Summer 2007 I ruptured my L5-S1, so I know what you are talking about. Thank God, I found a place that showed me proper exercises to do to heal it and I have been pretty good since, my main issue is overtight muscles on my left side, hip, back and groin, mostly the Piriformis muscle but I have stretches for that too. I was told that everyone has an "angry" side, mine is my left side, the right side usually just goes along and says "what's your problem over there?", but I do at times get right side issues too. But what helps me the most is stretching and some strengthening, and I will share them with you but remember everyone is different so what helps one might not help another. You also must find out what the exact problem is, disc or muscle or S.I. joint or what, but what helped pop my disc back into place was doing MacKenzie push ups, lie on your stomach with your arms out in front of you like you are playing "Superman", not too far not too close, do a push up with ONLY raising your upper body, keep your belt area and legs flat on the floor, take a breath when you push up, hold for a few seconds, exhale on the way down, slowly repeat. You are basically just arching your upper back while your mid section and lower body stays flat on the floor. I was told to do 200 of these each day while I was hurt, but now I only do maybe 25 or 30 every so often unless I feel bad then I'll do say 50.
I also lay flat on my back, take a breath in and tighten my stomach core area, bend my right leg and raise it halfway so your knee is facing up towards the ceiling while your foot is pointing toes up but the bottom of your foot is facing the wall, hold for a few seconds, then raise your left leg up to meet the right one, hold then exhale while bringing the right one down first then the left. Repeat same thing but alternate legs, raise the left one first, bring right one up etc. I do this about 8-10 times and it really tightens your core stomach muscles which help support your back.
And if you have S.I. joint issues Sacroilliac joint pain this one helps reset it in place, just did it last night and it helped. Lay flat on your back, raise both legs up halfway like the exercise above, grab one knee and pull it towards you while at the same time pushing the other knee away from you, hold a few seconds and switch legs, keep switching, do this about 5 times. Then while on your back raise your knees up halfway, make two fists, put your fists together between your raised knees and squeeze for a few seconds, repeat a few times.
I also lay flat on a table and dangle my left leg off the side, this can help stretch and reset your hip area; I did this about 10 days ago and heard and felt a loud "clunk" which meant I reset myself and felt much better! Scary, but good!
There are more that I can share, but these seem to be really good and basic ones that would help if it is disc related or S.I. joint. I have been pretty good and am 56.5 years old, so don't think that your chopping and wood working days are over they aren't, you just have to make some adjustments and get stretching and stronger. And bend at the knees, pull the weight close to your body, look upwards when you lift, keep your back straight it's tough on the knees and hips but it saves the back!
Good luck, please keep us posted on your progress!!
" and then ratched it up a notch and strapped me to the table and said "now do them" which was so much harder because of the increased resistance. But it helped, and I do them as maintainence now.
And because I was snowed in, I couldn't get my bronchitis treated for several days. The second time, I overreached while transferring my mother from the car to her wheelchair. That still hurt after a couple of weeks so I finally had it X-rayed. The doctor couldn't see any spine damage so he said it was just soft tissue damage and it'll heal on its own. He was right, but it took a lot longer than I had hoped. One thing I found that really helped was to use a small pillow for lumbar support every time I sat, especially in the car. And, of course, be careful not to aggravate it while it's still healing. Good luck!
