Back Injury ??? HELP!!!

[njlovehandles]

Whats up everyone, havent posted here or anywhere in ages, however I am always lurking around. Pulled my back a few days b4 Thanksgiving deadlifting. Had some numbness in my right leg and rt big toe. Took Aleve for about a month and stretched quite a bit as I Always do. I kept lifting throughout this whole ordeal but took deadlifts and squates out of my routine. To this day I still have a little bit of numbness in my toe, but thats not the problem. I went to squat finally the other day and he weight seamed very heavy and off balance. So I ead over to the leg press for some unilateral pressing and find out I have quite bit of strength loss in my left leg, the opposite one that has been numb for a while. This scarred the shit out of me so I saw an otho today. He said that I didnt have a reflex reponce in my left leg, and there was strength loss on the lt leg(no shit) and there was a bit of a loss of strenth in my big toe on the rt leg. He had me set up for an MRI in a few days so that should be helfull in pin pointing the problem, however I tend not to trust doctors all that much. Presently I am taking prednisone as prescibed for 6 days. The one thing that worried me was the doctor already started talking about surgery...Thats just nuts. I still have been able to lift, and do cardio (walking at an incline) and this guy already mentions cutting me open. Any thoughts or insite would be great, thanks guys....

[coffee-guy]

I'm sorry to hear this bro. I would definitely get another two or three opinions though...

[Shibby]

A lot of times when docs talk about surgery, it's just to get you prepared for all the possibilities. Things can change so much after a doc see's and MRI. The thing with the back, you could only be feeling the muscle pain originally or that's just your way to identify the pain since you havn't had something more severe previously. You could have damaged cartiladge somewhere and nerves are getting pinched... Anyways, get the MRI done and take it from there. Don't get too far ahead of your self and start stressing. Remember to take it one step at a time. It's not life threatning and you are not in chronic pain, so take your time in your decisions, so that you are comfortable with them.

[babyblues]

You could have damaged cartiladge somewhere and nerves are getting pinched.

That's most likely what happened. Pinched nerves don't always result in pain.

[njlovehandles]

Much appreciated guys, Thank You..

[njlovehandles]

Just an update, MRI showed a bulge in the the lumbar spine, I believe it was the L5. The ortho said this looked as if it correlated with the right side numbness, but did not make much sense for the weakness in the left leg. Spine specialist was stumped as well so i had an EMG on Friday. EMG showed the nerve was messed up in the left leg, which stumeped the neuro as well. Then her and the spine spec. looked over the MRI rpeort again and found out it was transcribed wrongs. There was a slight bulge impinging on the left side as well. Anyways, The numbeness had pretty much subsided in the rt foot and the strength has been cominh back quite well in the left leg whicg is great. Pain in none, thank God. I do miss squats and DL, but as long as I can do everything else I am a happy man. Anyone with this type of issue have any pointer to help me. The neuro wants me to go to PT 3 times. She said I dont realy have to go for the PT since I have been working out every day and walking/biking every day, she just wants them to teach me some exersises and a few other things. Also have a script for voltaren (SP) which in an NSAID, I havent filled it since the pain is nill.

[Shibby]

I would go to the PT at first at least and evaluate if it's helpful. If not for the helpful exercises they may show you, then maybe they can teach you what movements to stay away from.

[Quinc]

have you thought about seeing a chiropractor? also some deep tissue massage. works wonders for me. I sprained my back deadlifting years ago and a few trips to the chiro healed me right up.