Herniated Disc/Cortisone Injection - Can I ski at all?

Hey Guys,

I just got back from getting a cortisone injection for a herniated L5 disc. I've been dealing with the pain for about a month now - and I was under the assumption the entire time after the cortisone shot I would be able to ski.

Today my doctor told me I could not ski or play hockey for one year. Needless to say I'm freaking out (an understatement - I'm on the verge of total meltdown). The doctor was pretty specific in stating if I didn't follow his instructions I would have to undergo microdiscectomy surgery to remove the hernia at the very list, assuming I don't cause any other damage.

Basically I am looking for anyone who has experience with a herniated disc and the treatment for it. Can I ski lightly with my girlfriend (literally greens and maybe blues, just to get out of the house)? Should I be extra cautious? Literally any advice is really appreciated. I'm trying to hold it together right now.

Cheers,

Cassidy

I missed a season recovering from the same disc injury. If you had to get a cortizone injection for the pain and the injury is only a month old, you might want to consider taking the doc's advice. It doesn't take much to re aggravate it. Good luck and speedy recovery to ya.

thanks for the words Moeghoul, much appreciated.

So i've got in touch with a friend who might be able to get me access to a machine called a DRX-9000.

It's basically a surgery free way to repair a disc (in theory). Anyone have experience with this machine?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SwiftSilentSquaw

thanks for the words Moeghoul, much appreciated.

So i've got in touch with a friend who might be able to get me access to a machine called a DRX-9000.

It's basically a surgery free way to repair a disc (in theory). Anyone have experience with this machine?

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In short,was stuck in the same boat as you few years ago. Check out the old posts.


In short : You are probably done for a while (albeit disk injuries vary).


-In normal cases disks repair them selves within few months,if you dont do PT & exercise.

-In optimal cases you get back to skiing within couple of months if you do wisely PT,stretch ,get your legs & buttocks massaged and refrain yourself from any high tempo/impact activities.

-In bad cases the symptoms prevail after the cortisone wears of and continues for months until easing up.

-In the worst case you overdo stuff,rip the disk properly and sink in to the world of pain where the only outcomes are a operation or madness.





As said check out the old threads, there is a mountain of info and good advice in them. If you are serious you will heed the advices you get from the posts and be back on skis by spring (insallah!) or if you decide to be dumb and push your luck,well,you´ll be on skis within days... :)

But dont be dumb. Take care of your back,you can only make it worse,for decades to come,if you dont take your time to get yourself fixed. There is no free lunch.

There is allways the next winter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SwiftSilentSquaw

Hey Guys,

I just got back from getting a cortisone injection for a herniated L5 disc. I've been dealing with the pain for about a month now - and I was under the assumption the entire time after the cortisone shot I would be able to ski.

Today my doctor told me I could not ski or play hockey for one year. Needless to say I'm freaking out (an understatement - I'm on the verge of total meltdown). The doctor was pretty specific in stating if I didn't follow his instructions I would have to undergo microdiscectomy surgery to remove the hernia at the very list, assuming I don't cause any other damage.

Basically I am looking for anyone who has experience with a herniated disc and the treatment for it. Can I ski lightly with my girlfriend (literally greens and maybe blues, just to get out of the house)? Should I be extra cautious? Literally any advice is really appreciated. I'm trying to hold it together right now.

Cheers,

Cassidy

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God, where do I start?

Well, here is my thread, [ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166220"]Torn discs......[/ame]

So my doc(s) have never told me to stop exercise or activity, although warned to take it easy on many occasions.
Have 2 torn discs, with degen. disc disease so they just get worse. 36 yrs old.
Have had 2 recent rounds of cortisone epidurals. The first 3 (all that day) did wonders for me for about a year. Just in for 2 more at one time a few months ago and they helped for a few weeks and now back into my normal pain cycle, waking up on a scale of 1-10 at a 4 or so, gets worse through the day.

I no longer take pain pills as I was bordering on addiction. I just deal with it and stretch a TON. L4-L5 and L5-S1 blown.

I am taking it easy this year, switched to skiing from over a decade of snowboarding, going 50-70% of my normal charge, which isn't all that anyway.
I have grounded myself as well several years ago, not even a foot jump if I can help it. Not worth it anymore.

Skied a few runs Sunday, back was sore from dealing with my skiing 5 yo on the chair. Pain is finally subsiding to around a 2 now and plan to ski Sunday again, no kid. In fact I plan to hit as many Sundays as possible as my pass is set up this way.

After the season I am going back in to discuss further options. I am simply tired of getting out of bed every freaking day in a decent amount of pain.

