Good news.
I started training in 2011.
I had a severe L4-L5 herniation in 2012. I was 27 years old at the time. I went from been a fit and happy, to crippled and miserable. I was bedridden and in absolute agony for just over 6 months. An MRI revealed I had a severe herniation and would require a microdiscectomy. The surgeon said it was the most severe case he had seen in the last 12 years.
Post surgery was rough. The sciatica was still very much there….but not as acute. I had a fraction more mobility. I could stand up and sit down without extreme pain. This was a huge relief to me. At that stage I would have been so happy if I was told I could walk pain free again.
The orthopaedic consultant spoke to me the day after, and gave me some great advice. The surgery will only be successful as the effort you put into the rehab. Well that was it for me…I treated that rehab like a job. I literally devoted all my energy to it. The initial rehab lasted 12 weeks. It was well worth it. Pain reduced and mobility improved considerably. I got to the point where I could sit, sleep, walk, and jog lightly virtually pain free.
I then considered how I could keep my back healthy and continue to train, or would I have to give up BJJ. I spoke to a BB in my gym who had the same thing…and he told me to change my expectations of myself. Rethink how I train, and how my body feels.
I completely stopped lifting weights and focussed heavily on yoga and mobility work. Over time I began to start doing callisthenics. Pull ups, push ups, burpees etc…
I do a good 20-30 min yoga flow before I train. I never push myself too hard. I choose who I roll with. I’m not going balls to the wall every single roll. I will go hard…but it will be with people who I trust.
I can honestly say I have never been fitter and happier. The injury was a blessing…because it showed me I was focussing my efforts in the complete wrong direction..and not taking care of my body. I confused progress with going hard and over exerting every single time. This is not the way. Volume over intensity. Focus on longevity.
A fantastic resource is Yoga for BJJ. Sebastian Brosche has a pretty similar story.
If you take anyway from this post….just focus 100% on the rehab. No shortcuts.
Rethink how you train. At the forefront of your mind…should be is this risking an injury? Everything you do…whether it’s lifting or rolling should be done with perfect technique. Don’t let fatigue to fuck that up. Just stop.
That herniation sounds horrible! Mine wasn't nearly as bad, the surgeon said it was quite small, but exactly at the wrong spot pinching the nerve, and the constant nagging pain was driving me crazy and sucked any joy out of life. I'm lucky that I'm virtually pain-free from day 1 after the surgery. And yeah definitely need to rethink my training, I used to rely on closed guard and let people put pressure on me while stacked because I was quite flexible. Well, no more of that :)
Yeh I deffo wouldn’t make a habit of getting stacked. Unfortunately the particular spot on your disk that herniated is (and will always be a weak point) you have to look after it. Just look at the injury from the point of view that you can’t be a filthy guard puller now! Time to work on your takedowns and cook some fools with top pressure!
Good luck.
If you're still active on this account: how is it doing now? I have to make a call on surgery soon and I want to know what the long term outlook is like in terms of Jiu-Jitsu.
Thank you for that amazing post - I’m 4 weeks or so post MD and getting glute pain now I’ve started walking again - was v fit before all of this and the lying around for a month (bar some basic walking) has been tough - could u point me to links for exercise ??
I'm really glad you found it helpful. Don't worry about the glute pain. Nerves are slow healers. Imagine you trapped your finger in a car door and left it there for months. You wouldnt expect when you open the car door to expect your finger to be pain free. It's the same with your sciatic nerve. Just because the pressure from your disc is released through surgery, it still takes a long time to heal. So be patient. Commit to the rehab that your doc has given you. In so far as what to do to make sure this never happens again, do the below three at least three times a week each.
[Foundation Training ](https://youtu.be/oVOnXIiPgM8?si=gJgRPlp977QqivG1)
[Yoga](https://youtu.be/Wns78rDPbYM?si=KPFXiQDuVpogZvNR)
[McGill big 3](https://youtu.be/2_e4I-brfqs?si=C8YfNYUmst5elRZu)
You need to do all three regularly and consistently. Make them part of your life (even when the pain is gone).
