Posted by Leif Irgens on November 23, 2004 at 08:38:57:
In Reply to: Help! posted by Annette Porter-Ham on November 23, 2004 at 07:08:20:
Annette:
YOU MUST REST !!!! Your continuing to run is making things much worse !! I haven't had back surury or a herniated disk but I have had disk inflammation, which is painful enough; twice in the last year it's been severe enough to render me incapable of getting into the car to drive to work and has reduced me to sitting around the house on ice bags and eating anti-inflammatories to reduce the swelling. Both cases took about 1 week before I could resume training and also, in both cases, it took about 2-3 weeks before the pain subsided. And remember, that was just inflammation, not herniation.
Anyway, back to my first point. I can't say whether or not you should have surgury but I can say this: You CANNOT train through this problem. If you love running, you MUST give it up for a while. Allow the damage to heal. I understand when you say running is less painful that sitting. My worst pain was when I was lying down and, in one case, I had to spend 3 nights sleeping in an easy chair because I couldn't lie down. But running is making things worse.
REST!! Tough advice, I know because I can't stand to rest either. But you must look at the big picture and realize that, if you want to continue to run long-term, you're going to have to take a break short-term. As far as back surgury goes, I know a people who've had surguries. It helped some and not others. I also know a person whose doctor insisted he have back surgury. He tried chiropractic care as a last desperate move to avoid surgury and chiropractic care resolved his problem.
One thing I'd say for sure, get an opinion from a chiropractor and from at least one other doctor before getting surgury. Removing the disk is a permanent solution and, from what I've heard, may or may not help. Getting the disk to heal without surgury is the only way to keep the disk (disks there for a reason, of course).
I can recommend a couple of chiropractors who I trust (you can e-mail me at live2beoutside@aol.com). I can't say much about M.D.'s as I have had mostly very bad experiences with M.D.'s who've tried to diagnose or treat my long-term back problems. That doesn't mean there aren't any out there who can resolve your problem, just that I don't trust them with my back problems due to my own personal experience.
Best wishes,
Leif