I havent't posted for a while. Last week I had severe back pain, and went to the doctor. He said I had a herniated disk in my upper back/neck. My first question, of course was when can I go back to swimming and biking. He said the disk could get better on it's own (until this morning it was).
Has anyone else had a herniated disk in their neck? How long were they down? The doc said I probably wouldn't need surgery.
And the biggie:
Does swimming help or hurt the condition? What about cycling?
I'm really bummed because I was supposed to do my first Alcatraz swim next week.
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Former Member
cjolsen:
Have you had a MRI? I'd get one and make an appointment to have a neurosurgeon look at the results. A herniated disk will "always get better", but an active person will inevitably have difficulty in the future.
In 2002 I had a herniated L4 disk (lower back) which was bulging and after seeing the MRI decided to have the surgery (a neurosurgeon).
What my guy did is slice open the lower back (a 3 inch scar), and with a laser, flick out disk fragments and other bone detritus that came from the disk bulging. Then he shaved the bulged disk, cut some additional gelatinous disk material, and re-packed the disk back into the spine.
When I awoke from the anesthesia, I felt much better--though of course the incision hurt (before the surgery I could not move to my left, when I awoke I could).
Also, what precipitated the surgery: I slammed on my brakes to avoid an accident (no impact) and the jolt of braking threw out my disk. So it's not always some traumatic accident. And when I would injure myself before the surgery it was always something mundane like changing the air filter on my car, cleaning the tub, or raking leaves.
For the neck they go in through your throat--I had a friend have the surgery last year who is a triathlete and he's doing much better.
Good Luck!
cjolsen:
Have you had a MRI? I'd get one and make an appointment to have a neurosurgeon look at the results. A herniated disk will "always get better", but an active person will inevitably have difficulty in the future.
In 2002 I had a herniated L4 disk (lower back) which was bulging and after seeing the MRI decided to have the surgery (a neurosurgeon).
What my guy did is slice open the lower back (a 3 inch scar), and with a laser, flick out disk fragments and other bone detritus that came from the disk bulging. Then he shaved the bulged disk, cut some additional gelatinous disk material, and re-packed the disk back into the spine.
When I awoke from the anesthesia, I felt much better--though of course the incision hurt (before the surgery I could not move to my left, when I awoke I could).
Also, what precipitated the surgery: I slammed on my brakes to avoid an accident (no impact) and the jolt of braking threw out my disk. So it's not always some traumatic accident. And when I would injure myself before the surgery it was always something mundane like changing the air filter on my car, cleaning the tub, or raking leaves.
For the neck they go in through your throat--I had a friend have the surgery last year who is a triathlete and he's doing much better.
Good Luck!
