October 3, 2024 • 23 mins
What happens when a professional brewer's back gives out, and he's left immobilized for weeks? Eric Stuhlmacher's journey from severe back pain to resilience offers valuable lessons for anyone dealing with chronic pain. In this episode, Eric shares the raw, emotional highs and lows of living with a herniated disc. From a sudden immobilizing incident in February 2021 to another painful flare-up in August 2022, Eric's story is a testament to the power of perseverance. We delve into his commitment to physiotherapy, the physical and emotional challenges he faced, and the strategies that ultimately helped him manage his pain and reclaim his life.
Hear practical advice on managing chronic back pain, including effective home exercises that target hip flexors and hamstrings. Learn about the emotional toll of being unable to participate in family activities and how stress can exacerbate physical pain. Eric also touches on his personal experiences with cortisone injections, significant lifestyle changes, and his ambitious goals like backcountry snowboarding and pursuing a career in firefighting. Finally, we explore Eric's passion for brewing, his career transition, and how his journey can inspire others facing similar struggles. Don't miss this episode filled with hope, determination, and actionable insights.
Was this episode helpful to you? If you would like to support my work on the show, you can buy me a coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/bedbackandbeyond
Have a positive story of recovery to tell? Head over to https://bedbackbeyond.com/share-your-story/ to apply.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I remember kind of just having this weird sensation
in my glute and I didn't reallythink much of it.
It wasn't painful, it was justkind of odd and I just figured
it was kind of strained and Idid kind of stop.
I did stop training for a bitbut then the pain, like the
sensation, turned to painrelatively quickly and it was
(00:21):
clear something was wrong,because there was a lot of pain
in the glute and then down theback of my thigh and it was at
the point where, like you know,laying down and sitting was very
uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Bed Back and Beyond was created specifically to
share personal stories ofrecovery from serious injury
with the hopes of being anencouragement to you.
Injury with the hopes of beingan encouragement to you.
If hearing inspiring andtouching stories of personal
triumph is something you enjoy,I would love to introduce you to
the podcast Multispective.
Multispective is a podcast thatinterviews people with a
(00:58):
personal story over triumph andadversity.
This not only includes injurystories, but also stories of
trauma, abuse, addiction andsurvival.
Jennica, the host, walks witheach guest through their
experience, introducing us tosomeone who is wiser and
stronger from it.
Please enjoy the multispectivetrailer.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Everything from within me just cracked open and
I fell into that cesspool ofdarkness.
I'm Jenica, host and writer ofMultispective.
Multispective is a podcastwhere we interview individuals
around the world with unique,true, dark human stories and
experiences.
Guests share in details some ofthe mental health and traumas
(01:44):
they faced.
She would wait till I would getsound asleep and then come in
and jump on me and startpunching me.
Decisions they've made For meas a social worker to think that
we need to euthanize a child.
That was for me to think, okay,I'm no longer in this field.
And, more importantly, how theyfound strength, resilience and
healing.
There really was about finallygetting to a point where I
(02:06):
thought it doesn't matter whatthe norm is.
What matters is how I feel andin many respects, it's all that
matters.
All that matters is how I feelabout it.
I'm in control and I'm incontrol of me.
Tune in, subscribe, rate andreview Multispective on
wwwmultispectiveorg or YouTubeor your preferred podcasting app
(02:26):
.
You can also find us on any ofthe social media platforms that
you use.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Welcome to Bed Back.
Beyond sharing positive storiesof recovery from serious back
or neck injury, your host is CK,a fellow champion who draws on
her own experience withherniated disc surgery.
Join her as she talks withothers who have overcome the
physical and emotional trauma ofa painful injury and discover
(02:58):
for yourself how you can findhope and encouragement in
recovery.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Hi Eric.
Thank you so much for joiningme on this episode of Bed, back
and Beyond.
Before we talk about yourherniated disc, how about you
just introduce yourself?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, my name is Eric Stuhlmacher.
I live in Canada, alberta,canada.
Yeah, some of my hobbies I likedoing skateboarding,
snowboarding, golf.
I'm also a father of uh, twolittle girls keep me really busy
.
And, yeah, and what I do forwork is I'm a professional
brewer, so I make make beer fora living.
Been doing that for about eightyears now oh, what part of
(03:36):
canada is alberta in?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
remind me please uh.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
So we are just uh east of british columbia.
So okay, b BC is just ourneighbors to the west.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Okay, I just got back from Banff in June.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, that's Alberta.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, amazing yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
It's a beautiful spot yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Oh yeah, it was Alberta.
I was just thinking CalgaryAirport.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yes, yeah, yeah.
So I don't live too far fromBanff.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Okay, how did you fare with all the fires?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
We got a little bit of smoke here.
Like I live in Calgary, so wedid get a bit of smoke, but
unfortunately we're not asaffected as obviously the people
who live there are.
Yeah, so that was prettyunfortunate.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, my husband's already asking if we can retire
to Banff.
Absolutely loved it.
It was gorgeous.
Yeah, I think I saw from yourReddit profile that August 2022,
you started having some backissues.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, that was kind of the biggest flare up.
