How I Recovered from Back/Leg Pain
Thanks to Robin McKenzie's back extension exercises
Note: I do not sell this book but you can find this book for sale in Amazon and other bookstores on and off line for around $10. This book helped me recover from back pain and I hope it helps other people too, not only recover from back pain, but also prevent back pain in the first place!
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Here is my story (condensed):
In February 2002 I developed a problem with my back after a rough racquetball game, followed by shoveling heavy snow a few weeks later. At first, it was a subtle pain/annoyance, getting worse when sneezing, twisting, etc. But after shoveling the snow I could not get out of bed the next day. The pain was terrible, especially in the morning (to the point that I did not want to go to bed, terrified of how I would feel the next morning!) I had to crawl out of bed and into the floor and very slowly try to get up. I could not walk at first without pain. I could not lift my left leg.
I went to the orthopedic who diagnosed "sciatica". I had an MRI done and it showed disc bulge in all levels of my low back ( L1-L2, L2-L3, L3-L4, L4-L5, L5-S1) with herniation at L4-L5: "At L4-L5 there is central disc herniation in combination with facet and ligamentous hypertrophy that produces mild to moderate canal stenosis." I understand that there is a progression of the disc bulging to various degrees, then "herniating", breaking open and leaking (part of) its contents in the blood. I suspect that there was some leaking from my disc because I have read somewhere that one reaction when this happens is fever because a "foreign" substance is introduced into the blood stream. I clearly remember having hot flashes and fever during the night, as the pain was moving from the back to my left leg, with numbness, etc.
I had "pain blocks" (shots in my spine) that did not help, and only pain killers made it possible to go through the day. After several months from the first attack, I was able to walk slowly (dragging my left foot) and the pain level was reduced to general discomfort with some random pain attacks on my left leg, below the knee. This leg pain is something strange and frustrating because there is no way to make it feel better (say by rubbing the leg) since the pain originates deep in the back where the herniated disc is pressing the nerves. I was still taking mild painkillers (Aleeve) before going to bed and during the day.
There seemed to be no progress, until a friend mentioned the back extension exercises, advocated by a Physical Therapist from New Zealand, called Robin McKenzie. Until this point, I was trying to do a bit of exercises which involved flexion, usually lay on my back on the ground and bring my knees to my chest slowly. These felt comfortable but did not improve my condition. McKenzie says that you need to do the opposite, lay on your belly and push up trying to bend your back backwards.
A healthy person should be able to bend his or her back both ways, forward (flexion) and backwards (extension). Apparently, I had completely lost the flexibility for bending my back backwards and my forward flexibility was severely reduced. The extensions felt extremely uncomfortable at first, even painful. However, especially since my orthopedic said it was OK to try these extensions, I decided to give them a try and see what happens.
Within one week I was pain free!
That was late May 2002. But my problems did not stop there. I started physical therapy via my orthopedic. Instead of continuing with the extension exercises which had removed my pain, the PT started me in abdominal strengthening and other exercises that included a lot of flexion. Now, under different circumstances these exercises might have been fine, but for me, still having nerve compression, these were really out of sequence. Also, feeling better I started using the computer more and repairing stereo cameras, which meant very bad posture for long hours. My progress was halted. I was still pain free but the numbness was still there in the toes and did not feel any progress. Three weeks later the PT said I was officially recovered. Two days later I had another attack, as bad as the first one! I was devastated!
At this point I wised up and ordered Robin McKenzie's book. That was a revelation for me. I read the book non-stop and immediately started the extensions recommended in the book. In one week again I was pain-free. But this time I continued the exercises until the pressure in my toes was reduced. And I also corrected my posture which was the root of many of my back problems. I did go to a different physical therapist, one that was trained in the McKenzie system. She was a very nice person and it was nice having someone monitor and discuss my progress, but I could have skipped this and just followed the book.
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Why do these exercises work?
The way I understand it (and I am NOT a Doctor and I do not have any medical training), the back extension exercises push the nucleus of the disc away from the nerves, thus reducing the pressure on the nerves that causes the pain associated with nerve compression. In my case, I think the extension exercises helped remove some of the disc bulging and nerve compression.
The difference between pain and no pain must be smaller than most people think. Obviously, my discs are not back to where they were years ago, but I cannot complain.... If I had done these exercises from day one and felt better right away, I would have never known what contributed to my improvement. But by going to hell and back twice, I know very well that it is these exercises that saved my back. Also, if I had done these exercises before I had the back pain attack, I might have never had any back pain in my life! I sincerely hope that my experience will prevent someone from ever having any back pain!
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Good Posture is Very Important!
This book is much more than a few simple exercises. It taught me a lot of things, from why I should not be lifting heavy things first thing in the morning to what is the proper way to sneeze (looking up). Most important, it made me realize how important good posture is. I always thought it was an afterthought. A good thing to know but not really important. Guess what? Posture is extremely important! The pain will surely come back if the posture is not corrected, no matter how many exercises you do!
We spend a lot of time sitting, usually with bad posture, and then we bend forward a lot. As a result of overuse of flexion, our discs are deformed and we are setting ourselves up for future back problems. The extension exercises aim to compensate for the frequent forward bending and restore the shape of the discs. They are actually a good thing for a healthy (pain-free) person to do. I look at my 14 year old daughter sitting for hours and chatting with friends via the computer. This cannot be good for her back. I was sitting and studying most of my life since I graduated from school when I was 30 years old. I wish my parents had talked to me about good posture. But it is never too late to teach others...
My Condition Today
My last back pain attack was in late May of 2002. Since then I have been out of trouble. (I almost got into trouble again just last week when I took Pilates lessons and tried, while laying on my back, to bring my legs over my head. I had avoided this for the first sessions but finally I decided to try it and that was a mistake! I was back to doing extensions and the pain was gone in 2-3 days. Now, I would not do anything that I even remotely feel it might hurt my back. Needless to say, I do not do Pilates any more or any other strengthening exercises that puts a lot of forward (flexion type) pressure on my discs.... but I do walk, run, swim, lift weights, and take other fitness classes...)
I am an active person who likes sports... Even though I do not play any sports now (especially racquetball!) , I still like to run. It took a while to be able to run... starting with walk, swimming, stationary bike, slow jog, etc. A year and a half ago the doctors told me that running was over for me. I was really praying to be able to walk without discomfort and that's all I had hoped for. But, slowly, slowly, very slowly, I regained my strength, I saw my symptoms gradually fade away, and here I am today, with some symptoms, but enjoying a pain-free life. I have taken running quite seriously with plans to complete a marathon sometime in the future. So far the longest I have run is 13.1 miles (half marathon) in one hour and 41 minutes (7:45 minutes/mile, very good time considering my age, 44 as of this writing, and my back situation)
My adventures with back pain have made me interested in the subject of back health and back pain... I want to know more about what causes back pain and how can people recover from it. Once recovered from pain, what can a person do to stay out of trouble? I have started an email discussion yahoo group, called SpineHealth: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpineHealth/
This list is about Spine Health, not about pain and pain-support. Those who have overcome back/neck pain, or even those who are trying to overcome it are welcome to post tips, ideas, discussions on what helps and what does not help, how to keep pain away, and the type of activities that promote spine health
If you find this topic of interest, please consider joining the SpineHealth discussion list and sharing with us tips for pain-free, healthy back!
Thank you for reading!
I hope this book will help you as it helped me - Good luck!