Learn to show up everyday. Demand it of yourself. Train everyday.
You can always modify your training depending on your health. When a cervical disk blew in my neck, I had to modify my training. It hurt to do anything. Even lying in bed was excruciatingly painful. Yet, I walked because walking was no more painful than being in a chair or bed.
I tried swimming and the remarkable thing about swimming was that the pain diminished and went away. The pain gradually built up again over one to two hours after the swimming. During the time I was in the pool though, I was relatively pain free.
After the first swim, it was somewhat humorous for me as my sisters and friends who took me to my LA Fitness to swim were rather anxious. What if he needs help in the water? What would they do? After multiple swims they were no longer anxious but rather amazed by how much better I felt in the water.
I think it would be a good idea to study people with disc injuries floating in the water. It seems like the water provides a “gravity free” or reduced gravity environment so perhaps the nerves effected are no longer being pinched or strained. I’m not sure how it worked; yet, it worked. Knowing how to float or swim prior to the injury may be key though. A person who is afraid of floating or swimming may tense up in the water and might not experience a benefit.
The point of my anecdote is how would I have known what I could do if I hadn’t tried. I tried walking and found it really no more painful than lying down. I tried swimming and found it relatively pain free and reduced the pain temporarily after swimming.
The primary reason that led to sitting down or sleep was exhaustion from the pain, not activity. The compression from sitting or sleeping would then get to me so I would get up and I would try to move to find some comfort temporarily.
You probably don’t have a ruptured disc. You may have a minor pain or injury. Carefully move and workout to bring about healing. It’s called physical therapy. When you can’t train hard, still train and treat it like physical therapy. Perhaps all physical and mental therapy is training and training is therapy.