So maybe taking some time off to let things try to heal is a good thing. I did not and look where I am. But again, I was never told to take time off.

A year seems like a lot. It is really up to you and how you want or don't want your back to heal if it can. I am no doc, just a dude in a similar boat.

2 cents.

Everyone, the stories and links to older posts are much appreciated and really helpful.

I can be stubborn and this whole thing has been not only painful but pretty emotional for me (I'm only 25, I don't really know how this happened and I'm trying to avoid a lifetime of back pain) so I need the encouragement to not ski and let my body properly heal.

Huge bummer. Thanks again everyone.

25. Whatever you decide, be careful.
This was about the time I hurt my back in a fall.

Good luck. Back pain getting in the way of what we love to do simply sucks.

^^^^ ditto,
did my back 22 years old. Lifetime of ski racing as well did not help.
be very careful with the path you take

I have degen disc disease at l5-s1 that I keep it in control with a lot of core training, but still end up with a cortisone shot every few years. I've also had a microdiscectomy w/ fusion at C6-7, with a bunch of epidural cortisone injections as interim steps before deciding on surgery

The thing about cortisone - it weakens soft tissue for a while, making it a lot easier to tear up stuff around it the injection area. That said, my docs never told me I couldn't either ski or ride mtb after a week or two, so long as I took it easy and was relatively pain free.

I am sort of surprised that your Dr. said no skiing for a year . I can see high-speed hockey collisions posing a great risk. But lite skiing on green/blue cruisers? Seems like the core work will be beneficial. Maybe another doc's opinion is in order.

Good luck

Any of you who have been through this...please help me mentally. My doc just said today"absolutely" no ski for season. I have a broken piece of disc and can move with pain...How the F do you get to the headspace where you realize it is what it is. Best snow year is years and I have to sit on my ass. Any coping strategy would be hugely appreciated...freaking out

there will always be snow, but your back is forever. I dont know where you live, but get away from the snow and the mountain. If you cant do that, immers yourself in your work.

Any of you who have been through this...please help me mentally. My doc just said today"absolutely" no ski for season. I have a broken piece of disc and can move with pain...How the F do you get to the headspace where you realize it is what it is. Best snow year is years and I have to sit on my ass. Any coping strategy would be hugely appreciated...freaking out

I had a herniated disc at L5-S1, had an injection and was skiing 3 days later...against the docs orders. I shouldn't have. I was recovering nicely, and took a fall mid-season which wiped out the rest of it. Then after nursing it another 5 months, hurt it again. Had I done what I should've in the first place, it would've healed faster & better more than likely. Now I'm dealing with lifelong sensitivity & ease of aggravation.

BTW -- I'm sitting out the rest of this season because I shredded my ankle. It wasn't really until this weekend that it really hit me how much this sucks. I'm praying for time to pass. I can't do anything with this injury - I can't even take the dog for a walk. I'm passing the time best I can -- selling gear to raise funds for surgery, playing guitar, reading good books, watching good movies...but nothing makes me feel better about missing out on the 2nd half of the season.

My real hope is focusing on recovery and coming into next season stronger than this one, which shouldn't be too hard considering the summer I had leading up to this season - too much office time, and not enough fitness time. Next year will be different.

I'm a ski patrol as well, and still have to cover a shift. That REALLY sucks, because I don't want to even be around skiing. I sit and hand out band-aids, and splint wrists all night. Real fun. Even hanging out on teh intertubez kinda sucks. You hear about everyone else's great season...while you sit on the sidelines.

Good luck to you. It's all about distractions.

AxeBiker...
Thanks man...I guess it just feels good to know that lots of people go through this. I too am trying to learn guitar, pay for all this crap that my health insurance apparently does not and try and pretend it is spring here in Boulder while my wife is up ripping a foot of fresh at Vail today. Like you, I have been invited to go to Snowbird and Aspen to "hang out" but as far as I am concerned its like taking a clinmber with a broken leg to Indian Creek or a surfer to Costa Rica with a cast on their arm. I suck at sitting still but enough people have scared me that i guess i have to stop feeling sorry formyself and suck it up....this is brutal. Good luck to you my friend as well....By the way, I too am "in the business" working for Wagner Custom Skis and Mammut for all their PR:) Have already missed 1 cat trip....where is my Valium?....

Thanks man...stuck in CO until spring and then hopefully will salvage a decent surf season ...

I've been through this a couple times. Best bet is to tough it out and be ready to hit it hard next season.

I had a microdiscectomy on L5/S1 but the same disk failed a year after w/out any significant trauma. Getting old sucks.

