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Topic Date User

Herniated/Spinal Injuries and Climbing 4-Nov-2014 At 10:19:57 PM Doug

Message

On 4/11/2014 teeo wrote:
>Hi Guys,
>
I really really want to get into the sport but currently dealing
>with a few herniated discs. I was referred to this forum
>and was hoping to find others in a similar situation as me and are still
>climbing injury free.
>
So, I had an operation for two herniated discs - L4/L5; L5/S1 - nearly 38 years ago. (It was a bit of a different procedure to what it is nowadays, and not in a good way.) I didn't start climbing until a couple of years later when I came to Oz. I had a few episodes of significant back pain over the next ten years but would have to say that climbing is the best thing for my back. The stretching, strength building in your core and release of muscle tension that climbing produces seem to be of major benefit. Having said that, anyone who has a back injury of the nature you've described should weigh up very carefully the advice of health experts across a range of disciplines before plunging into any strenuous sport. For example, with climbing you might want to be very careful about hard landings when bouldering - or leading!!! ;-) - for a while.
Good luck with your journey teeo. Hope to hear that you are on the improve - perhaps partly due to your involvement in climbing - in the near future.

Cheers

Doug