Loss of strength from nerve damage?

[kolaking]

Has anyone had loss of strength longterm on one side of upper body after Cervicle disc surgery? (12 years ago) Where you able to regain the atrophy and continue building muscle or did it plateau at a certain point with the other side surpassing that side?

[friggingood]

I had c6/c7 fusion just about 12 years ago. I did have some atrophy but have been back in the gym since. Granted I'm not doing anything behind the neck anymore nor am I lifting for power. I have cycled successfully several times with light tests and cutters. Yes, my left side is weaker than the right, but not anything completely crazy. If I bench I definitely see a difference, but I'm also not trying to lift for 6 reps. I'm doing 12-15 so the training is a bit lighter.

[kolaking]

Yeah I had the same anterior diskectomy at 6&7 in Oct.2000. I have done a few return trips to the gym over the years but this time the diff. is worse;especially in the tricept, left side also. Pectoralis on bench and other stuff is not too bad.

[friggingood]

I'll tell you what.. I've rarely taken any time off in all these years aside from vacations and an minor injuries here or there, but when I am not training I feel worse in the areas that affected my disc than when I train. When I put on even 5lbs I feel it in that part of my body. I just keep it middle of the pack as far as amount of weight I lift. After that there was no need for me to be taking bulking cycles. I wasn't going through that again. You can get yourself in really good shape on lighter stuff that actually makes you look and feel better. I just had labrum surgery on my left shoulder, which is the same side of my body that I had the disc issues so I'm a bit nervous about being out of the gym these few months.

[lovbyts]

I had/have nerve damage from L3, L4 & L5/S1 damage. I still have numbness in the lower groin area and feet. When L5/S1 ruptured I lost all feeling in my legs and feet for 2 weeks. I lost all my calves and had chicken legs for the 1st time in my life since I was 11.
It took a good 6 months before I started to get shape back to my legs/calves with a lot of work. I could not even raise up on the balls of my feet, lift my heals off the ground until about 2 months after the surgery.

You just have to keep at it and re learn some things. I sort of had to re learn to walk since my feet do not work or feel the same but you just do it and learn to pay attention to how you are doing things everything.

[kolaking]

I don't plan on getting bulky either, I am doing a bulk cycle now and may do one more just to get back close to where i was, after that I'm concentrating on keeping a lean, symetrical, and hard shape doing hi-rep, lighter weight and endurance. Most women don't like the overdone bulky guys anyway. Good luck with the shoulder issues! KK.

[friggingood]

At this point I'm not willing to get injured again. I know it's a fact that all the 'stuff' is what weakens your ligaments. Your muscle gets to the point where it puts too much strain on your ligaments. I was bulking when I got the disc issue. The shoulder was just a stupid thing that happened that actually shouldn't have happened. Other than that I've been pretty injury free while not on bulking things. Be smart bro...

[Bodybuilding-Student]

I had/have nerve damage from L3, L4 & L5/S1 damage. I still have numbness in the lower groin area and feet. When L5/S1 ruptured I lost all feeling in my legs and feet for 2 weeks. I lost all my calves and had chicken legs for the 1st time in my life since I was 11.
It took a good 6 months before I started to get shape back to my legs/calves with a lot of work. I could not even raise up on the balls of my feet, lift my heals off the ground until about 2 months after the surgery.

You just have to keep at it and re learn some things. I sort of had to re learn to walk since my feet do not work or feel the same but you just do it and learn to pay attention to how you are doing things everything.

I have suffering exactly the same as you did i have mri next weekend but ive been stuck in the house for 8 weeks as i cant walk barely. Did u continue to train upper body? and how did u prevent muscle loss ? my calf has completely disappeared lol. but im trying to preserve up top. maybe running test at 125-250mg per week?

[lovbyts]

No way, when I ruptured L5/S1 it was all I could do to not pass out from pain trying to make it from the bedroom to the kitchen. I could not even sit for 30 seconds, seriously. I had to pee in a bottle laying on the floor or I would have passed out due to pain trying to stand or sit. I could only lay on my side or back with massive amounts of pain meds, morphine, vicodine and valium.

My calf muscles where completely gone also. I did a lot of PT, LOTS of calf raises. I could not even lift off of my heals using both feet for a couple of weeks. I had to hold something to push on to do calf raises for a while then walking doing as much as I could. It took a good 6 months for them to start to come back and a year to get to normal.

If you are not on HRT then I would not run test to try to help build the muscles because it will shut down your natural test production.

You can also just flex your calves when sitting or doing seated calf raises. I flex mine all the time to where they cramp. After you get use to it they feel good cramping, almost like working out to a burn. lol

[t-gunz]

im yet to train back in the gym with my L5/S1 prolapse. but when i go to physio and seen the specialist the other day my left leg was noticably weaker.

really depressing too as my legs are my strong point. and i love training legs

[kolaking]

Yes , it's very frustrating when you can't do nearly the same weight on the opposite side!

[Van-Selftest]

I suffered a C4/C5 compression fracture playing ruby in 1993 and with that injury came the accompanying nerve damage to the upper right quadrant of my body.
The nerve damage effected my strength initially and after a month or so I started to notice differences in size and shape between my left and right sides especially: traps shoulders, chest and arms.
My dominant / slightly larger right hand side became my weaker / smaller side.
The surgeon told me that it would possibly heal with nerve regrowth but it would take a minimum of 18 months to see results.
Well 18 months came and went but it was not quite the result I was hoping for.
It did improve somewhat but never back to it's original strength.
That was almost 20 years ago and my left side is still stronger today and my right side is only slightly smaller - Not really noticeable to anyone but me.

[keep fightin]

compound fracture to my left femur resulted in slight atrophy to my left calf, over the years I have tried various training protocols with little success, still 1/2 inch smaller than right, have many measurements before injury that had them dead even in size