If we wanted to go back a bit,I would say it was February 2021
.
I had a pretty bad episode.
So I was working like the daybefore, my back was kind of sore
, um, and I didn't think toomuch of it in the morning, I
(04:52):
felt kind of fine.
And then I was working prettyearly in the morning as well, on
, uh, in February of 2021.
And I lifted up a bag of grainand my legs just like gave out,
just kind of hit the deck, um,which was pretty, pretty scary
because I didn't really knowwhat was going on and I kind of
had to like crawl around and Iwas, yeah, it was really bad.
(05:13):
And so, luckily, I got a holdof someone, a co-worker, and
they came in to kind of relieveme and I had to get a drive home
and, um, I was laid up forabout like a week and a half to
two weeks, um, but likerecovered, pretty all right,
like I went to physio, didn'thave any like sciatica, nothing
like that, like things seemed tokind of get better and I never,
(05:34):
you know, went for mris oranything.
And then, yeah, august of thefollowing year is when it really
got bad.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Was February, the first time you've ever
experienced anything like that.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, like I've had like some muscle, like some back
spasms.
You know that would kind of goaway in a day, but nothing,
nothing like that.
That was definitely a firsttime experience.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And was that the symptoms just in your back, or
did they also go down your leg?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, just my back, and it was just.
Yeah.
You know, I could barely walkfor a week and a half.
Things were just stiff, but Ihad no experience of like any
sciatica or pain in the glutesor anything like that at that
point.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Okay, and so then things were fine until August of
the following year.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah.
So I had actually applied tojoin the Calgary Fire Department
and so I was trainingDisclaimer I wasn't training
very smartly, I was going alittle too hard.
I was training with like aweighted vest on and doing hill
sprints obviously a lot of stuffthat puts compression on the
(06:44):
lower back and I remember kindof just having this weird
sensation in my glute and Ididn't really think much of it.
It wasn't painful, it was justkind of odd and I just figured
it was kind of strained and Idid kind of stop.
I did stop training for a bitbut then the pain like the, the
sensation, turned to painrelatively quickly and it was
(07:07):
clear something was wrong,because there was a lot of pain
in the glute and then down theback of my thigh and it was at
the point where, like you know,laying down and sitting was very
uncomfortable.
So that was August wasdefinitely the start of the
bigger problems that Iexperienced for about a year and
(07:27):
a half.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I remember when my issue started, it did start with
just a weird feeling in myglute and I said to my husband
it feels like someone is justpinching my nerve between their
finger.
And it wasn't pain yet, it wasjust like a pinch.
I kept trying to shift, youknow, to relieve that pinch, but
then it just moved to paineventually.
So then something led you toget a diagnosis.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah.
So I have a really greatphysiotherapist that I worked
with and just like, went to herand talked about my symptoms and
what occurred and I trusted herdiagnosis and she said, yeah,
it sounds like herniated discs.
What occurred, and I trust,trusted her diagnosis and she
said, yeah, it sounds like, youknow, herniated discs,
Unfortunately, like in Canada.
Um, like, I could get an MRIbut I'd have to go on a wait
(08:13):
list.
It would take about eightmonths.
Uh, so at that point I wasn'treally um looking at that option
.
I just figured, you know, I'lljust do some physiotherapy and
take it easy, and things wouldstart to get better.
And they just kept gettingworse until things started
getting better.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Okay, but you did eventually end up with an MRI,
correct?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah, yeah, I would say so.
That happened in August and Ithink the following year at the
end of winter.
So I want to say, like March2023, actually no sooner than
that Probably like the beginningof winter in 2023 is when I
paid up and got a private MRI.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And when did it show?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah, three herniated discs L3, L4, l4, l5, l5s1.
L5s1 being the most serious.
I can't remember the exactsizes of them.
I tried to actually find myreport prior to this but I
couldn't.
But L5S1 was definitely showing.
It was the biggest one.
(09:12):
It was hitting the sciaticnerve.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Right and numbness pain.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah.
So lots of pain, lots ofnumbness.
It went all the way down to myfoot.
Like my foot was tingly andlike it felt like I was always
like kind of like when I waswalking it felt like there was
like my sock was like bunched upunderneath my foot.
It was like really weirdsensation.
I did have some musculardystrophy in my calf so I lost
(09:40):
like some muscle mass in my calf.
And then as far as like sitting, like sitting was the most
uncomfortable for the first bit,and then it turned to laying
down, became the mostuncomfortable and then it just I
couldn't lay down.
So I was actually for a coupleof months I could only sleep
sitting up in like one to twohour bursts.
So I would essentially just siton my couch, put on a movie
(10:03):
I've seen a million times andhopefully fall asleep for a
couple hours at a time.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And were you able to work at this point, or did you
have to close business down?
How did you handle that?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, no, I was working.
So I was in a job like I wasmore in an operations management
job, so I wasn't doing a lot ofthe actual labor involved with
brewing and my bosses were veryunderstanding.
