How to Actually Test If You're Ready to Return to Sport After Microdiscectomy
If you've had a lumbar microdiscectomy and you're wondering whether you're ready to get back to running, lifting, or your sport, "how do you feel" isn't the right question.
As a Sports and Spinal physiotherapist in London specialising in spinal conditions and athletic injuries, this is one of the most common questions I get from athletes trying to return to sport after back surgery. Feeling fine and being ready are two different things, and the gap between them is exactly where re-injury could happen.
I saw a client this week who's a prime example of this. He had a microdiscectomy in 2024, recovered well symptomatically, and has been swimming and cycling regularly since. I’m surprised at what he told me, his surgeon told him to avoid running, sport, and lifting altogether, without much detail on for how long or what to build back towards. So he'd avoided all of it. No running. No gym work. He'd even decided he'd never squat or deadlift again.
His dream was that he wanted to get back to playing field hockey and booked in with me to find out if his body was ready. Long story short, He wasn't.
Our thorough testing process highlighted to him just how deconditioned and unprepared his body was to return back to athletic performance, and I couldn’t clear him to return to sport, YET.
In this article, I walk you through the exact objective testing I undertook with this client on our first meeting to arrive at my conclusion.
1. Functional testing
Before anything else, I want to see how someone actually moves. Squats, single leg squats, and single leg hopping are the ones I come back to most, because they show control and confidence under load, not just the ability to complete a rep. His single leg squat and single leg hop were both weak and uncontrolled, and that was the first sign that his back wasn't the limiting factor. His overall capacity was.
Assessing how someone moves, and in this case lands from a height is a great way to visualise HOW they move, which will inform specific testing for you to do later in the session.
2. Mobility
Next I look at mobility, spinal mobility on its own, combined spinal and hip mobility together, and hip mobility on its own, at a minimum. His spinal range of motion was full, a great sign for how well the surgery has settled. However the quality of how he moved was impaired, as people tend to develop maladaptive behaviours to compensate for particular weaknesses/pain. Field hockey demands a lot of trunk flexion, so if the hips aren't contributing their share, the lower back ends up doing the work instead.
3. Neurological testing
For anyone heading back to sport specifically, I run a full neurological screen. That means testing calf raise capacity for L5/S1, big toe extensor strength for L5, tibialis anterior for L4, quadriceps for L3, and hip flexion for L2. From there I check reflexes, achilles, medial hamstring, quads, and glutes, followed by a straight leg raise test for neural dynamics. His straight leg raise was clean and asymptomatic, which told me the nerve itself wasn't the issue anymore. The deficits I found elsewhere were about capacity, not nerve function.
Here’s a video on how I perform a neurological reflex test on the lower limb that covers the nerve roots L4-S1!
4. Joint mobility (PPIVMs)
I also run what we call Passive Physiological Intervertebral Movements (PPIVMs), a segment by segment screen to check for any significant restriction at individual spinal joints. It's a finer detail check that sits alongside the broader mobility screening above, and it's how I make sure nothing at a specific level is being missed.
5. Core capacity testing through the Spinal Benchmark test
This is where the Spinal Benchmark test comes in. It gives an overall picture of core endurance and strength, and places someone into phase 1, 2, or 3, so there's a clear target to work towards rather than a vague sense of "getting stronger." His result came back extremely poor through both his lumbar flexors and extensors, despite having no pain at all day to day.
6. Quad strength testing for return to sport
This is the one number I wouldn't want anyone returning to a change of direction sport without knowing. Quad strength should sit between 2.8 and 3.2Nm/kg before returning to sports like field hockey, football, or netball. His came in under 2.0Nm/kg on both legs. That's not a small gap, and it's not something you'd pick up just by asking how someone feels.
7. VALD ForceDecks testing
If someone's performing well across the tests above, the next step is VALD ForceDecks testing, which gives a much more specific picture of athletic capacity. Countermovement jump and single leg drop landing are the two I lean on most. We didn't get as far as this with him, since this first session was purely an assessment, but for a change of direction athlete it's exactly where I'd head next, and it would have sharpened the picture even further.
Using VALD Force Decks now give Sports Physiotherapists invaluable objective data when it comes to analysing functional movements, and to detect even the smallest asymmetries.
Why "avoid everything" isn't a safe answer
Somewhere along the way he'd decided squats and deadlifts were dangerous for his back specifically. His surgeon said it to him, so the belief stuck. In my professional opinion, it's the opposite of true. Done well, squats and deadlifts are one of the best tools for building a resilient spine, especially for someone his age wanting to stay active long term.
Avoiding them entirely doesn't protect his back, it just leaves it underprepared for the demands he's about to put on it.
I believe that most of the fear around deadlifting comes from improper technique, and for that, I agree. A poorly performed deadlift, under load, for multiple repetitions may not be helpful, and can potentially increase your risk of a disc protrusion. Teaching someone how to hip hinge properly is KEY to grasping the correct technique in a deadlift.