The original poster might have had enough recovery time but if you are just in the middle of dealing with this in mid Feb, just suck it up. If you are anything like me, you won't be able to resist a bump line or a little bit of air. Strengthen your core and focus on being ready for waves this summer. That's exactly what I did last year. Injection in early May and I was surfing by late July. Save a couple pills for later.

Thanks my friend...moving forward with 2nd cortisone injection trying to avoid the knife. Just got cleared to swim , so will be hopefully surfing and sailing in May. Appreciate the support, and yes, definitely putting away a few Oxy's!

I would really advise against surfing until you're better. I was surfing 3 months after I fractured my L3 and I think that was one of the reasons that I am now suffering from a L5/S1 hernia because my body adapted to reintroducing lumbar strain through surfing when it wasn't ready. Now I'm dealing with 'gluteal amnesia' and a hernia at the same time. IMO, I would swim and give yourself a goal with Pilates for example. I wish I'd had some decent advice at the time. Surfing is pretty much my life and I wish someone had told me to get my core strength 200% sorted so I could surf the rest of my life rather than just surf a few months earlier than I should have just because I was impatient. I reckon I'll be ok to surf in the future but the reality is, because of impatience, it's still in the balance. Please learn from my mistakes although I realise that's much easier said than done.

i had surgery for a herniated L4-L5

i tried all sorts of things prior to alleviate the issue (cortisone, acupuncture, PT/stretching) - none worked

six months after surgery i was back to being active. that was 6 years ago and i am happy i dealt with it.

while surgery is not something to consider lightly, you may think about getting it dealt with so that next year you will be on the slopes

just waiting it out is not really a solution. herniations will subside over time, but it takes years not months - the discs shrink as part of aging

I had a herniated L4/L5, foot drop, numbness, etc. Tried cortisone epi to no avail. MRI showed herniation and my orthopedic recommended surgery.

The neurosurgeon suggested micro-lumbar disectomy and laminectomy. The sooner the better. Apparently a disk fragment was impinging on the S1 nerve. The way it was explained to me was that the longer there was pressure on that nerve, the lower the chance of complete recovery. This was a season ending injury which happened in January. I had the surgery in early March after skiing for another 4 or 5 weeks. Then did nothing until mid summer.

Recovery was better and faster than expected, although I still have some residual pain/discomfort, but nothing compared to pre-surgery! That was 8 years ago and now at 48 I feel that I made the right decision opting for surgery. I had been in excruciating pain and walking with a pronounced limp pre-surgery. The surgery itself was minimally invasive and left only about a 1.5 inch scar. The relief it provided was immeasurable!

The surgery option might not be best in all cases, but in mine, it did the trick!
The inactivity during recovery sucked. I had some real issues with depression, etc. That proved to be a bigger obstacle than the injury/surgery itself. Fortunately, they have meds for that too!:smile:

I would be careful about delaying addressing both the physical and psychological aspects of this type of injury.

As said above, you really need to see what works for you. Also, be realistic about the size of the hernia. Surgery might well be needed if it's big, if not you may be able to do other things. Either way, in my case, a radical rethink of how I did things before is needed. Depending on how you think, holistically it might not be such a disaster after all. I know in my case it might just be what I needed!

Wow...thanks for advice all...Dominici sorry to hear it went that way for you. I think eventually flat water SUP will be helpful for Core...Swimming seems to be helping, and I am the 44 yr old guy doing water aerobics with all the old ladies now...

I am past worrying about a lost ski season at this point and just want to get healthy and "beat " this...my appreciation and sympathies to all who have also suffered this and cared enough to chime in...it helps alot to hear from people other than my docs in Boulder.

For what it's worth, NOTHING the doctors have said has helped AT ALL. This may well be Europe's healthcare system but still. My physio has been excellent mostly by really making me work hard even when it's extremely uncomfortable, changing my diet may or may not have helped but since I modified it I've felt so much better, Pilates type exercises have been great to support the area and also realign the spine and Reiki has been fucking magic I shit you not plus a bit of biomagnetic therapy thrown in. It's impossible to single out one thing as I've also been off work which helps relax as work was very stressful but one thing is for sure, it was better than the doctor's advice: surgery, you're fucked.

Bastard.

Herniated discs commonly cause low back pain with pain referring into the lower leg. Try to avoid sitting but if you have to sit, accentuate the curve in your lower back. Roll up a towel and place it at your belt or waist level. This will help you maintain a good sitting posture. This means the disc is putting further pressure on the nerve.These common sense approaches can go a long way toward helping reduce your pain and get moving again.