My one boss actually has verybad back problems as well, so he
understood and just kind of Idid light duties and had a
(10:32):
standup desk and just kind oftried my best to get through it.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, no one understands your pain, unless
they've herniated a disc.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, I think that's the toughest part is having a
family, and my wife was tryingto be supportive.
But it gets to a point whereshe's just kind of like just get
better already.
It was at a point where she waslike you should get surgery
because this is gettingridiculous.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Did you have a doctor recommend surgery to you?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
No, and I know in the States it's a lot different.
Where I think surgery is.
I don't want to say it'srecommended more easily, but
definitely doctors here aren'treally great with back things,
they're more like.
Here's some medication.
Surgery is generally somethingthat will be recommended if
you're losing bowel control andstuff like that.
(11:20):
But if you're just in pain theyjust kind of say wait it out,
go see a physiotherapist.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Okay, so then that's what you just did you went to
physical therapy.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, I did physical therapy.
I did acupuncture physicaltherapy, I did acupuncture
massage.
I did a whole bunch of stuffjust to try to.
I knew nothing was going toreally fix me.
I kind of accepted that timewas going to be the best remedy.
I was just trying to findrelief and that also made
lifestyle changes.
(11:51):
I stopped drinking for a while,I changed up my diet, lost
weight, so I was just kind ofthrowing everything at it.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I don't think people realize alcohol causes
inflammation in the body.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
So sometimes when you're in a pain, you want to
turn to alcohol to soothe yourpain, but you're causing more.
Exactly so I just stoppeddrinking.
I was drinking way more waterjust trying to hydrate more, but
yeah, it was just.
It just took a lot of time andwaiting, in my case.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
How long do you think you were doing physical therapy
before you could say I'mfeeling some improvement here?
Speaker 1 (12:38):
time like so the injury happened august 2022.
I don't think I was feelinglike like I'm still not 100,
like I still have some likenerve stuff in my calf, but as
far as like mobility and likefeeling comfortable, it took
like I did.
I started physical therapy inaugust and continued until like
march of the following year andI was still.
It just got to a point where Ijust felt like, you know, I
could kind of do things on myown at home doing the exercises
(13:00):
and just kind of going throughthe regime.
My physical therapist does dryneedling and I did find that
that provided a lot of relieffor like a short amount of time.
So that was the biggest reasonI kept going back to her.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Okay, and when did you decide you felt good enough
to get back on the slopes?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah.
So I mean kind of summer of umof last year is when I was, you
know, I was able to startrunning again, started working
out a bit.
It took, it took over, like Iwould say, over a year and uh,
as far as yeah, as far as goingsnowboarding, I kind of I maybe
should have consulted withsomeone first, but the summer
(13:41):
that I had I was, you know,riding my bike again.
I just said, you know what,let's, let's go for this and see
how it goes.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And no, it went well and are you still seeing your
physical therapist now, or doyou just do stuff at home?
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I just do stuff at home, so I yeah it's just
maintenance.
I just um, I try to keep my myback loose, Um, and then I also
found like doing hip flexorexercises really helped with me
as well.
I know everybody's everybody'sdifferent, but like
strengthening my hip flexors andand loosening my hip flexors
has been very helpful inalleviating lower back tension.
(14:17):
I have really tight hamstringsfrom being a cyclist, so trying
to keep those loose definitelyhelp out as well.
So it's just daily maintenancethat I'm just kind of trying to
do at home.
So, no, I haven't seen mytherapist in probably a year.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Okay, I have talked to several moms on the podcast
and you know it's a strugglewhen you're a mom and you can't
pick up your kids, or or youknow, just can't do.
How old are your children?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
yeah, so they uh, they're now six and four and I'm
definitely you know the fun dad, so always wrestling with them
and chasing around the house andand that was very difficult, um
I think, I think that wasprobably the hardest part, that
and like just kind of feelingisolated and alone, um, but not
being able to be like a partnerand a parent, especially for
(15:07):
like the amount of time like Ican go with sleep deprivation, I
can go with like chronic pain,but having that part of my life
kind of removed, was definitelythe most challenging for me.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
If the doctors had recommended surgery or were a
little more free with surgerylike the US, do you think you
would have gone that route orare you happy with the progress
you've made?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, I mean, I've read so many stories of people
getting surgery and it maybe notworking, or obviously there's
been so many big success stories.
I did do two cortisoneinjections, which I find didn't
really do much.
Again, you're never guaranteedto get relief from those things,
(15:52):
so it was a very painfulexperience for me um that wasn't
worth it in the end yeah, thesecond time was very
uncomfortable it was veryuncomfortable.
Yeah, the first time wasn't sobad.
Second time I was like, yeah,I'm not gonna do this again did
they do the x-ray guide it yeah,yeah, it was like a really good
facility.
(16:12):
It's where I got my MRIs doneand, yeah, I just don't know
what happened there.
Um, yeah, surgery I don't thinkI would have.
I I'm pretty, I'm prettystubborn and I'm very like
regimented.
So I was confident that I wouldkind of be able to get through
it and I really stuck to routine.
