cha, I was thinking of you today while I was laying on my back with my legs in the air...

If I'm doing that stretch where you lie on the floor with your butt against the wall and your legs in the squat position and you get a really stretchy/tight/pain in the groin, does that mean I just need to do that stretch more?

Probably related, I was trying to do overhead squats today and I found I really had to turn my feet out (way more than my backsquat) to get any kind of depth while maintaining my spine position.

Do more laying on the ground with my legs in the air?

I dunno, maybe. Or just sumo your groin & do my voodoo band hip opener.


http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...postcount=2727

Actually, my 2nd question was going to be: Is that a "good" stretch?

If you're going to do that stretch, dont let your low back round.

:chathumb:

I'm fairly wary of that these days. It's like there is a little cha on my shoulder. ;-)

damn you're strong
how much do you weigh?

Hey Cha cha (that's how you say uncle in Hindi ),

What are your thoughts on Lumbar Decompression Surgery? I wasn't aware it is so common place with pro athletes. Someone like Andy Murray who was receiving epidurals to be able to play pain free will be ready for training in November having gone through the OP recently.

I don't know where I got my info from earlier but I always thought surgery had so-so results, but now I am reading it's rather successful at alleviating all symptoms and very non invasive.

I am in decent shape wrt my disc problem but I do have 3 herniated discs and no matter how much effort I put in, my range of lower back movement is still pretty crap and I feel I am always on the edge of another flare up.

In Belgium, cha cha is a chocolat bar. A yum yum one.

lol

237 this morning

I don't have a lot of knowledge on the subject, but here's what I do know: Based on my experience with unnecessary surgeries and my observations of my wife's lumbar microdiscectomy, I would want to be very sure surgery was the best option before doing it. I know some people who have had successful microdiscectomies, but I know others (like my wife) who never got better after having one.

I don't think you want mobility in your lower back. You want stability. If you're having symptoms related to nerve irritation, that's something different & maybe some type of surgery would be an option for you, but keep in mind, no surgery will repair the damage that's been done to your discs. You can't fix or heal herniated discs.

Cool, quite curious.

Nothing IMO, just that I didn't consider the safety of a raw egg white vs something that's been 'pasteurized' or whatever the carton is so I assumed it was an avoidance of the cholesterol found solely in the yolk.

I've never given much thought to cholesterol. When I saw my blood work ~ a year ago, my cholesterol numbers were solid. The yolk tastes good though, and I know it has a lot of nutrients in it, but it also has a lot of fat in it, so eating lots of them will be a lot of calories. fwiw, I love putting a fried egg with a runny yolk on my hamburgers.

I do understand that the discs itself won't heal. Wonder why there isn't some way to patch up the fibrous part which fissures and tears in the first place allowing the inner material to bulge out.

Yep my problem is nerve irritation. I know I have herniated discs for a fact (MRI etc.) When I first got it, I had the typical symptoms...pain and tingling down the legs etc. I have however not had those symptoms in years.

The only symptoms I suffer from are fatigue and mild pain from sitting for a long period (goes away after some extensions and hip circles) and sometimes out of nowhere (I could be brushing my teeth or squatting 230lb) my back just spasms the **** out. I can barely do any flexion of the back when that happens. It's a sharp, locking pain that feels it's deep inside and by the obliques and upper part of the hips. Goes away within a week.

This is just an educated guess on my part. I dont think the sharp, locking pain that goes away in a week is something that would be helped by surgery. I've had upper back issues that sound a bit similar to that (one time, just bending over to wash my hands set it off), and it was probably facet joint problems, which are unrelated to disc problems as far as I know.

You should speak to a doctor that you trust about the issue if its bad.

Thanks dude. I did have my SI joint screened and it came out fine in the report. We'll see about the facet joints. For all the Indian doctors everywhere in the world, the ones in India are pretty lame when it comes to discussing things with patients. They just give you the prognosis and tell you to **** off.

SI joint is not a facet joint.

yeah, I was wondering about docs in India. What you said makes me think surgery there is not a very good option if you can avoid it.

There are some real docs and medical students that post here, but they're probably going to be reluctant to diagnose anything over the internet.

Well there are some top doctors in cities like New Delhi where I live. Lots of the top hospitals have tie ups abroad that let patients from US & UK come to India for treatment + recovery that would cost a helluva lot more in their respective countries. I literally mean it's pennies vs top dollar you'd have to pay in the US especially with dodgy insurance. You are still getting the top notch treatment/surgery here too.

So they're good doctors but they treat you like ****?

9/24

DL
warmed up (sort of)
then 390x4x4
446x2x2

trap bar DL
450x8

I had to deal with a broken water heater for a good portion of time. Its lucky yesterday was kind of a deload day, and its also lucky I was lifting yesterday, or the damn water heater would have caused a much bigger mess than it did.

That sounds like regular doctors.

Bazinga.

They wouldn't treat you like ****. Only fellow citizens.

weird

9/25

ME bench
55x15
105x10x2
146x5
196x3
237x3
267x1
287x1
307x3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5

2 board press
330x3, 3, 5

hammer curls
35x10x2, 40x10

standing cable rows
200x25x3

banded jacknifes (green band - this is a lot tougher than the purple one)
15x2

face pulls
125x15x2

Sorry to butt in, but the symptoms described are identical to what I've been dealing with for decades.

I have never liked the idea of surgery or cortisone shots. It's pretty limited evidence, but I know 3 people that have had back surgery and each one is worse off than before.

Back to me. I've been religious with the suggestions that cha has given me. Mobility exercises, core work, lifting with proper form, and ART/trigger point therapy. My back has not felt this good in a long time.

My suggestion would be to get on a program like this for a period of time before considering surgery.

2 cents delivered.

9/27

ssb squats
80x5
141x5
182x5
232x5
273x3
323x2
338x2
365x2
390x2
415x2

reverse hypers
160x15x3

ssb box squats
200+8 chains x 3, 3, 6

GHR
bw x 12
+ 25 lbs x 8
vs red band x 10

I spent ~8 hours the past two days in the car and was very stiff and had some soreness in my hips & calves & back earlier in the day. I did a lot of SMR & voodoo band mobility stuff before lifting. I felt very good, much better than expected, while squatting after doing all that stuff. Maybe the deload DL day a few days ago helped too.