Treatment !

Scan showing my herniated disc

Following my diagnosis of a ruptured disk I’ve been to Bridgwater again to see my Physio Ivor to get my treatment plan….

I’ve also come back with copies of my scans. Its very bizarre to sit there and look at slices through your own body. Forget losing weight  so you look good in your holiday or wedding photos, try an MRI. There is no turning your best side to the camera or wearing stripes the right way round to hide / accentuate your curves. It shows all your fat, in lovely cross sectional detail. Cath also pointed out that she thinks she can see poo in some of them ! – Nice…..

Anyway on to treatment

Firstly I need to be very careful.
No dynamic loaded stretching, twisting or impacts, which in English means no DIY, gardening, lifting, running or mountain biking for at least a couple of months.

      Essentially thinking before I do anything daft which is a lesson I suppose I should have learnt earlier this year when I jumped off that wall, however Ivor thinks its been coming all summer and that the jump was just one of the causes.

Apparently I’ve also got a dehydrated disc on the next one up which might cause me issues in later life again if I’m not  careful with impacts too.

Lumbar Traction

I’ve  been traction’d and given a portable traction machine to use three times a day for the next month or so. This essentially stretches you relieving the compression on the lumbar spine and doing some other complicated stuff I didn’t understand.
I’ve only been using it for a day but already together with rest and icing I am noticing reduced Sciatic pain.

After the weekend I am to restart my core stability exercises and in a couple of weeks I can get back on the turbo trainer to keep my general fitness at a sensible level, though I wont be able to do much.

Ill then be going to Somerset once a week for more treatment and review. Ivor is hoping that in a couple on months I should be starting to see improvements and that eventually although I will have to avoid heavy impacts and big dynamic stretching I should be able to regain my MTBing fitness and possibly get back to where I was in 2011.

I am also going to be having a look at my stable of bikes with a look to move to full suspension to protect my back from impacts in the future. More on that in another posting but if anyone wants my single-speed rigid on-one inbred its up for sale