Action a PLENTY............green is for GO!

This morning was the long awaited visit to the back specialist. There were might anxiety this morning before the appointment, but there was also a positiveness about the household as I left this morning.

The out come of it all is along the lines of the following:

• I have a very healthy back and there are no real concerns for my back's health in general
• I am unfortunate enough to have a condition of spinal canal stenosis which I have all my life. This is a narrowing of the spinal canal in one or more of my vertebrate.
  
• Along with this it appears that I have a small bulging disc in between L4 and L5. Because I have this spinal canal narrowing this is therefore causing the leg (sciatic pain down the left leg) People with a normal size canal may get away with a little bulging as the is a bit of room to 'play' but for me I don't have this luxury.
• Below is a section view of my back, the circle showing the bulging (the top one is the one that is causing the issues)
• Options for treatment are:

1. Continue on and let it recover itself
2. Use an epidural injection to get some relief (I explained I had, had one of these and this was not all that successful, so PL decided to scrap this option)
3. Surgery on the disc with the stenosis, widening it to allow for some more room in that region.

• Then I presented the idea of doing IM in 12 weeks and the associated training leading up to it into the equation. PL indicated that I should go for it, with caution of course. That I have a healthy back and what I have (the stenosis is something I have had for a long time) so doing IM would be fine with some level of caution and gradual introduction to the 'heavy' training. Throughout this time (11 weeks) it will be very important to get into some regular physio and massage and to really work on the recovery of the body throughout.
  
• It was pointed out to me that the training will not create and further issues as long as we proceed with caution.
• Throughout this time of training I will also have access to a 'Selective Nerve Root Block' if the pain get of a concern. This is where they will inject into the area of concern.
  
• It is planned that after IM Nz that I will get the surgery done which will assist in keeping me training and competing for years to come.