Hi everyone,

I have the early stages of degeneration at my L5-S1. I want to strengthen my core as much as possible and I've had some success with exercises the PT prescribed for me. I want to start including planks into my routine, but I find that this particular exercise significantly exacerbates my pain. Anyone else have a similar problem? Any tips or suggestions? It seems strange that I would be physically unable to do an exercise that is routinely prescribed for people with lumbar disc issues.

Any input would be appreciated.

Hanshan 寒山

Typically anything that causes you pain...should be evaluated by a doctor. I didn't know what planks were...so I looked it up:

http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-the-Plank-Exercise

Look at what happens to your feet and toes with this exercise!

Anyone with foot pain, should seriously avoid this!

Pain is a signal from your body that something is wrong. Ignoring it therefore is serious, unless a trained PT or doctor says to.
Patients with arthritis for example are instructed to listen to pain and not over do anything that creates more pain for them.

Yeah, the physical therapist told me I should be good to go on planks after completing two months of physical therapy. I wouldn't have tried it out otherwise. Believe me, I won't be pushing it!

I think your PN in your feet is going to be the ruling factor.

The burning pain and numbness in my feet has mostly resolved itself, i.e. gone away. It comes back a bit if I miss my daily dose of alpha lipoic acid, otherwise I hardly notice it. This kind of "remission" pattern seems strange to me, I'm worried that it could be indicative of MS.

I think doing any exercise that causes pain should be avoided, or at least make sure the person who has told you to do the exercise is aware that it is causing pain.

Are you doing the exercise correctly? I was taught this exercise at Pilates and I started off doing "Planks" from the knee upwards. and only when the teacher was confident I was doing them correctly (with tummy tucked in) did she allow me to progress to doing them from the feet. I think they are good exercises to do.

as to your other question
When I was recovering from my first slipped disc, the burning pain stuff would come back for many an unwelcome encore over many weeks after I thought I was over the worst, and as for the numbness, I think this was still putting in an occasional appearance for up to 2 years, sometimes gone for months then just arrive back for an afternoon with no warning reason or invite.

Thank you, I was trying to do the planks from my feet, not my knees. I'm almost too scared to even try the latter now, merely holding the plank pose for ten seconds has triggered a pretty nasty flareup that is still giving me problems.

Whereas you had a slipped disc, I had no nerve root impingement. So the neurologists are telling me that my DDD can't account for the neuralgic pain and parasthesia in my feet. STILL trying to get a diagnosis, STILL have no clue what is happening to my body...

Describe the symptoms of your foot ?

My second slipped disc was L5/S1 and I had the classical symptoms of numb little toe and a horrible disturbing semi numbness of the sole of the foot. How does that compare with your findings ?