Mrdaveyk

aye i read the other day abs help reduce the arch in your back as your body weight is easily supported by some good abs

some general core work would be good

PompyMan

it seems a bit of a selective injury mate! ie lost soul is right you should take time to recover.

i am no expert but i dont think squats actually put any more pressure on the spine than lunges or even standing military press.

if you have to have painkiller injections then things must be pretty bad mate I feel for you

tombsc

Thanks for all the advice. I hope I didn't offend lost soul?!

There's no point waiting to recover, because it might never happen without surgery. Some days I have no pain, some days a lot...it is quite variable. I don't think my injury is affected by load, pressure or compression...hence I can do shoulder press with no problems.
I tried lunges and there was some pain, so I will give the leg work a miss for a while longer and see what happens.
The pain I get is mainly nerve pain so it could be that the angle squats + deads create causes my sciatic nerve to move into a painful place.....I don't know....but I do know I can't do them.
I do some core work, but most ab work causes pain so it's not easy. Static core work is ok (bridges etc), but I find the best core work for me is through normal lifting.
I also stretch my hams as they are extremely short and cause additional arching in my spine.
Saying all that, I only train what I can within my limits. Any back/sciatic pain and I stop, so I think I'm lifting safely...just wanted some advice on my upper body routine. The only reason I mentioned my injury was so people would know not to advise power lifts

Greekgoddess

My husband has three herniated discs in his back, and he was told surgery was likely to be unsuccessful for him. He goes to the gym when he can, and works around his injury. The orthopedic surgeon here recommended abs exercises. He said good abs development helps to stabilise the back muscles either side of the spine and to pull the body into the correct line. Core exercises helped as well.

He does not do any exercises that cause him pain, and wears a neoprene back belt for the extra bit of support it gives him.

From there he moved on to the lower back machine, with low weights and slow controlled movements. He works out on good days and rests on bad days. Hanging from the chinning bar can sometimes ease off sciatic pain in the gym, using your own body weight.

One strange fact from the Greek orthopedic surgeon - many people suffer from sciatic pain because of wallets, money or combs in their back pockets pressing on the sciatic nerve when they sit down -especially when driving!