YANMMD or PT.
Had some signficant pain a few months ago. MRI showed a bulging disk. No surgery (yet). Doc was not happy to hear that my favorite weightlifting preference was heavy (450+) squats. “Don’t do that! You shouldn’t be putting any compressive load on your spine!” Well, I guess that’s that.
But on my recent return to the gym, I thought I could find a workaround and still do fairly intense leg work. So I tried the inclined leg press, figured that would isolate legs and glutes and not put any pressure on my spine. (My atrophy had the weight down pathtetically, I struggled with the low 300s). But I was glad to be back with a back-safe leg routine.
Except, well – I’m not sure. My back feels a little sore (could be from separate back strengthening stuff I did).
So – not looking for medical advice, just thoughts on the physics of it – was I misguided to think that heavy lifting on an inclined seated press would pose little to no pressure on my spine? I would and will ask my doctor, but she’s clearly not knowledgeable or enthusiastic about weightlifting in general so I don’t expect her even to clearly understand the position I’d be in.
I presume by inclined seated leg press you mean one of these. Realistically I don’t think there’s any way we can answer the question. Does it put any “pressure on the spine”, the answer to that is yes - your back, and particularly your lower back, is the main contact point supporting the force of the weight against the backrest. But whether that counts as “compressive” force or whether it’s the type of force that will aggravate your back problem, is not something I can see how anyone can answer on here. We don’t know which disk of yours is bulging or in what way, and even if you tell us, at that point I think we’re starting to foray into medical advice.
Why can’t you describe the exercise to the doctor? I’m sure she can understand the mechanics of it. If not I think a better option would be a sports or weightlifting physio who would be familiar with the type of exercise you’re doing and the goals you’re trying to achieve, but could also examine you physically and read your MRI.
To be honest if you’ve got a back problem but you’re enthusiastic about weight-lifting (which you clearly are given those squat weights) and want to keep going, seeing a physio to work out a tailored exercise program and for rehab is probably a good idea anyway.
Yep that’s the one.
Your other points are all good. I’m at L5-S1 so it’s low and I can see back involvement.
I’m not going to ask the doc. I’m going to ask the PT, who is something of a lifting fiend. I have become something of a zealot on the benefits of PT and the fact that most people in the field seem to be super-nice and super-knowledgeable on a very practical functional level.