciate i was lucky though.
the consultant i saw (sheffield) was an interesting chap, he delayed my appointment for a few weeks and when i saw him he gave me the option of an op but the physio work i’d been doing had brought about such an improvement that i decided against it. he said that was the reason for delaying my consultation as i would have opted for the op if i’d seen him sooner.
good luck

I had the same issue. After 3 years of hell, I got an operation to slice off the bulge in the disc. I’m 3 years post op now, do Pilates every day and regularly get physio treatment, which all help to keep the problem at bay. During post options, I have pro lapsed the disc again but nowhere near as badly. Keep up with the physio, get your posture sorted and keep on keeping on. Good luck.

That’s good advise on setting up an upright riding posture. A ‘roadie/XC’ set-up will induce too much lower back flexion or ‘slumping in the sofa’ 🙂