The MRI report says herniated disc, and now you have one big question: do you ever squat or deadlift again? Maybe someone told you to stop lifting. Maybe nobody told you anything and you are guessing, one rep at a time.
Here is what I tell every lifter in that spot. A disc finding changes how you load your back. It does not automatically end your training. Most people with a herniated disc do not need surgery, and many get back to the barbell. In this article I will cover what the research says about discs healing, how I decide what is safe to lift, and how I rebuild the load when I work with people in Waukee.
Often, yes. Most herniated discs improve without surgery, and in pooled studies about two-thirds of them shrank on their own on follow-up scans [1]. No trial tells you the exact date to deadlift again, so I do not use a calendar. I use how your back and your leg respond to load.
That is the honest answer, and the rest of this article shows you what that looks like in practice.
Your discs sit between the bones of your spine. Each one has a soft center and a tougher outer ring. In a herniated disc, some of that soft center pushes out through the ring. You will hear the words bulge, protrusion, and extrusion. They describe how far the material has moved. For a quick overview of the condition itself, see my herniated disc page.
Here is the part that surprises people. A disc finding on a scan is common in people who have no pain. Disc bulges show up in about 30% of 20-year-olds and 84% of 80-year-olds with no symptoms at all [2]. So a scan result does not tell the whole story. What matters is how you feel and how you move.
Where you feel it also matters:
Back pain only: the disc may be irritating the tissue around it.
Pain, tingling, or numbness down the leg: the nerve is likely involved. If this sounds like you, read my article on sciatica treatment.
Many do, at least on the scan. A meta-analysis of 11 cohort studies found that about two-thirds of herniated discs showed spontaneous resorption after non-surgical care [1]. A 2024 systematic review of 34 articles put the figure higher, about 77%, with a wide range from study to study [3].
Size and shape matter. In a 2023 meta-analysis, the chance of a disc shrinking was about 13% for a bulging disc, 53% for a protruded disc, 70% for an extruded disc, and 93% for a sequestered disc [4]. A bigger herniation can sound scarier, yet it is often the kind that shrinks the most.
Two cautions. These studies were mostly observational, so they describe what tends to happen, not what any one treatment causes. They also describe the MRI, not your pain. I never tell a patient "your disc will heal." I tell them the odds are on their side, and then we build a plan.
What about surgery? In the SPORT trial, people with a herniated disc and leg pain improved a lot whether they had surgery or non-surgical care. The main analysis found no significant difference between the two groups, but many people switched groups during the trial, so it cannot settle the question [5]. Surgery is a real option for some people. I cover when below.
There is no clear-cut answer to this question but oftentimes the answer is yes. I decide with you, one step at a time, using how your symptoms behave. Here is the simple traffic light I use as a starting point.
Green, keep training: your pain stays in the back, it settles within a day, your leg symptoms are not getting worse, and you can walk and sit normally.
Yellow, change the lift, not the day: heavy hinging or deep bending under load brings on or increases your leg symptoms. You do not stop training. We change the load, the range, or the lift until your symptoms behave.
Red, stop and get seen: leg symptoms that spread or get worse during or after training, new weakness, or any of the red flags later in this article.
In my experience, the first things I adjust are the amount of load, the range of motion, and the version of the lift. Not every deadlift is the same deadlift, and not every squat is the same squat. A movement that flares your leg this week may be fine in a few weeks. This is general guidance, not personal medical advice. Your own plan depends on what I find when I examine you.
I use the same three steps with everyone: Relieve, Restore, Rebuild.
Relieve. First, we calm the flare. That means finding positions and movements that ease your symptoms and using hands-on work and dry needling when they help. If you are curious about it, I wrote about dry needling for back pain.
Restore. Next, we find out what your back cannot tolerate yet. Your first visit is a long, one-on-one session with me, and I walk through how I evaluate an athlete on day one. I watch how you hinge, squat, carry, and brace, because that tells me where your plan should start.
Rebuild. Then we build strength in your trunk, hips, and legs, and we work toward the lifts you want to do. You return to the bar in steps. Sleep, stress, and how much you have been training all count here, because they change how much load your back can handle.
I also make sure you leave knowing what to do in the first hour and the first day of a flare. One bad day should not turn into a bad week.
One more honest note. The research on exercise for herniated discs is still limited, and recent reviews say we need better trials. What we do know is that staying active and rebuilding strength is the safest bet for most back problems, and it is what I use to get lifters moving again. If your back pain is more about lifting soreness than a disc, my article on lower back pain after deadlifts is a better place to start.
See a physical therapist if you have back pain with leg symptoms, a disc finding on your MRI and you want to keep training, or symptoms that last more than a couple of weeks. Iowa allows direct access, so you do not need a referral.
Go to the ER right away if you have any of these [6]:
Trouble starting to urinate, or less feeling when you go
Numbness in the saddle area (between your legs and around your buttocks)
New weakness in both legs
Pain, numbness, or tingling down both legs that comes on suddenly
Loss of control of your bladder or bowels
These can be signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs emergency care.
See a spine doctor soon if your leg weakness is getting worse, or if severe leg pain has not eased after several weeks of good care. If I think you need a doctor or a scan, I will tell you.
Many people can. It depends on your symptoms and on how you build the load back up. The studies show most herniated discs improve without surgery [1][5], and the plan above is how I approach the return to lifting.
No lift is bad by itself. A heavy hinge that makes your leg symptoms climb is a sign to change the plan, not a sign that your lifting days are over. That is the yellow light in the traffic light above.
Often the disc finding shrinks. About two-thirds of herniated discs showed resorption in pooled studies [1][3]. The scan and your symptoms do not always move together, so we judge progress by how you feel and how you move.
Most people start with non-surgical care. Surgery is for red flags, weakness that is getting worse, or pain that does not settle with good care [5][6]. If you are not sure where you stand, an evaluation is the first step.
A herniated disc changes how you load your back. It does not decide whether you lift. If you want a plan that gets you back under the bar, book a free discovery call. You can also read more about how I treat back pain at Fortitude & Freedom. Let's get you back to the training you love.
Zhong M, Liu JT, Jiang H, et al. Incidence of spontaneous resorption of lumbar disc herniation: a meta-analysis. Pain Physician. 2017;20(1):E45-E52. PMID: 28072796. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28072796/
Brinjikji W, Luetmer PH, Comstock B, et al. Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2015;36(4):811-816. https://www.ajnr.org/content/36/4/811
Xie L, Dong C, Fang H, et al. Prevalence, clinical predictors, and mechanisms of resorption in lumbar disc herniation: a systematic review. Orthop Rev. 2024;16:121399. doi:10.52965/001c.121399. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39944739/
Rashed S, Vassiliou A, Starup-Hansen J, Tsang K. Systematic review and meta-analysis of predictive factors for spontaneous regression in lumbar disc herniation. J Neurosurg Spine. 2023:471-478. doi:10.3171/2023.6.SPINE23367. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37486886/
Weinstein JN, Tosteson TD, Lurie JD, et al. Surgical vs nonoperative treatment for lumbar disk herniation: the SPORT randomized trial. JAMA. 2006;296(20):2441-2450. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2553805/
NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries. Sciatica (lumbar radiculopathy): red flags and cauda equina syndrome. https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/sciatica-lumbar-radiculopathy/
Medical disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes and is not personal medical advice. Consult a healthcare provider about your specific situation. Individual results may vary.
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This content is for general education and is not medical advice. It does not replace an evaluation by a licensed clinician, and reading it does not create a patient relationship. Talk to a qualified health professional about your own symptoms before you act on anything here. If you have severe, sudden, or worsening symptoms, seek medical care right away.
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