Expert Insights on Performance & Recovery
A Performance Physical Therapist’s Roadmap for Disc Herniations For Denver Athletes
Disc herniations don't have to mean the end to the activities you love. If you've been told you have a herniated disc, you've probably also been told to rest, avoid bending and twisting, and be patient.
That advice isn't wrong, exactly, it's just not (A) a complete answer to how to actually get back and (B) it doesn’t acknowledge the demands athletes face in returning to the sports they enjoy.
Here's what a proper rehab roadmap for our patients and athletes looks like.
Returning to Sport & High-Level Performance After Surgery
Every return-to-sport timeline depends on the individual and their goals, the specific procedure, surgeon protocol, and how the body responds to rehab. There's no universal framework that fits every knee, back, shoulder, hip, or ankle, but there are a few specific, trackable considerations that hold true for each region.
Here are our top considerations in post-surgical care of our patients to facilitate a successful recovery from early rehabilitation to high-level performance.
Stop Protecting Your Back. Start Training It.
Pallof presses and side planks are safe. They’re protective. And people with chronic back pain like safe and protective. We stay in our lane, we know what “works,” and we stop training harder in the spine.
Here’s 4 exercises that we like to use as progressions for lateral trunk strengthening in treating low back pain.
The Bench Press: Feet Up or Feet Down
This past week, on a few occasions working with my patients I landed on the conversation of feet up or feet down when bench pressing. Now in the context of a physical therapy clinic, the generalization and potential history of back pain amongst our population skews to slightly higher, thus the consensus of these conversations was feet up to protect their backs.
I’m here to say, benching with your feet up certainly is an option and not necessarily incorrect, however, there are items to consider in the conversation.
Milestones & New Expectations
I had a recent conversation with a patient this past week who we’ve been training and working with over the past year+ and he casually mentioned something that initially caught me off guard but once I processed the information, I was ecstatic for him.
Have You Ever Thrown Your Back Out?
If you’ve ever thrown your back out, whether awkwardly picking something up from the floor or maybe after a long day's yard work, you probably heard the same old advice: “Just rest until it feels better.”