Hi, thanks for writing to HCM.

As you have multilevel degenerative lumbar disc disease, you are not supposed to do any activity that imparts additional strain on the already damaged structures.

The activities that you should avoid in the gym are Lifting of any weights and forward bending movements.If you want to pick up anything from the floor, you should bend forwards with your knees bent.

Hope this information is helpful. Good day

Hi,

After going through the entire description, it seems that you might be suffering from degenerative disc disease & it occurs due to repetitive overload or stress to the disc & it increases the risk of disc herniation & spinal canal stenosis.

For this condition you have to do stretching & strengthening exercises in which you have to stretch tight muscle & strengthen weakened ones which will alleviate stress on facet joint and disc.

Avoid weight bearing exercises. Do only mild aerobics which does not put your back to strain. You can discuss about this with your Gym instructor.

I do hope that you have found something helpful and I will be glad to answer any further query.

Hi Noeleen
Thank you for your question.

As you have correctly described you have degenerative spinal stenosis. What this means is arthritis in your back has led to growth of back tissues (yellow ligament) which in addition to bulging discs narrow the spinal canal and pinch the nerves going to legs. This is the cause of sciatica.

As a part of treatment the medication which is more helpful for this nerve type of pain is gabapentin or neurontin. However it needs to be taken under supervision of a doctor as it needs monitoring for side effects. Next option if the medications don't work is trying epidural steroid injection/s which are done under image guidance and many times are useful for pain relief though they do not 'cure' the spinal stenosis as such.

Regarding your question about returning to gym, I am glad to hear that you are reasonably fit. I would advise strictly avoiding bending, twisting and lifting weights kind of exercises. Walking is a good exercise for you. Working on the treadmill is fine as far as you keep the speeds low and make it fast walking and rather than running. If this gives you back pain or aggravates your sciatica please refrain from these activities. If you can tolerate the treadmill from pain point of view, it is unlikely to cause any acute worsening of arthritis and stenosis changes in your spine.

Hope this is useful and please let me know if I can be of further assistance.