The Injury that Changed my Life

Invincible. That is what I believed up until recently. On February of 2011 I was putting Aiden, almost 2, in his crib when something popped in my lower back. After time, things seemed to heal and I continued on with my 2011 season of triathlons, mountain biking, century rides and more. Figured it would be best to strengthen my core in the off season to help with my suspected pulled muscle.

Fast forward to February 2012 and I had moments where I could not even get out of bed, a chair to even getting upright due to my lower back pain. After working with my doctor, he suggested physical therapy and if things did not improve, get an MRI.

Physical therapy did everything to help me strengthen my core, problem was that between PT and Chiro things were not improving. At times, things were worse and the plethora of advice was overwhelming as it was still unknown what was causing my pain. Next step, schedule an MRI.

MRI results in hand, I was diagnosed with a herniated disc between L4 and L5. The annular tear was on the right side, which goes along with some of the numbness I was experiencing. Perfect! Now what? Doctors to PT all informed me it came down to more PT, cortisone injections and/or surgery. Umm no thanks?!

And so begins the journey to repair my back…