Um, you know, like I lost Ithink I lost like 25 pounds,
(16:34):
stopped drinking, changed mydiet and just like saw this as
an opportunity to kind of likeenrich my life and like not and
try not to take mobility forgranted and like start to really
really take care of me.
Like I'm in my late thirties,so it was kind of, you know, and
I grew up doing some prettyhigh impact activities and
continued to to do as well.
So, yeah, I just saw it as anopportunity to like really kind
(16:58):
of change my life and like turnit around a bit.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Do you have any goals of things that you haven't
gotten back to yet, but youpromise yourself you will?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Oh well, yeah, so I'm back snowboarding, but I want
to get into like backcountrysnowboarding, so split boarding,
so essentially you self-propelyourself up a mountain and then
snowboard down, so not usinglike chairlifts and stuff like
that.
That's something I've alwayswanted to do.
I grew up on the East Coastwhere we didn't really have
mountains, so I never really gotthat opportunity.
But now I have a bunch offriends and other fathers that
(17:28):
do that, so that's something I'mlooking to kind of get into in
the next few years.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And what about the firefighting?
Did you pursue that?
Or did you have to put that onthe shelf.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah.
So I was kind of silly and eventhough it's a really long
process and the injury happenedduring the process and I was
very stubborn and kept throughthe process and I think the
stress of the whole thing umadded to what I was experiencing
as well I was just, I put a lotof my like eggs in that basket
that you know, this is what Iwas going to do, this is what it
like.
I was putting like my identityinto it already and I had
(18:07):
actually made it to the finalstage despite my injury.
I had to do, um, one physicaltest that involved wearing a
weighted vest, and I did thatwith my injury and it didn't,
didn't feel good.
And then, um, the final testwas a treadmill test, where it
progressively gets faster andhigher incline, and I hadn't
been able to run ever.
(18:28):
So I had zero training and Itried that, but I came up short.
And then, you know, I was prettydevastated.
But after being able to kind oflike let go of that experience
and move on from it, that's whenI started to kind of feel
things get better.
So it was, you know, leading upto that point I wasn't sleeping
(18:49):
, I wasn't able to really laydown or rest and then literally
that day when I failed the test,I came back home and I kind of
accepted what happened.
I was laying down in bed withmy girls playing and I was like
in a little bit of pain, but Iwas able to actually like sleep
laying down for the first timein months.
So I feel like the stress justlike amplified everything for me
(19:13):
as well.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Wow.
So what do you think you wouldtell someone who is currently
herniated a disc and feel likethere's no?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I mean just, yeah, you got to just keep going one
day after another.
It's so hard to hear thatbecause it feels like forever
ago that I was in that position,but every day was like the long
, like felt like the longest dayof my life.
And you just, yeah, it's sotough because, like I again,
(19:47):
like I tried to read up on somany people's experiences and
trying to get advice from others, but, like it's, it's kind of
hard to take anything in, um, ifthat makes any sense.
It's just like you're just kindof blinded by the whole
experience.
So, yeah, the advice is justlike one day at a time it will
get better.
Um, pretty much, you know, Iwould say majority of people do
(20:08):
recover from it, whether they doit passively or do you have
surgery, it does get better.
And to just like take it as anopportunity to maybe take better
care of yourself, drink morewater, you know, if you're
lifting weights, don't lift asmuch weight, or make sure you're
lifting properly, or it's just,you know, I think I don't take
(20:28):
my, my body for granted anymoreand that's you know.
Trying to take some positiveout of the situation is also
super, super helpful for me.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Now I found you your story on the I think the
sciatica Reddit.
Is that correct?
Yeah, how do you find being apart of a community like that?
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Super helpful.
I mean, unfortunately, insubreddits like that, you know
generally when someone getsbetter, they kind of leave, so
the subreddit is just mostlynegative or people's current
experiences, which are not, youknow, the greatest.
They're on the greatest placesor they're feeling a lot of pain
, uh.
(21:09):
So you gotta remember peoplehave to remember that that
there's not a ton of successstories out there.
I kind of made it.
You know I'm not on it superactively, but I try to check in
once in a while and I still getpeople messaging me in my inbox
and asking for advice and stufflike that.
I think it's super helpful tobe able to share stories and
(21:30):
read other people's stories,cause that's also a really
difficult thing.
It's like how alone you feel,like you're, if your friend,
like your friends, won'tunderstand what you're going
through, your spouse or yourfamily.
So to have a community ofpeople that do know what you're
going through is is definitelysort of helpful Yep?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Absolutely, so tell me about the brewery you work.
You work for or do you?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
own it.
I'm sorry, no, oh no, I'm toosmart to own my own brewery.
Yeah, no, I work for.
It's a little brewery inCalgary called Cabin Brewing.
It's an awesome place, love itthere.
I have a nice four-day workweek, which is awesome.
And yeah, no, it's brewing isbrewing.
(22:15):
I kind of accidentally got intoit.
I was uh in the service industryand worked at a brewery and I
said oh I kind of want to makebeer and yeah looks fun and just
kind of started at the bottomwork my way up and yeah, eight
years later still doing ityou're doing ipas or ales or
yeah, a little bit of everything.
