I'm still humming along, doing olympic lifting 3 days a week, including heavy snatches, cleans, jerks and pulls, doing CrossFit 1-2x a week and playing sports. No new leg pain or low back issues. I do get some occasional mid and upper back tweaks from olympic lifting but those all seem to be soft tissue and don't last fortunately.
I competed in two weightlifting meets in 2017 and plan to compete in at least 2 next year as well. Just recently I PR'ed both my snatch and clean and jerk, and PR'ed my squats this past year as well! I don't attempt heavy deadlifts, but to be honest, I feel like heavy pulls and lifts have actually made my back feel better and stronger. I now have spinal erectors that I can actually see and feel, and though I thought it was pretty good then, my core strength is way beyond what it was a few years ago. I feel very blessed and hope that I can maintain this.
Anyway, hope everyone is getting the help and treatment they need and taking care of themselves and seeing good progress. Hit me up with any comments or questions.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Spondy athletes!!
#crossfit #weightlifting #spondylolisthesis
Glad to read that you are doing well with your spondy. I also have spondy and have recently begun doing CrossFit. I found out I had spondy 11 years ago after getting out of the military and was told to not squat, deadlift, etc. So I neglected my legs and back and only did upper body workouts for 10 years, off and on. Meanwhile my condition continued to get worse and I just kept treating through pain management. I finally had enough of that about 2 years ago and I read an article about lifting with spondy so I decided to do so as well. Started doing some squats and other movement with a smith machine and managed to build a little strength. Finally discovered CrossFit about 8 months ago and sort of continuously got deeper and deeper into it. I'm pretty much full fledged into it now and loving it and can say that on an average day my back feels 75% better than before. I still have a bad day that is usually a result of sleeping in a bad position and every now and then I'll do something working out where I tweak it a little bit. One dose of anti-inflammatory usually takes care of it, along with some proper stretches.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, sorry I just told my life story there. I was curious as to whether or not you have had any follow ups with medical professionals since you have been lifting with spondy? I have not, and to be honest am a little concerned about doing so. Even though my back feels better, which I believe would indicate that strengthening all the muscles in my lower back has perhaps helped realign that vertebrae, maybe that's not the case. And I guess my biggest concern is that I'm going to go for a lift and it's just going to completely give out. What are your thoughts?
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteThanks much for reading and for your comments. Sorry for the delay in response, and I'm also sorry to hear you're a fellow spondy sufferer, but I'm really glad to hear that you've been feeling better since taking up lifting and CrossFit again. I truly feel like the more you can strengthen the hips, glutes abs and lower back, the better you feel with a spondy, and the less it has to be a "life sentence". It seems that the stronger the musculature surrounding the spine is, the better off you are, as you're not just relying on bone stacked on disc to hold everything up!
I do understand about the occasional tweak in working out, as I can get one of those every now and then as well, but fortunately they seem to be muscle belly pulls or strains from going to hard or form being off slightly. Form, as I've mentioned on a couple of my posts, is absolutely tantamount and can't be compromised for folks like us.
As for follow up, I have not gone back to see my neurosurgeon, mainly because I've had no neurological symptoms since my decompression procedure, so I doubt he would see me anyway. That being said, I have worked with a Physical Therapist (DPT) on a separate issue (shoulder) and I have talked with him about my spondy. He agreed that the recommendation to never lift was questionable, and was fine with what I've been doing lifting-wise as long as I continue to work on my core as well. Interestingly, I came across an article by another spine surgeon that seemed to recommend the exact course of action that I have taken:
https://sohrabgolloglymd.com/reversing-spondylolisthesis/
"In my opinion, correct body mechanics has just as much ability to stabilize a spondylolisthesis as a fusion does, and if I needed an operation because I had relentless leg pain due to a spongy, I’d have a microscopic decompression and be absolutely meticulous about my rehab."
This was exactly my situation and exactly what I did. Now he doesn't go into detail about how heavy to lift, etc. but he does say he's a crossfitter as well and would continue with a spondy. As for whether it will just completely "give out" one day, yes I do sometimes think about that, but I'm not sure there's any scientific or biomechanical basis for that so I try not to think about it too much :)
Anyway, hope this was helpful. Keep at it and update me as you make further progress. Stay healthy!
Oh, and as for realigning the vertebrae, unfortunately that is a myth. You can't realign the vertebrae without surgery and mechanical fixation (i.e. fusion with rods and screws). You can, however, stabilize things with a really strong core and correct form and stave off fusion surgery.
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ReplyDeleteI'm no athlete at anything but I have a spondy grade 3/4. I have only ever gymed and lifted on my own so have been limited to what I can lift. I have recently started with a trainer to work from ground up focusing on glute and core as I have hardly ever worked on those and from what I've learned plays a massive role in lifting properly. I'm always in pain and want to avoid surgery. Does anyone have a grade 3 or higher and how do you cope with lifting.
ReplyDeleteMatthew - Sorry to hear you're dealing with the Grade 3/4 spondy, but it sounds like you're focused on the right things with glute/core strength. They definitely play a massive role in stabilizing your low back and reducing pain overall. Not sure exactly what symptoms you're dealing with (i.e. is it generalized pain or radiculopathy?) but keep hammering those bird dogs, dead bugs, planks, etc. to get that core and glutes strong, and then you can start on lighter lifting to see how your spondy responds to it. Beyond that, if you see no improvement, I'd suggest working with a PT or physio and seeing a spine specialist.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!