Help Advice needed I am Down

fridgehq

Hi All,

I am very desperate and depressed since the end of july I have had back problems and have been off work now for 3 months my Gp sent me for a MRI scan at the end of Sept which showed a broad based disc bulge at L3 and L4 and a small disc bulge at L5 S1 this is without doubt the worst injury I have ever experienced althougth now I am slowly improving. the problem I have now is that i am getting different opinions about getting back on my mountain bike which is VERY imortant to me I was doing between 15 to 25 k off road riding 3 times a week. My GP has said tarmac only no long hill climbs the Orthopedic Surgeon has said ride on tarmac and take things slow I will be seeing him again in the next 2 months. the bombshell is the osteopath he said I will not be able to ride again and if I do the problem will keep comming back anyone had the same problem as I am very upset about the last opinion. thanks in advance mick

benpinnick

Hey Mick, sorry to hear about your problems getting out on the bike. It can really suck when its taken away from you. I dont have a huge amount of technical advice to offer though I'm afraid, only that you should keep your goals in mind, and achievable; theres no point thinking you will be able to rip the trails up again in a short while, as you probably wont. No-one really knows how your path to recovery will go, and sometimes its much better than expected. Set yourself a relatively easy target, and get that hurdle out of the way, even if its finding something to keep your mind off the bike for a couple of months. Once your through, you and the docs will all be able to reassess where your at, and the options going forward might be much better. Good luck!