I am 41 years old and pursuing a career in law enforcement. 3 years ago I developed a L5 s1 issue that has recently turned into an inconsistent 4 month sciatic pain and inconsistent minor lower back pain when I sit. My experience with the neurosurgeon recently was uplifting but not specific.. He said that he saw plenty of space between the bulge and nerve structures and that they were not touching each other. He said that my situation was not serious  and that I just needed some physical therapy. He did say that it was very important to build up my inner and outer core muscles  around the bulge. The physical therapist indicated this conclusion as well. In fact the P.T. described the objective here is to develop a " protective meat girdle under my skin", around my mid section.

          The most frustrating part of this experience is that they did not tell me what careers are good for me to pursue or not to pursue. They are very generic and unspecific in that regard, when  asked general questions regarding life choices. They said that they did not see a problem with me pursuing a career in  law enforcement but then I got a sense that they would have said that about Pro wrestling too. The P.T. did go on to say that he was only concerned about the sit-ups at the academy.  This is still a concern to me if there is a remote possibility to end up with a  real back problem by going to a police academy, especially if I only just have a slight issue going in as new recruit. The advice from one  friend in law enforcement is that I keep this secret, but part me me wants to just tell all before I go, since Ive been greenlighted by the Medical Doctor and the P.T. Under this rational, I would atleast know that Im not concealing anything, and if my back is good for law enforcement, then they would bring in their specialist to determine so. Honesty is a big deal with these recruiter people accept when it sometimes may not be.

If this specific issue is one of those rabbit hole exceptions to the rule of always being honest with a background investigator then…somebody please let me know before I make a wrong decision?  Currently  I can run a mile in about 7.5 minutes and do about 60 pushups in about 75 to 80 seconds. I have two bachelor's degrees and am about to become fluent in speaking Spanish. No prior service though.





Question: do you know of someone in Law enforcement recruiting who could give a credible assessment of what I should do? Go ahead and give your opinion as well if you can?