Training with a permanent back injury

**wvdmc** · Posted On: 12/18/2012 6:14pm

Hey guys,

I have a syrinx caused by trauma. It's basically a hole inside my spinal cord. It's an old Army injury that wasn't that bad to begin with, and wasn't diagnosed while I was in because I had other, less serious back injuries that they chalked the pain up to. But I reinjured it about 9 months ago just by getting stacked, and now it's pretty bad. I can't 0carry two jugs of milk through the grocery store, after about 15 seconds of carrying anything over 10 pounds or so the pain is so crippling I absolutely cannot carry it any longer.

I just got an MRI a few weeks ago which found the syrinx, and saw a doctor on Friday. He said it's not treatable and I'm stuck this way forever. He told me if 10 pounds brings me pain I should limit myself to no more than 5, because if the syrinx worsens it could eventually paralyze me, even though that's not a concern right now because of where it is in my spine and how thin it is.

Since I reinjured it this year I've been laying about and have lost a lot of weight from not doing anything. I was hoping taking it easy would fix my back but that is obviously not the case. So instead of laying around playing World of Warcraft for the rest of my life, I've decided to just find stuff that I CAN do and do it, and try to stay in shape and stay active.

It does not hurt me to move, bend, or anything like that. I cannot run, do jumping jacks, or anything where I bounce or jump or anything along htose lines, as it causes me extreme pain. I cannot lift ANYTHING with my arms, or put any pressure down on my spine at all.

What I'm asking you guys for are ideas of things I can do to try to keep some semblance of fitness. I figure I'll have to get a bicycle or something for aerobics since I can't run, and I know some really basic bodyweight exercises and stuff, but I was hoping you guys might have some other ideas. I've got to totally retool my lifestyle around this injury and it's a lot harder than I really thought it would be.

Thanks a lot guys

**sweats** · Posted On: 12/18/2012 7:47pm

Is swimming an option? That's typically the tried and true activity when impact is an issue.

Can you do slow bodyweight only squats or lunges? I didn't know if that would put pressure down your spine.

What did your doctor say? If this potentially could paralyze you, it's definitely not something to mess around with. I know how much it sucks to go from active to inactive, especially permanently, but ending up paralyzed would be the extreme inactivity.

**wvdmc** · Posted On: 12/18/2012 8:00pm

I could probably swim, that's a great idea! I can do bodyweight squats or lunges, that's no problem. If I could strap weights to my hips I could do weighted squats. The injury is in my upper back, I think T-5 (?) is what the doc said. So any weight on my upper body above that cripples me, but any weight below that is just fine.

The doc trains at my gym coincidentally. Basically he told me not to be stupid, but I'll have to try an activity and see how painful it is i I want to know if I can do it. If it doesn't hurt, it shouldn't exacerbate the syrinx, and should be relatively OK to do. So bodyweight stuff should all be OK. The obvious exception to this is I absolutely cannot for any reason lift anything with my arms or carry anything with my shoulders. So I can't do firemans carries, for example.

But swimming is a great idea, I don't know why I didn't think of it

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 12/19/2012 5:56am

Belt squats. Band-around-waist sled pulls.

Also, get a second opinion.

**Mister** · Posted On: 12/19/2012 11:13pm

I have a spinal injury that I will live with for the rest of my life also.

For leg strength: One-legged squat progressions and natural leg curl progressions.

For upper body strength: Weighted dips/pullups are all you need in my opinion.

For conditioning: Swimming high intensity.

I'm into strength that's why I wanted to still work on my strength while injured.

If you don't care about strength and you just want to be in good condition and six pack abs, swimming alone is enough to build a pretty impressive body if you do high intensity and do it regularly.

Shame about your back man.

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 12/19/2012 11:18pm

Sorry to hear about your back, I wish you the best and hope you continue to stay positive and work out.

Not a recommendation but curious, can you do machine or flat bench without pain? Rows? Lat pull downs?

**Tonuzaba** · Posted On: 12/20/2012 3:33am

Sue the pants off the Army for causing, neglecting and mis-diagnosing your spinal injury in the first place.

Seek out second and third medical opinions, then the best rehabilitation centre available and work out a training regimen that suits you.

Good luck and keep the good spirit up.

**ChenPengFi** · Posted On: 12/20/2012 3:43am

+1 on the second opinion.
Look into "Kaatsu" or "occlusion" training perhaps.

**Annas** · Posted On: 12/26/2012 5:00am

Originally Posted by wvdmc

Hey guys,

I have a syrinx caused by trauma. It's basically a hole inside my spinal cord. It's an old Army injury that wasn't that bad to begin with, and wasn't diagnosed while I was in because I had other, less serious back injuries that they chalked the pain up to. But I reinjured it about 9 months ago just by getting stacked, and now it's pretty bad. I can't 0carry two jugs of milk through the grocery store, after about 15 seconds of carrying anything over 10 pounds or so the pain is so crippling I absolutely cannot carry it any longer.

I just got an MRI a few weeks ago which found the syrinx, and saw a doctor on Friday. He said it's not treatable and I'm stuck this way forever. He told me if 10 pounds brings me pain I should limit myself to no more than 5, because if the syrinx worsens it could eventually paralyze me, even though that's not a concern right now because of where it is in my spine and how thin it is.

Since I reinjured it this year I've been laying about and have lost a lot of weight from not doing anything. I was hoping taking it easy would fix my back but that is obviously not the case. So instead of laying around playing World of Warcraft for the rest of my life, I've decided to just find stuff that I CAN do and do it, and try to stay in shape and stay active.

It does not hurt me to move, bend, or anything like that. I cannot run, do jumping jacks, or anything where I bounce or jump or anything along htose lines, as it causes me extreme pain. I cannot lift ANYTHING with my arms, or put any pressure down on my spine at all.

What I'm asking you guys for are ideas of things I can do to try to keep some semblance of fitness. I figure I'll have to get a bicycle or something for aerobics since I can't run, and I know some really basic bodyweight exercises and stuff, but I was hoping you guys might have some other ideas. I've got to totally retool my lifestyle around this injury and it's a lot harder than I really thought it would be.

Thanks a lot guys

One of my friend had the similar kinda problem and he kept working in Gym and he had some adverse effect out of it,so by this experience I would like to suggest that go for the light workouts like morning walk and jogging and get your diet controlled as much as you can do to be fit.