I mean I'm all IPA'd out.
I like my light lagers andPilsners more you ask most
(22:40):
brewers that have been doing itfor more than five years that's
all they want to drink now arelagers and Pilsners experience.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I know people that are in the dark, deep,
depressing feelings of herniateddisc just really need these
positive stories.
So thank you again.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, happy to share.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Thank you, and if you are a listener and you have a
positive story of recovery froma serious back or neck injury,
head over to bedbackbeyondcomand click share your story.
I would love to include yourjourney.
Once again, eric, thank you somuch.
It was a pleasure meeting you.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah, you as well, thank you.
I remember kind of just having this weird sensation
in my glute and I didn't reallythink much of it.
It wasn't painful, it was justkind of odd and I just figured
it was kind of strained and Idid kind of stop.
I did stop training for a bitbut then the pain, like the
sensation, turned to painrelatively quickly and it was
(00:21):
clear something was wrong,because there was a lot of pain
in the glute and then down theback of my thigh and it was at
the point where, like you know,laying down and sitting was very
uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Bed Back and Beyond was created specifically to
share personal stories ofrecovery from serious injury
with the hopes of being anencouragement to you.
Injury with the hopes of beingan encouragement to you.
If hearing inspiring andtouching stories of personal
triumph is something you enjoy,I would love to introduce you to
the podcast Multispective.
Multispective is a podcast thatinterviews people with a
(00:58):
personal story over triumph andadversity.
This not only includes injurystories, but also stories of
trauma, abuse, addiction andsurvival.
Jennica, the host, walks witheach guest through their
experience, introducing us tosomeone who is wiser and
stronger from it.
Please enjoy the multispectivetrailer.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Everything from within me just cracked open and
I fell into that cesspool ofdarkness.
I'm Jenica, host and writer ofMultispective.
Multispective is a podcastwhere we interview individuals
around the world with unique,true, dark human stories and
experiences.
Guests share in details some ofthe mental health and traumas
(01:44):
they faced.
She would wait till I would getsound asleep and then come in
and jump on me and startpunching me.
Decisions they've made For meas a social worker to think that
we need to euthanize a child.
That was for me to think, okay,I'm no longer in this field.
And, more importantly, how theyfound strength, resilience and
healing.
There really was about finallygetting to a point where I
(02:06):
thought it doesn't matter whatthe norm is.
What matters is how I feel andin many respects, it's all that
matters.
All that matters is how I feelabout it.
I'm in control and I'm incontrol of me.
Tune in, subscribe, rate andreview Multispective on
wwwmultispectiveorg or YouTubeor your preferred podcasting app
(02:26):
.
You can also find us on any ofthe social media platforms that
you use.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Welcome to Bed Back.
Beyond sharing positive storiesof recovery from serious back
or neck injury, your host is CK,a fellow champion who draws on
her own experience withherniated disc surgery.
Join her as she talks withothers who have overcome the
physical and emotional trauma ofa painful injury and discover
(02:58):
for yourself how you can findhope and encouragement in
recovery.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Hi Eric.
Thank you so much for joiningme on this episode of Bed, back
and Beyond.
Before we talk about yourherniated disc, how about you
just introduce yourself?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, my name is Eric Stuhlmacher.
I live in Canada, alberta,canada.
Yeah, some of my hobbies I likedoing skateboarding,
snowboarding, golf.
I'm also a father of uh, twolittle girls keep me really busy
.
And, yeah, and what I do forwork is I'm a professional
brewer, so I make make beer fora living.
Been doing that for about eightyears now oh, what part of
(03:36):
canada is alberta in?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
remind me please uh.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
So we are just uh east of british columbia.
So okay, b BC is just ourneighbors to the west.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Okay, I just got back from Banff in June.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, that's Alberta.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, amazing yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
It's a beautiful spot yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Oh yeah, it was Alberta.
I was just thinking CalgaryAirport.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yes, yeah, yeah.
So I don't live too far fromBanff.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Okay, how did you fare with all the fires?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
We got a little bit of smoke here.
Like I live in Calgary, so wedid get a bit of smoke, but
unfortunately we're not asaffected as obviously the people
who live there are.
Yeah, so that was prettyunfortunate.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, my husband's already asking if we can retire
to Banff.
Absolutely loved it.
It was gorgeous.
Yeah, I think I saw from yourReddit profile that August 2022,
you started having some backissues.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, that was kind of the biggest flare up.
If we wanted to go back a bit,I would say it was February 2021
.
I had a pretty bad episode.
So I was working like the daybefore, my back was kind of sore
, um, and I didn't think toomuch of it in the morning, I
(04:52):
felt kind of fine.
And then I was working prettyearly in the morning as well, on
, uh, in February of 2021.
And I lifted up a bag of grainand my legs just like gave out,
just kind of hit the deck, um,which was pretty, pretty scary
because I didn't really knowwhat was going on and I kind of
had to like crawl around and Iwas, yeah, it was really bad.
