Dr. Chung
Case Study: From Back Pain to PR
Case Study: Dina is a competitive weight lifter. In the past 2 years she has competed in the National University and the American Open weight lifting competitions. She's all but 100 lbs soaking wet, but she can probably put more weight overhead than the average guy. She was recently in a rough auto-accident that gave her a bad case of whiplash, but it also caused pain in her lower back. MRI's revealed something that many athletes fear: Herniated discs in the neck and back. Then came the questions:
Can I still squat?
Will my performance suffer?
Am I always going to have pain?
Will I need surgery?
Will my doctor tell me to stop training? In my world, a herniated disc, even a large one is not the end of the world for most people or most athletes. There are just way too many people that get better and function pretty close to normal with most disc herniations, and there is a lot of evidence to support that. <1,2=">2</a>"> Her chief symptoms after the accident were headaches, neck pain, and back pain. A local orthopedic surgeon diagnosed her with a soft tissue injury and would be safe to take care of conservatively and sent her my way. I took her case and gave some initial pre-cautions about lifting until her main symptoms started to get better.