Quick recap. I herniated/ruptured L4-5, L5-S1 27 years ago. My latest MRI a couple of years ago showed herniated lumbar discs, spinal stenosis, and thoracic arthritis. To put it mildly, my pt says my back issues are complicated.
Not too long ago I wrote a blog about how I train when my back flares up How I Train When My Back Flares Up With that recent issue I went down the rabbit hole searching for my new cure.
I have been so close to being completely pain-free that’s why I can’t give up. Just shy of two years ago I felt like I strained my adductor. It was very painful, but I worked through it quickly with my pt. But like most injuries, as you age, it never seems to completely go away.
Getting some pain in my lower ab also, I started to wonder if these things were related. I self-diagnosed, yeah, I’m guilty of that too, that it was a sports hernia. The one exercise that was helping was single-leg glute bridges on my bad side.
The bridges did not get me completely home so I did a little more research. There’s another hernia called a sciatica hernia, that covers my trifecta of pain. Don’t ask me why but I never thought the adductor, ab, and sciatica issues were related.
Here’s the punch line. Banded clamshells. That’s the exercise that is presently taking the pain away from all three issues. It’s bananas. I’m doing 1 set of 15, 3 times a day and I feel awesome.
Update: My login to post my blog wasn’t working for the past week and I was unable to upload it. A week later and my sciatica pain is still completely gone. I am also feeling stronger in the effected glute and adductor to the side I am doing the clamshells.
