Degenerative disc. any treatment

[pman42]

Like the title says, degenerative disc disease L4-L5. anything that can be done for this?

[Cobalt]

I believe you can get surgery to fix it, not speaking from experience though.

[iron]

there are cutting edge chiros that can correct this, here where i live there are 2 good clinics out of the 100's in portland/vancouver area so be wise....but i got quoted at 3400$ to correct my 5 perforations and my straight as an arrow spine within 6 months of treatment, its killing me not to be able to lift

[Sperwer]

I've mentioned this before - maybe on the PP forum - but it probably will be of little use to you. Here in Seoul, there is an oriental medical hospital - Jasaeng -that has pioneered a treatment involving a local version of chiropractics, bee venom injections and an herbal tonic (the active ingredient of which has been identified and standardized. I went in with cumulative L4 and L5 damage that presented in about 4 incidents over 2-3 years that left me down for as long as a week at a time (including one episode of help I've fallen and I can't get up when I had to lay in the yard for three hours until Wifey got home), with discs that were black, compressed like the original rubber bushings from the steering assembly of 1 '55 Chevy after 50 years of wear and tear, and squashed out beyond the vertebrae and pressing directly on my spinal cord. After nine months, my disks were plumped back up like powdered sugar donuts, not quite to OEM std, but still quite good and more of a dark gray (instead of either black or the OEM grayish white) and I didn't have any more stuff hanging out on my spine. I started deadlifting again 2 months after that and have been going good for six years ever since. It was very spendy, though, and I've no idea about whether the treatment is available anywhere else. I'll inquire, though, if you want.

[pman42]

Yes I would be very interested as to whether it is available elsewhere. and how much are we talkin?

I've been looking into prolotherapy.

[Rulk]

I have had too many of those moments myself Sperwer, the " I've fallen I can't get up " variety. Losing weight and strengthening the abs, lowerback were good. Getting my hams to losen up was a big deal too, which is a big culprit for back strain/pain. But yeah my L5 was so compressed, but I opted out of getting shots and possibly surgery and decided to do other things about it.

[Sperwer]

Noa:

Yep, all those are good and needed, too. I began my journey in bodybuilding as part of my recovery from my last episode of help I've fallen and I can't get up, and I'm sure that a big part of the reason for the absence of any further disk problems has been the systematic strengthening of my back muscles, abs, etc etc and increased posterior and anterior chain flexibilty. I'm not sure I could have regenerated my disks in the first place that way, though, and credit the treatment I received with doing so. As far as I was concerned it was the only plausible option since the standard medical advise I got was to have my vertebrae surgically fused - which didn't sound very appealing and which I knew left some guys I know effectively disabled in significant ways that I was not willing to accept.

PMAN42. I'll see what I can find out. My recollection was that the list price of the eight office visits for manipulation and the administration of the bee venom injections and the cost of the meds (the injections and the voodoo juice - which looked like medium crude and tasted like used motor oil) -- was about 1 large/month for nine months. I got it for less because everything but the herbals was covered by the local govt medical plan, but I think I still shelled out 500-600 for the juice.

[Rulk]

@Sperwer

Yeah I heard too many bad things about surgery and after awhile I was not even considering it an option. Just too many relapses and not enough guarantee of success. The shots were a temporary fix to a life long issue. Really the best thing to do is to take care of yourself naturally imo.

Oh and the pain meds... A road bette,r if less travelled.

[pman42]

well I'm looking into a reverse hyper. can't afford one but perhaps I could make a "poor man's" reverse hyper.

I'm taking a ton of supplements. working on mobility. stretching. all that. i hope all this helps. i really don't want this to continue

[Rulk]

well I'm looking into a reverse hyper. can't afford one but perhaps I could make a "poor man's" reverse hyper.

I'm taking a ton of supplements. working on mobility. stretching. all that. i hope all this helps. i really don't want this to continue

If you have a bench at home, of the gym kind, lay on that thing like it's a surfboard, with your legs hanging off the end, knees bent and almost touching the floor ( depending on how tall you are ). From there, lift your knees and feet off of the ground, while "Hugging" the bench with your upper body. It's a reverse hyper, that is easier to do, but you can make it harder. Great for the back, glutes... Let me know what ya think!