(05:13):
And so, luckily, I got a holdof someone, a co-worker, and
they came in to kind of relieveme and I had to get a drive home
and, um, I was laid up forabout like a week and a half to
two weeks, um, but likerecovered, pretty all right,
like I went to physio, didn'thave any like sciatica, nothing
like that, like things seemed tokind of get better and I never,
(05:34):
you know, went for mris oranything.
And then, yeah, august of thefollowing year is when it really
got bad.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Was February, the first time you've ever
experienced anything like that.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, like I've had like some muscle, like some back
spasms.
You know that would kind of goaway in a day, but nothing,
nothing like that.
That was definitely a firsttime experience.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And was that the symptoms just in your back, or
did they also go down your leg?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, just my back, and it was just.
Yeah.
You know, I could barely walkfor a week and a half.
Things were just stiff, but Ihad no experience of like any
sciatica or pain in the glutesor anything like that at that
point.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Okay, and so then things were fine until August of
the following year.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah.
So I had actually applied tojoin the Calgary Fire Department
and so I was trainingDisclaimer I wasn't training
very smartly, I was going alittle too hard.
I was training with like aweighted vest on and doing hill
sprints obviously a lot of stuffthat puts compression on the
(06:44):
lower back and I remember kindof just having this weird
sensation in my glute and Ididn't really think much of it.
It wasn't painful, it was justkind of odd and I just figured
it was kind of strained and Idid kind of stop.
I did stop training for a bitbut then the pain like the, the
sensation, turned to painrelatively quickly and it was
(07:07):
clear something was wrong,because there was a lot of pain
in the glute and then down theback of my thigh and it was at
the point where, like you know,laying down and sitting was very
uncomfortable.
So that was August wasdefinitely the start of the
bigger problems that Iexperienced for about a year and
(07:27):
a half.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I remember when my issue started, it did start with
just a weird feeling in myglute and I said to my husband
it feels like someone is justpinching my nerve between their
finger.
And it wasn't pain yet, it wasjust like a pinch.
I kept trying to shift, youknow, to relieve that pinch, but
then it just moved to paineventually.
So then something led you toget a diagnosis.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah.
So I have a really greatphysiotherapist that I worked
with and just like, went to herand talked about my symptoms and
what occurred and I trusted herdiagnosis and she said, yeah,
it sounds like herniated discs.
What occurred, and I trust,trusted her diagnosis and she
said, yeah, it sounds like, youknow, herniated discs,
Unfortunately, like in Canada.
Um, like, I could get an MRIbut I'd have to go on a wait
(08:13):
list.
It would take about eightmonths.
Uh, so at that point I wasn'treally um looking at that option
.
I just figured, you know, I'lljust do some physiotherapy and
take it easy, and things wouldstart to get better.
And they just kept gettingworse until things started
getting better.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Okay, but you did eventually end up with an MRI,
correct?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah, yeah, I would say so.
That happened in August and Ithink the following year at the
end of winter.
So I want to say, like March2023, actually no sooner than
that Probably like the beginningof winter in 2023 is when I
paid up and got a private MRI.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And when did it show?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah, three herniated discs L3, L4, l4, l5, l5s1.
L5s1 being the most serious.
I can't remember the exactsizes of them.
I tried to actually find myreport prior to this but I
couldn't.
But L5S1 was definitely showing.
It was the biggest one.
(09:12):
It was hitting the sciaticnerve.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Right and numbness pain.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah.
So lots of pain, lots ofnumbness.
It went all the way down to myfoot.
Like my foot was tingly andlike it felt like I was always
like kind of like when I waswalking it felt like there was
like my sock was like bunched upunderneath my foot.
It was like really weirdsensation.
I did have some musculardystrophy in my calf so I lost
(09:40):
like some muscle mass in my calf.
And then as far as like sitting, like sitting was the most
uncomfortable for the first bit,and then it turned to laying
down, became the mostuncomfortable and then it just I
couldn't lay down.
So I was actually for a coupleof months I could only sleep
sitting up in like one to twohour bursts.
So I would essentially just siton my couch, put on a movie
(10:03):
I've seen a million times andhopefully fall asleep for a
couple hours at a time.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And were you able to work at this point, or did you
have to close business down?
How did you handle that?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, no, I was working.
So I was in a job like I wasmore in an operations management
job, so I wasn't doing a lot ofthe actual labor involved with
brewing and my bosses were veryunderstanding.
My one boss actually has verybad back problems as well, so he
understood and just kind of Idid light duties and had a
(10:32):
standup desk and just kind oftried my best to get through it.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, no one understands your pain, unless
they've herniated a disc.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, I think that's the toughest part is having a
family, and my wife was tryingto be supportive.
But it gets to a point whereshe's just kind of like just get
better already.
It was at a point where she waslike you should get surgery
because this is gettingridiculous.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Did you have a doctor recommend surgery to you?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
No, and I know in the States it's a lot different.
Where I think surgery is.
I don't want to say it'srecommended more easily, but
definitely doctors here aren'treally great with back things,
they're more like.
Here's some medication.
Surgery is generally somethingthat will be recommended if
you're losing bowel control andstuff like that.