What happens once you know where you stand
Once I know the specific gaps, the plan is a progression, BASED on the objective clinical findings.
1. Restore mobility. Hips, ankles, and thoracic spine first, so the lumbar spine stops compensating for joints that aren't doing their job. This is a basic, fundamental quality of human movement that you absolutely HAVE to regain. Being super strong means nothing if your joints can’t move well.
2. Rebuild core capacity. Retested against the same Spinal Benchmark test. I expect him to hit phase 2 scores within six weeks, based on a standard rate of adaptation with consistent training. The simplest way is to train the 4 tests at 80% of your score. For example, if you only managed to maintain a LEFT side plank for 100 seconds, you should, in your rehabilitation plan, aim for 3-5 sets of side planks at 80 seconds per set.
3. Reintroduce strength patterns. Hinge, squat, push, and pull, brought back in and properly integrated. This is where the squats and deadlifts he'd written off come back into the picture, loaded and coached properly.
4. Return to sport. Running progression and change of direction work, layered in once quad strength sits in that 2.8 to 3.2Nm/kg range and single leg control holds up under load.
5. Longevity. Once he's back playing, the goal shifts to keeping him there, building a body that can absorb years of field hockey, not just survive one comeback.
If you've had spinal surgery and you're either avoiding everything indefinitely or you've quietly written off certain exercises for good, that uncertainty is worth resolving properly. A comprehensive assessment will tell you exactly where you stand, not just whether it hurts. If you're after a structured path back, that's exactly what the Spinal Solutions Program is built for.
As a London-based physiotherapist specialising in spinal conditions and athletic injuries, this is the kind of readiness gap I see constantly in athletes recovering from back surgery, and it's entirely fixable with the right plan.
Frequently asked questions
How long after a microdiscectomy can I return to sport? Every discectomy is different. The size and location of the disc material that protruded, which structures were affected, and the surgical technique used to spare native tissue all change the picture. For a young, committed person who sticks to the program properly, a realistic timeframe sits anywhere between 6 and 12 months before a full return to sport.
How do I know if I'm ready to return to sport after back surgery? At Physiologic, you move through rehab phases based on criteria, not timeframes. To progress from Phase 4 (training integration) to Phase 5 (return to sport), you need to meet a specific set of markers: full range of motion, no pain or neural symptoms, full calf and toe strength restored if you had any neurological weakness, squatting above 1.5 times bodyweight, quad torque above 3.0Nm/kg on both legs, the ability to run at speed, excellent impact absorption, strong change of direction mechanics, and a VALD ForceDecks screen showing under 5% asymmetry between sides. Meet all of those and you're ready. Miss any one of them and you're not, regardless of how many months have passed.
What quad strength do I need to return to sport after injury? With a dynamometer, you're aiming for 2.8 to 3.2Nm/kg torque production on both quadriceps as a bare minimum. Your quads are one of your body's primary shock absorbers. If they're lagging behind, something else takes on that load instead, and that's exactly where reinjury risk creeps in.
What if I don't have access to a strength testing device? A single leg sit to stand test is a reasonable proxy. Aim for more than 20 controlled reps on each leg. It won't give you the same precision as isolated torque testing, but it tells you far more than pain alone ever will.
Can I still squat and deadlift after a microdiscectomy? Yes, and you should. A properly loaded squat and deadlift continues to strengthen the back over time, and ends up being one of the best things you can do to prevent it happening again.
What is the Spinal Benchmark test? It's the core capacity assessment I run with every client, regardless of what's brought them in. It measures endurance through your lumbar flexors and extensors specifically, not just whether you can hold a plank, and classifies your result against the phases you'd expect to see through a normal recovery. It's usually the first thing that tells me whether your spine has the capacity to handle what you're asking of it, before we even get to strength or sport-specific testing. You can read the full breakdown here.
ready for your next move?
If you’ve been wanting to get back to sport or life after a spinal surgery like a discectomy, and not sure where to start, reach out to us to discuss how the Spinal Solutions Program can help you regain control of your health, and get you back on the highest stage.
About the Author
Ryan Tan is the founder of Physiologic, a physiotherapy practice specialising exclusively in complex spinal conditions and sports injuries.
With over a decade of clinical experience across Australia, Hong Kong, and London, Ryan holds a Certificate of Spinal Manual Therapy (COSMT) and is trained in Osteopathic Spinal Manipulation (OMT). He has worked in complex pain clinic settings alongside pain consultants and spinal neurosurgeons, and continues to work with some of London's leading orthopaedic spinal surgeons to deliver integrated, expert care for clients with complex spinal presentations.
Ryan's focus is on helping active adults with persistent lower back pain, disc herniations, and nerve-related conditions return to training, sport, and the life they want — without unnecessary surgery. He currently sees clients with complex conditions such as disc herniations, spondylolisthesis, and Bertolotti's Syndrome across Canary Wharf, Soho, and Moorgate.
