Back Brace for General use and Fitness?

[Kosher Fried]

Hey all:

So an update on my ol' Army injury is not so good:

I was Med boarded out for an 11mm protrusion of my L5/S1 disc....just kept getting worse and apparently 11mm is a bid godamn deal (sure feels like it). (2009)

I got home, rested, and by Dec 2010 i was in damn good shape again using only machines for the most part and keeping weight low...242lbs (5'10) at like 17% bf...good enough for me.

Then all hell broke loose: i went from being bed riddin 2 days every 3 months to every month, then every 2 weeks, then it was just dibilitating pain non stop:

got reevaluated and found in my MRI that i then had 4 herniated or bulging discs (3 lower, 1 upper back)...got a series of 3 cortisone shots with phenominal results, reducing all down to merely a nuiscance other than my lower orignal disc..so i was going back to the gym January 18th 2012 after a long break...well while on vacation i twisted wrong on jan 16th (labor day) and tore my ACL and meniscus in my left knee...so no gym for me...surgury 5/16th, and finally released for gym last november.

all going good then my back took a shit again...now i'm back to 3 discs ****ed up but there's more...now my lower back loks like a small "S"...not the whole back like scoliosis, but the lower...odd to me.

The doctor wants to cauterize my nerve endings in my spine, and i'm seeing a chiro 3 times a week who has reviewed all mris and xrays prior to treatment. usually i would think they're quacks, but if my spine is actually bent then i'm giving him a chance.

I had good results back in the gym again, this time dedicating myself to an old back brace i used to use on leg and back days: a walmart branded elastic cheapo brace that has always worked well, and is actually doing a good job keeping me going now.

now i didn't mean to type that much, but i really want to know if anyone has similar problems and if you use an actual back brace (not a belt), and if so, what kind?

i'm big again (271lbs) and so my brace barely fits. i ordered a larger size as well as a Mueler one that looked pretty good.

any recommendations even beyond the belt that you may have? in the last 2 years i've probably gone to the gym 10 times and it drives me ****in crazy

 

[DF]

Holy shit brother. Did you ever have surgey on that lower disc? My feeling on a brace is you need to becareful wearing something like that all the time. Your muscles will come to depend on the support & get weak. If you can strengthen the core to help support the low back.

 

[Kosher Fried]

No surgery yet, no. I only wear the brace when i step into the gym

 

[Turbolag]

Man sorry to hear about your back.

Have you tried inversion/ decompression?

I had pretty good results from it.

Do you stretch a lot? If you can stretch your psoas muscle it should help to loosen up the low back.

Also, if you can go for about a 30 minute slow paced walk, doing lunges every so often it will stretch the psoas.
Walking helped me a little.

My back is all screwed up, and inversion, walking, stretching and the steroid shots are the only thing that have kept me going.

I'm curious to hear how the back brace would do. If you wear it are you gonna post your results?

 

[Kosher Fried]

i had a teeter hangups 560 show up at my door, but my chiro wanted me to get something with lockout capabilty instead...he wants me to go no further than 60 degrees at first, which would be difficult to hold myself there. so i returned it and will be spending more on a sturdy inversion table that CAN lock

i let the chiro stretch me out...when i do it, something in my abs activates, resulting in a jerk, which results in a spasm, rendering me pretty useless for a little while.

my knee surgeon won't release me to do lunges, even at my own BW because of my weight, yet...a month after my surgery i had dreams about doing walking lunges with a manta ray barbell adapter thing (loved that thing) and 135lbs...ahh the good days.

not really interested in strenght results since i'm so weak. the real results i'm looking for right now is a constant ability to be in the gym and able to do the movements, not so much gains in strength right now...if i can maintain steady gym membership for 6 straight weeks, i'll start doing more serious stuff.

 

[woodswise]

Bud, good luck with your recovery. Props to you for setting a goal of getting back to the gym asap! Just don't take any risks and reinjure yourself, 'cause you don't want to go back to being as bad off as you were.

 

[Kosher Fried]

So far so good, haven't missed a week, going into week 3 Monday.

Also started 300mg deca 2 weeks ago. I used to love the stuff but it shut me down so hard for so long I quit taking it about 8 years ago.

Now that I'm on prescribed trt it doesn't really seem to matter if I take low dose deca, ya know?

I'm just hoping the extra intracellular water will help smooth this transition out, let me build my core, and when I'm off it my foundation I build will be enough along with the therapy.

All things considered it's a good week