(11:20):
But if you're just in pain theyjust kind of say wait it out,
go see a physiotherapist.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Okay, so then that's what you just did you went to
physical therapy.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, I did physical therapy.
I did acupuncture physicaltherapy, I did acupuncture
massage.
I did a whole bunch of stuffjust to try to.
I knew nothing was going toreally fix me.
I kind of accepted that timewas going to be the best remedy.
I was just trying to findrelief and that also made
lifestyle changes.
(11:51):
I stopped drinking for a while,I changed up my diet, lost
weight, so I was just kind ofthrowing everything at it.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I don't think people realize alcohol causes
inflammation in the body.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
So sometimes when you're in a pain, you want to
turn to alcohol to soothe yourpain, but you're causing more.
Exactly so I just stoppeddrinking.
I was drinking way more waterjust trying to hydrate more, but
yeah, it was just.
It just took a lot of time andwaiting, in my case.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
How long do you think you were doing physical therapy
before you could say I'mfeeling some improvement here?
Speaker 1 (12:38):
time like so the injury happened august 2022.
I don't think I was feelinglike like I'm still not 100,
like I still have some likenerve stuff in my calf, but as
far as like mobility and likefeeling comfortable, it took
like I did.
I started physical therapy inaugust and continued until like
march of the following year andI was still.
It just got to a point where Ijust felt like, you know, I
could kind of do things on myown at home doing the exercises
(13:00):
and just kind of going throughthe regime.
My physical therapist does dryneedling and I did find that
that provided a lot of relieffor like a short amount of time.
So that was the biggest reasonI kept going back to her.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Okay, and when did you decide you felt good enough
to get back on the slopes?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah.
So I mean kind of summer of umof last year is when I was, you
know, I was able to startrunning again, started working
out a bit.
It took, it took over, like Iwould say, over a year and uh,
as far as yeah, as far as goingsnowboarding, I kind of I maybe
should have consulted withsomeone first, but the summer
(13:41):
that I had I was, you know,riding my bike again.
I just said, you know what,let's, let's go for this and see
how it goes.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And no, it went well and are you still seeing your
physical therapist now, or doyou just do stuff at home?
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I just do stuff at home, so I yeah it's just
maintenance.
I just um, I try to keep my myback loose, Um, and then I also
found like doing hip flexorexercises really helped with me
as well.
I know everybody's everybody'sdifferent, but like
strengthening my hip flexors andand loosening my hip flexors
has been very helpful inalleviating lower back tension.
(14:17):
I have really tight hamstringsfrom being a cyclist, so trying
to keep those loose definitelyhelp out as well.
So it's just daily maintenancethat I'm just kind of trying to
do at home.
So, no, I haven't seen mytherapist in probably a year.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Okay, I have talked to several moms on the podcast
and you know it's a strugglewhen you're a mom and you can't
pick up your kids, or or youknow, just can't do.
How old are your children?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
yeah, so they uh, they're now six and four and I'm
definitely you know the fun dad, so always wrestling with them
and chasing around the house andand that was very difficult, um
I think, I think that wasprobably the hardest part, that
and like just kind of feelingisolated and alone, um, but not
being able to be like a partnerand a parent, especially for
(15:07):
like the amount of time like Ican go with sleep deprivation, I
can go with like chronic pain,but having that part of my life
kind of removed, was definitelythe most challenging for me.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
If the doctors had recommended surgery or were a
little more free with surgerylike the US, do you think you
would have gone that route orare you happy with the progress
you've made?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, I mean, I've read so many stories of people
getting surgery and it maybe notworking, or obviously there's
been so many big success stories.
I did do two cortisoneinjections, which I find didn't
really do much.
Again, you're never guaranteedto get relief from those things,
(15:52):
so it was a very painfulexperience for me um that wasn't
worth it in the end yeah, thesecond time was very
uncomfortable it was veryuncomfortable.
Yeah, the first time wasn't sobad.
Second time I was like, yeah,I'm not gonna do this again did
they do the x-ray guide it yeah,yeah, it was like a really good
facility.
(16:12):
It's where I got my MRIs doneand, yeah, I just don't know
what happened there.
Um, yeah, surgery I don't thinkI would have.
I I'm pretty, I'm prettystubborn and I'm very like
regimented.
So I was confident that I wouldkind of be able to get through
it and I really stuck to routine.
Um, you know, like I lost Ithink I lost like 25 pounds,
(16:34):
stopped drinking, changed mydiet and just like saw this as
an opportunity to kind of likeenrich my life and like not and
try not to take mobility forgranted and like start to really
really take care of me.
Like I'm in my late thirties,so it was kind of, you know, and
I grew up doing some prettyhigh impact activities and
continued to to do as well.
So, yeah, I just saw it as anopportunity to like really kind
(16:58):
of change my life and like turnit around a bit.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Do you have any goals of things that you haven't
gotten back to yet, but youpromise yourself you will?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Oh well, yeah, so I'm back snowboarding, but I want
to get into like backcountrysnowboarding, so split boarding,
so essentially you self-propelyourself up a mountain and then
snowboard down, so not usinglike chairlifts and stuff like
that.
