Brakes pulled on from prolapsed disc - St Kilda Victoria

WEDNESDAY SEP 10 / 2014 / by Andrew Talati
0 Comments 6 Comments

Recovering after back operation

In January 2008, Jason was riding up Mt Tamborine near the Gold Coast when he got out of the saddle and felt a crunch and instantly fell off the bike. The result was 2 prolapsed discs, L4 and L5. The most interesting part was getting back home. Jason could not ride and with no mobile phone reception, he painfully staggered to the top of the hill to get reception so he could call his wife and in laws.

After seeing the physio it was a case of taking it easy to aid the recovery. This was tricky given that Jason was participating in an Ironman Triathlon in March of the same year in Taupo New Zealand.

After the initial protrusion settled down, Jason resumed training in early February and miraculously did the ironman in March of the same year.

Trying to manage the injury
So for the next 2 years Jason tried managing the injury with Physio's, Chiro's, Massage, Chinese medicine, Acupuncture and Pilates but progressively it got worse with the pain migrating down his right leg as the nerves were being compressed from the disc protrusion. This lead to muscle wastage and numbness in the leg and toes.

As a result Jason gave up riding while trying to manage the pain, which resulted in a few ups and down emotionally as exercise and participating in events was a huge part of his life. It was a tough period coming from an incredibly active life to having the brakes pulled on and stopping all physical exercise.

Jason: "Someone is helping you get dressed in the morning, cannot even go to the park to kick the footy with my kids, cannot drive, you're angry and become bitter and twisted about the world. Doctors were happy to prescribe anti depressants and pain killers however I'm a strong believer that you don't need medication to do that", so he fought threw it himself.

Getting back to racing and seeing his mates continue to race provided motivation to get through this dark period and more importantly it was his kids and family; "my wife would slap me around (not literally) to keep me moving in the right direction in terms of getting it fixed and not delaying it any longer".

Without the regular exercise regime, Jason's healthy weight of 82/83kgs ballooned out to 93k.

Finding a solution
This lead to the decision in 2011 to seek surgical opinions. After consulting an Orthopaedic and Neuro surgeon, Jason decided to go with the less invasive key hole surgery in February 2012. The same day of the surgery, Jason was walking around without any pain in his leg, "It was incredible", the surgeon commented that he could see the nerve being pushed by the prolapsed disc and said that the leg starting to twitch once the pressure on the nerve was released by trimming the prolapsed disc. For Jason it was "Life changing".

 

Back to cycling after recoveryRecovering from prolapsed disc_NRRBack to riding after the prolapsed disc operation in St Kilda

Back fighting fit
So after 6 months of doing rehabilitation and core exercise, Jason was back on the bike, eating well and getting back to his pre injury weight (race weight).

The surgeon said that riding is the best thing for his back. Jason will never be able to run again but his aim is to race A grade this year. Well I rode back with Jason and he was rolling turns at low 50's coming back from the North Road Long ride, so I imagine A grade racing isn't that far away.
 

Jason Nevins - VIS-Rowing Squad

An amazing sporting career
Previously Jason rowed at club and state level with the VIS (Victorian Institute of Sport) and went overseas to race with a gruelling 17 - 19 training sessions per week. This also included going to university and fitting in training before school, during lunch, after school and weekends.

Jason then came down with an acute case of glandular fever, was hospitalised and within 2 weeks lost 12kgs from his race weight of 82kgs. After 6 months of anti biotics it developed into chronic fatigue for 7 years. "One day it was like someone clicked the fingers and it disappeared and the body went back to normal."

Jason was just on the cusp of being an international rowing champion like his former house mate Drew Ginn (3 times Olympian), but at 6'1 he was a few inches short of the ideal height of 6'3.

Photo courtesy of Jason Nevins - Jason pictured second from the back

Feedback
Email
Name
Send