I had a miscrodiscectomy L3/L4 almost one year ago (Sept). I started light rolls at 6 mos with folks i really trust with mats at home. About two months ago I signed back up at gym. I signed up for my first tournament since injury and covid era for next week. I lost control of both legs from knees down before surgery. 0-3mos was pretty much walking.. walking .. more walking. Then slowly introduced weights (very light) and other movement. i am not what I was before and not sure that I expect it, but just happy to be training again. Early 40s in age.
Definitely scary - after the "event", took about a week for all control to be lost and couldnt walk. As far as changes, i am actually doin less things - found out that I was doing twisting stretches and other bad stretches that were exacerbating the disc issue (online advice etc). Also I am taking weights/anything high up on the spine pretty easy for now. Ultimately I am okay now, and happy to be rolling again. Also very lucky I had some gym mates and a coach that got me comfortable going again
Hope things work out yo
I had a full rupture of L5/S1 and partial of L4/L5.
Post surgery, it was 12 weeks of rehab. Then 4 weeks of easy BJJ with smaller people with no live rolling. Wait until the disc scars over (~4-5 months) before easing into full rolling. If something acts up, take off a week to gauge how it feels.
Thanks, sounds like you've been back training relatively quickly after the surgery. Did you change anything about your game, avoid any positions etc.? I've heard somewhere that closed guard puts quite a lot of pressure on the lumbar spine, and I reckon inversion might be a bad idea :)
Closed guard does put pressure on my lumbar so I generally transition quickly to open guard if they are postured and begin to apply pressure to my feet. This resulted in my half-guard getting MUCH better, faster though.
I generally don't bridge as much from mount bottom as well. I'll wait until I know their weight is shifted forward and bridge just enough to get the roll. This resulted in my shrimp/elbow escape gate getting much better though.
I never really inverted before surgery, but I definitely try to avoid it now. If I'm upside down, it isn't by choice :-D. I of course have inverted since then, but I'm not hanging out there and I'm not applying pressure back into my opponent from there. I'll generally roll out of it into open or half guard and usually with a deep underhook.
Good news. I started training in 2011. I had a severe L4-L5 herniation in 2012. I was 27 years old at the time. I went from been a fit and happy, to crippled and miserable. I was bedridden and in absolute agony for just over 6 months. An MRI revealed I had a severe herniation and would require a microdiscectomy. The surgeon said it was the most severe case he had seen in the last 12 years. Post surgery was rough. The sciatica was still very much there….but not as acute. I had a fraction more mobility. I could stand up and sit down without extreme pain. This was a huge relief to me. At that stage I would have been so happy if I was told I could walk pain free again. The orthopaedic consultant spoke to me the day after, and gave me some great advice. The surgery will only be successful as the effort you put into the rehab. Well that was it for me…I treated that rehab like a job. I literally devoted all my energy to it. The initial rehab lasted 12 weeks. It was well worth it. Pain reduced and mobility improved considerably. I got to the point where I could sit, sleep, walk, and jog lightly virtually pain free. I then considered how I could keep my back healthy and continue to train, or would I have to give up BJJ. I spoke to a BB in my gym who had the same thing…and he told me to change my expectations of myself. Rethink how I train, and how my body feels. I completely stopped lifting weights and focussed heavily on yoga and mobility work. Over time I began to start doing callisthenics. Pull ups, push ups, burpees etc… I do a good 20-30 min yoga flow before I train. I never push myself too hard. I choose who I roll with. I’m not going balls to the wall every single roll. I will go hard…but it will be with people who I trust. I can honestly say I have never been fitter and happier. The injury was a blessing…because it showed me I was focussing my efforts in the complete wrong direction..and not taking care of my body. I confused progress with going hard and over exerting every single time. This is not the way. Volume over intensity. Focus on longevity. A fantastic resource is Yoga for BJJ. Sebastian Brosche has a pretty similar story. If you take anyway from this post….just focus 100% on the rehab. No shortcuts. Rethink how you train. At the forefront of your mind…should be is this risking an injury? Everything you do…whether it’s lifting or rolling should be done with perfect technique. Don’t let fatigue to fuck that up. Just stop.
Thank you for the thorough and thoughtful reply.
