torn discs and protrusion: can it get back to normal?

[glura]

Interesting site you have here and thought I'd see if anyone has information on post-injury stuff.
Here's the scoop:
I'm an avid hobby weightlifter. Not competitive, but enjoy general lifting for strength/fitness. I've done it for about 20yrs and I'm 37 now.
So, this summer I was working out like normal, doing some upright rows. Something felt like it twinged/pulled in my upper right back/neck with the pain shooting in to the shoulderblad area and up the right side of my neck/traps. This has happened before (with other exercises too), maybe a couple of times a year for the last few years, and resting with an adjustment or two have got me back in the gym again. I took some time off from lifting, went back and started working out lightly. I felt similar event in the same area while bench pressing. After that, I went to see an osteopath I visit for adjustments. Started feeling tingling in my right middle finger and the finger between that and my thumb.
Anyway, had an EMG and an MRI done. The MRI showed tears in the c7/c6 and c6/c5 discs, and a protrusion as well. yeah, bonus :(.
I'm just nearing the end of 4 weeks of therapy, 3 times a week (traction, ultrasound) and things have become better. Middle finger feels fine, other finger feels better with just a bit of numbness left at the tip. No soreness down the right of my neck and back and shoulderblade area. This week though, it's felt tense/tight right at the base of my neck.

Anyhow, that's the background. What I'm wondering is can people get back to 100% normal after something like this. I would like to resume lifting at some point. Can a person get back to working out like the injury never happened, or is there always going to be problems?
A long time ago (when I was 18), I had a disc herniation at L5. Ended up going the surgery route (discectomy?). It's never been "normal", but I could do what I had always done before (including squats, but have refrained from "maxing"), but maybe a little more stiff and sore at times, and sitting for long times still sucks.

any thoughts or pointers regarding post-injury, or even just injury information itself would be greatly appreciated.
My goal is to get back to 100%. I'm an active guy, with motorcycle road racing hobbies and motocross hobbies, along with lifting, so this injury has been a big bummer. Once the tingling started, I was positive I had a disc injury, and absolutely crushed. After getting good relief from therapy, I'm feeling more positive. I'm just curious if it's just false hope for my neck to be like it was before the injury.

Thanks,
Gary

[emmae]

Hi Gary, I have disc protrusions from C7 to C3 with C5 being the worse, from my experience i have good weeks and bad weeks, my problems started when i began personal training 18 months ago, have had the problem for about 5 years but didnt know, the stress put on my neck and shoulders from the personal training exacerbated my injury. I have frequent physio, sometimes weekly and at other times every 2-4 weeks. I have also developed thoracic outlet syndrome, which makes things worse and compounds it. Anyway you just have to find out through trial and error what you can do and what you cant, and then work around that, hope this helped, emma

[Mischap123]

Gary, often after injury you need to be careful as there is ALWAYS a possibility of recurrance. As Emma suggested, use trial and error. But be warned, ease yourself into it. Another great point by Emma surrounds the diagnosis. You may have a disc bulge but is it enough to comprimise neural function? TOS (thoracic outlet syndome) could also give the exact same symptoms and needs to be excluded by your osteo. TOS is often caused by tight muscles in the neck/shoulder area ie. scalenes/traps, pecs minor and they comprimise nerve and/or vascular function for the arm. If you do infact have TOS, it's a lot more easy to manage than a bulge. Best of luck

[B5RS4]

i have a c6 and c7 disc injury, i have done a lot of research, been to a lot of specialists, had all the relevant scans, etc.

the final conclusion for me is that the neuro told me to quit my sport as i would need surgery later on if i continued.

he told me that once the neck is injured it will never return to 100%, like any body part, once injured it will be weaker and more susceptible to reinjury.

i have now had to readjust my training in accordance to my injury, no more competitions and no more hard training until i am better.

it sucks a lot.