Whoa, exactly the same point here. i basically got blocked into my bed twice (for 2 separated weeks) back in the days when i was diagnosed with the problem: expelled and protruded herniated disk L5-S1.mr. bruin wroteCOLONLOL, yep, old as the hills we all are...Well i see the surgeon on the 15th. I will know more then. Last time i had MRI it was bulged, so i dont know if i will be at that point or not. Mine is the last one, L5-S1. Such a bad time. No hockey, Tennis, V-ball, skiing...etc. Even golf is a bad time now. Its like i have a blade in my hip and quad and someone is turning it regularly. some fun. I am on strait morphine and i hate it. I am asking for weed pills next appointment. Did all the physio and shit, no luck. how the fuck do you fix it? fill me in if you are better from it...kyuss wroteCOLONlol it looks like we have a little community.. my pathetic starting hockey career was crushed by a herniated disk in my lower back.Raptactics wroteCOLONYa man, I've had back problems almost my whole life.. not fun at all. The main reason I stopped playing competitive sports!mr. bruin wroteCOLONYea....1 month....I am presently dealing with a bulging disc and that is if he is lucky it will be one month. I have been dealing with one for near 6 months. Not fun. can be serious and require surgery. I am going to pick up Boucher right now...And hello Bobkov, welcome to the flyers..Raptactics wroteCOLONFlyers G Michael Lieghton out 1 month with bulging disc in back. Can't be good.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=335532
Btw Kyle, a bulging disk requiring surgery it's news to me.. but yeah, it could lead to surgery eventually after degenerating into hernia.. and sometimes the difference it's not that clear to begin with, but i think when that requires surgery is still more a case of misdiagnosed hernia.
Anyway, my hernia never required surgery despite being expelled and protruded, but again..i didn't HAVE to (try to) play hockey and quitted with tennis as well..
Now, all what follows is off my personal experience.. i don't want to act like a doctor i am not, and Inferno can surely provide more scientific info/approach, but maybe i can still help a little bit.
First off, don't feel like this is going to ruin your life forever.. it feels that way at first, but usually there are non-chemical/surgical ways to get rid of the pain.
It's weird you already did all the physio without results if it's only a bulging disk. My diagnosis was MUCH worse, yet surgery was not recommended and after 45 days working on it i was almost symptoms free. At first had to take some anti-inflammatories of course (don't know if morphine instead only take care of the pain or also reduces inflammation); if that doesn't bring you any significant relief i guess it means the disk is steadily pressuring one of the nerves passing by your spine. So you need somehow to separate the disk from the nerve. Stretching your spine and manipulations could make it, albeit chiropratics and ostheopaths are not always a good thing when dealing with hernia.. but hey, if you don't have any alternatives..
in my case, A LOT of stretching (mostly legs and spine) and building abdominals were enough to vastly improve my situation.
Nowadays i only have troubles with it when i do things i shouldn't.. like lifting weights in a improper way, or try to play hockey.. a bad hit on my body (typically playing soccer) can also shakes things and make it acting up..
but i'm sure if i were well trained i could do much more without having any problems.
When the problem shows up, the thing that usually works best for me is stretching the spine like this:
standing still on your arms with free pending legs.. leaving the time for you legs weight to stretch your spine.. after 20seconds or so i kinda feel like it snaps down.. doing that successfully a couple of times and following with some stretching/swimming(no frog style, missing the correct translation right now) usually improves things faster for the next day.
Hope you can find soon something that works for you, i realize how much it must suck right now.