That's something I've alwayswanted to do.
I grew up on the East Coastwhere we didn't really have
mountains, so I never really gotthat opportunity.
But now I have a bunch offriends and other fathers that
(17:28):
do that, so that's something I'mlooking to kind of get into in
the next few years.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And what about the firefighting?
Did you pursue that?
Or did you have to put that onthe shelf.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah.
So I was kind of silly and eventhough it's a really long
process and the injury happenedduring the process and I was
very stubborn and kept throughthe process and I think the
stress of the whole thing umadded to what I was experiencing
as well I was just, I put a lotof my like eggs in that basket
that you know, this is what Iwas going to do, this is what it
like.
I was putting like my identityinto it already and I had
(18:07):
actually made it to the finalstage despite my injury.
I had to do, um, one physicaltest that involved wearing a
weighted vest, and I did thatwith my injury and it didn't,
didn't feel good.
And then, um, the final testwas a treadmill test, where it
progressively gets faster andhigher incline, and I hadn't
been able to run ever.
(18:28):
So I had zero training and Itried that, but I came up short.
And then, you know, I was prettydevastated.
But after being able to kind oflike let go of that experience
and move on from it, that's whenI started to kind of feel
things get better.
So it was, you know, leading upto that point I wasn't sleeping
(18:49):
, I wasn't able to really laydown or rest and then literally
that day when I failed the test,I came back home and I kind of
accepted what happened.
I was laying down in bed withmy girls playing and I was like
in a little bit of pain, but Iwas able to actually like sleep
laying down for the first timein months.
So I feel like the stress justlike amplified everything for me
(19:13):
as well.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Wow.
So what do you think you wouldtell someone who is currently
herniated a disc and feel likethere's no?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I mean just, yeah, you got to just keep going one
day after another.
It's so hard to hear thatbecause it feels like forever
ago that I was in that position,but every day was like the long
, like felt like the longest dayof my life.
And you just, yeah, it's sotough because, like I again,
(19:47):
like I tried to read up on somany people's experiences and
trying to get advice from others, but, like it's, it's kind of
hard to take anything in, um, ifthat makes any sense.
It's just like you're just kindof blinded by the whole
experience.
So, yeah, the advice is justlike one day at a time it will
get better.
Um, pretty much, you know, Iwould say majority of people do
(20:08):
recover from it, whether they doit passively or do you have
surgery, it does get better.
And to just like take it as anopportunity to maybe take better
care of yourself, drink morewater, you know, if you're
lifting weights, don't lift asmuch weight, or make sure you're
lifting properly, or it's just,you know, I think I don't take
(20:28):
my, my body for granted anymoreand that's you know.
Trying to take some positiveout of the situation is also
super, super helpful for me.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Now I found you your story on the I think the
sciatica Reddit.
Is that correct?
Yeah, how do you find being apart of a community like that?
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Super helpful.
I mean, unfortunately, insubreddits like that, you know
generally when someone getsbetter, they kind of leave, so
the subreddit is just mostlynegative or people's current
experiences, which are not, youknow, the greatest.
They're on the greatest placesor they're feeling a lot of pain
, uh.
(21:09):
So you gotta remember peoplehave to remember that that
there's not a ton of successstories out there.
I kind of made it.
You know I'm not on it superactively, but I try to check in
once in a while and I still getpeople messaging me in my inbox
and asking for advice and stufflike that.
I think it's super helpful tobe able to share stories and
(21:30):
read other people's stories,cause that's also a really
difficult thing.
It's like how alone you feel,like you're, if your friend,
like your friends, won'tunderstand what you're going
through, your spouse or yourfamily.
So to have a community ofpeople that do know what you're
going through is is definitelysort of helpful Yep?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Absolutely, so tell me about the brewery you work.
You work for or do you?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
own it.
I'm sorry, no, oh no, I'm toosmart to own my own brewery.
Yeah, no, I work for.
It's a little brewery inCalgary called Cabin Brewing.
It's an awesome place, love itthere.
I have a nice four-day workweek, which is awesome.
And yeah, no, it's brewing isbrewing.
(22:15):
I kind of accidentally got intoit.
I was uh in the service industryand worked at a brewery and I
said oh I kind of want to makebeer and yeah looks fun and just
kind of started at the bottomwork my way up and yeah, eight
years later still doing ityou're doing ipas or ales or
yeah, a little bit of everything.
I mean I'm all IPA'd out.
I like my light lagers andPilsners more you ask most
(22:40):
brewers that have been doing itfor more than five years that's
all they want to drink now arelagers and Pilsners experience.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I know people that are in the dark, deep,
depressing feelings of herniateddisc just really need these
positive stories.
So thank you again.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, happy to share.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Thank you, and if you are a listener and you have a
positive story of recovery froma serious back or neck injury,
head over to bedbackbeyondcomand click share your story.
I would love to include yourjourney.
Once again, eric, thank you somuch.
It was a pleasure meeting you.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah, you as well, thank you.
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