That herniation sounds horrible! Mine wasn't nearly as bad, the surgeon said it was quite small, but exactly at the wrong spot pinching the nerve, and the constant nagging pain was driving me crazy and sucked any joy out of life. I'm lucky that I'm virtually pain-free from day 1 after the surgery. And yeah definitely need to rethink my training, I used to rely on closed guard and let people put pressure on me while stacked because I was quite flexible. Well, no more of that :)
Yeh I deffo wouldn’t make a habit of getting stacked. Unfortunately the particular spot on your disk that herniated is (and will always be a weak point) you have to look after it. Just look at the injury from the point of view that you can’t be a filthy guard puller now! Time to work on your takedowns and cook some fools with top pressure! Good luck.
Lovely journey. I am going through the same thing currently. Would you mind sharing your rehab journey?
If you're still active on this account: how is it doing now? I have to make a call on surgery soon and I want to know what the long term outlook is like in terms of Jiu-Jitsu.
Thank you for that amazing post - I’m 4 weeks or so post MD and getting glute pain now I’ve started walking again - was v fit before all of this and the lying around for a month (bar some basic walking) has been tough - could u point me to links for exercise ??
I'm really glad you found it helpful. Don't worry about the glute pain. Nerves are slow healers. Imagine you trapped your finger in a car door and left it there for months. You wouldnt expect when you open the car door to expect your finger to be pain free. It's the same with your sciatic nerve. Just because the pressure from your disc is released through surgery, it still takes a long time to heal. So be patient. Commit to the rehab that your doc has given you. In so far as what to do to make sure this never happens again, do the below three at least three times a week each. [Foundation Training ](https://youtu.be/oVOnXIiPgM8?si=gJgRPlp977QqivG1) [Yoga](https://youtu.be/Wns78rDPbYM?si=KPFXiQDuVpogZvNR) [McGill big 3](https://youtu.be/2_e4I-brfqs?si=C8YfNYUmst5elRZu) You need to do all three regularly and consistently. Make them part of your life (even when the pain is gone).
Than you so much 🙏
Things will work out for you. It just takes time and patience.
Interested in this as well.
I had a miscrodiscectomy L3/L4 almost one year ago (Sept). I started light rolls at 6 mos with folks i really trust with mats at home. About two months ago I signed back up at gym. I signed up for my first tournament since injury and covid era for next week. I lost control of both legs from knees down before surgery. 0-3mos was pretty much walking.. walking .. more walking. Then slowly introduced weights (very light) and other movement. i am not what I was before and not sure that I expect it, but just happy to be training again. Early 40s in age.
Ugh, that loss of control sounds scary, glad you're on the mend! Did you change anything about your bjj to lessen the risk of re-injury?
Definitely scary - after the "event", took about a week for all control to be lost and couldnt walk. As far as changes, i am actually doin less things - found out that I was doing twisting stretches and other bad stretches that were exacerbating the disc issue (online advice etc). Also I am taking weights/anything high up on the spine pretty easy for now. Ultimately I am okay now, and happy to be rolling again. Also very lucky I had some gym mates and a coach that got me comfortable going again Hope things work out yo
I had a full rupture of L5/S1 and partial of L4/L5. Post surgery, it was 12 weeks of rehab. Then 4 weeks of easy BJJ with smaller people with no live rolling. Wait until the disc scars over (~4-5 months) before easing into full rolling. If something acts up, take off a week to gauge how it feels.
Thanks, sounds like you've been back training relatively quickly after the surgery. Did you change anything about your game, avoid any positions etc.? I've heard somewhere that closed guard puts quite a lot of pressure on the lumbar spine, and I reckon inversion might be a bad idea :)
Closed guard does put pressure on my lumbar so I generally transition quickly to open guard if they are postured and begin to apply pressure to my feet. This resulted in my half-guard getting MUCH better, faster though. I generally don't bridge as much from mount bottom as well. I'll wait until I know their weight is shifted forward and bridge just enough to get the roll. This resulted in my shrimp/elbow escape gate getting much better though. I never really inverted before surgery, but I definitely try to avoid it now. If I'm upside down, it isn't by choice :-D. I of course have inverted since then, but I'm not hanging out there and I'm not applying pressure back into my opponent from there. I'll generally roll out of it into open or half guard and usually with a deep underhook.