I recently suffered a large herniated disc in my lumbar spine. The herniated disc pressed against the nerve root that travels down my leg causing pain and loss of reflex.
Over the past few weeks the pain has begun to subside and I am gaining strength.
My doctor recommended that I take 1.5 months off from BJJ to allow the disc to heal. However, he wasn't wild about me ever training again due to the pressure and twisting of the spine during BJJ.
Has anyone had a similar injury and if so how long did it take you to heal? Have you been able to return to full training? Finally, have you had recurring problems?
If you take 100 people with 'herniated disks' and MRI them then probably half the MRIs won't show anything. There are many different things that can cause shooting pain down your legs.
If you take 100 people without any back pain and MRI them then you'll probably find a significant percentage of them showing bulging or herniations in their disks.
Now I'm NOT saying that your back injury isn't very, very painful and debilitating. I've been there myself (I once had to lie on the floor without moving for about 20 hours)! I'm just arguing that this diagnosis is often applied kind of sloppily and isn't too useful in determining treatment.
I had a herniated disc between L4&L5. Ended up having to have surgery. Everything went good there, rehabbed with Scrapper's workout done about half intensity to start with and some Vinyasa Yoga for core strength. Back on the mats about five months after surgery and I'm better than ever.
About 6 years ago I was in a minor climbing accident which caused an already herniated disk at L2/L3 to fail catastrophically causing the vertebrae there to come crashing into each other and fracture. I did not walk for 6 weeks and after that it was with crutches. I was in agonizing pain for months and thought very seriously about suicide on a couple of occasions. I lived on vicodan, percocet and took ibuprofen in such high quantity that it gave me a bleeding ulcer. Grim times.
Anyway, eventually I was fitted with a full torso brace (from neck to hips) which I wore 24/7 for 4 months. L2/L3 fused themselves together and after 4 more months of PT I was good as new. I do BJJ now with no real problems there, and I'm pretty reliant on the guard so I am getting severely stacked and twisted up all the time.
So, the moral of the story is, you can almost certainly come back.
Yo, I just had surgery for a ruptured disk between L4 and L5. I had it in Brazil (I was training at Terere's). When it ruptured I was in bed for a week, unable to walk. It was reall bad. Sciatic pain, numbness, etc. Anyway, if you just have a herniated disk, there is a procedure where they put a 1 milimeter needle in your spine and remove the liquid. This removes the hernia. You don't get cut, and you walk out of there after 45 minutes. My disk was ruptured, so they had to open me up to remove the material. Anyway, I wouldn't fuck around with your back. Get the MRI, get it diagnosed. If you can heal it with meds and rest, do it. Ask your doctor about the non invasive procedure. Bottom line is: if the pain is great enough you will have to do something. If not, you might be able to heal on your own. BTW, it's been two months for me and I am fully pain free. I have started swimming and running, and hope to get back on the mat in a month or two. Peace