Sorry to hear that you apparently suffered this, too. I did as well, at nearly 50. The most awful thing I've experienced. It can't be rectified completely, as you note, but it can be mitigated to a great extent via squatting and deadlifting to the point that it doesn't even bother the afflicted anymore. Spinal trauma via auto injuries is an awful thing. I don't know the extent of Hutch's disc injuries via the auto accident but if he's in proper training hands it's possible, and probably likely, he can get past it and compete.
I developed radiating pain down to my left knee via a lumbar herniated disc. Couldn't sit down (unless my piriformis muscle in my glutes was on a lacrosse ball) for more than five minutes and couldn't sleep for more than 3-5 hours a night (waking up regularly) for nine months. Physical therapy made it worse. What fixed it finally was quitting PT and the ridiculous PT exercise regimen, and turning to heavy squatting and deadlifting, which I wish I'd known up front.
The only way to keep the tear from flaring up in the long term is to make the spinal erectors as strong as possible. Few if any doctors, and virtually no physical therapist understands or will acknowledge this. A few PTs understand and use barbell training in their rehab regimen. But most PT exercises for a herniated disc do little more than create friction in the facet joints of the spine without providing any meaningful development of support for the spine itself via the erectors. And how could they develop those muscles they're all bodyweight exercises or those done with light dumbbells, or tension bands, in isolation from the normal integrated motion of the body?
It was a lesson I learned only through daily, bloody-minded research and experimentation over a long period. I hope that whomever is training Hutch gets him really strong through his entire musculoskeletal chain, particularly the rear chain. That's the only thing that seems to provide a long term solution to disc injuries. If he has multiple herniations or more traumatic spinal damage, then that may be a different story.
The spine begins to deteriorate naturally in our 20s. By 30 an MRI of the spine looks scary for virtually all of us. By middle age many of us have chronic back pain even without direct injuries. As a wise man noted, the choice is to live with a hurt back or a strong back that hurts less, or practically not at all. I hope that Hutch can get to the latter.
