Ronnie Coleman is widely regarded as the all-time greatest bodybuilder. With a record-breaking eight Mr. Olympia titles under his belt, The King has served as the focal point of inspiration for everyone leading a fitness-oriented lifestyle.
His enormous strength was truly remarkable. At his peak, his estimated powerlifting total amounted to around 2,250 pounds, an astronomical figure!
But it was his intense training programs and ambitious lifts that resulted in his ultimate downfall. The man who could once lift hundreds of pounds with relative ease is now struggling to carry his own body and walks with crutches.
The iconic bodybuilder has suffered multiple injuries over the years. And he is still paying the price.
In this article, we shall discuss Ronnie “The King” Coleman’s intense legacy – from his glory days to the subsequent years of struggle.
Without further ado, let’s dive straight into it!
What Happened to Ronnie Coleman?
Ronnie Coleman was seen as an invisible figure. He completely changed the way bodybuilders trained and competed. He combined training frequency and heavy lifting to maximize strength and hypertrophy gains at the same time [1].
Perhaps that is the biggest reason why Ronnie Coleman is struggling today. Scientifically, there are many risks of injuries associated with weightlifting [2]. And Ronnie constantly pushed past the limits of the human body to achieve legendary feats.
After an illustrious career in the bodybuilding industry, it has been a constant downhill for Ronnie ever since. Today, he has had 13 surgeries on his spine to mitigate the damage and injuries that he had picked up over the years.
His legs have lost their mobility, and he finds it difficult to walk long distances without the support of crutches or a wheelchair. Most of the damage was caused by some very questionable decisions that Coleman took during the summit of his career.
Even after getting the appropriate diagnosis of the injuries that he had sustained, he continued to work out and put off medical intervention for a long time. In that period, he did seek chiropractic care to alleviate some of the pain and pressure.
But it was clear that without the help of Western medicine and professional doctors, he was only delaying the inevitable. Ultimately, the pent-up injuries and scar tissues that he had accumulated over the years caught up with him.
He started getting medical assistance as soon as he retired from professional competitions. But by then, it was perhaps a little too late for him to go back to how he was as a bodybuilding titan.
Ronnie Coleman’s Injury
Most of the injuries that he suffered can be traced back to when Ronnie hurt his back in 1996. But his struggle started way before that.
The first professional injury that Coleman suffered came at a time when he was just 17 years old. He attempted to squat 500 pounds during a powerlifting meet when he hurt his lower back and faced an enormous amount of pain [3].
Despite the setback, Ronnie continued to train normally. According to research, powerlifters often continue to perform with the same consistency when they hurt themselves, as injuries caused during workouts can take some time to restrict mobility or cause nerve damage [4].
That’s probably what happened with The King during his teenage years as well. And that wasn’t all – he picked up many more injuries in his neck and back areas while playing as a linebacker for the Grambling State University football team. By that time, he recounts himself, he had learned to live with the pain.
But from that point, Ronnie started taking care of his body to prevent the risk of further injuries. He used to visit a chiropractor once a week to ward off any potential threats. But it all came to an end in 1997.
At that time, Coleman was preparing to squat 600 pounds after being inactive for two weeks, he revealed in an interview with Joe Rogan [5].
Because he wasn’t as strong as he normally was following a 2-week-long absence, the lift proved to be difficult for his body. The weight felt too much for the back to support, and Ronnie ended up with a herniated disk.
A herniated disk, also known as a slipped or ruptured disk, occurs when the soft inner material of a spinal disk filters out of the tough outer layer. This can cause pressure on the surrounding nerves, leading to pain, numbness, or weakness in the affected area [6].
Despite the sickening crunch, the athlete in Coleman urged him to finish the workout. And that is what he did. But when the pain did not subside, he sought medical attention, where an MRI test revealed the source of the injury.
The doctor’s recommendation was surgery. But Coleman, enjoying the summit of his career, refused and continued his bodybuilding and weightlifting antics with an injured spine. And that further exacerbated the damage.
Ronnie Coleman’s Surgery
Ronnie Coleman suffered from a disk herniation in 1997. But despite the doctor’s advice, he continued to train and lift as usual, ignoring the constant pain, ache, and soreness that he felt in his back.
He followed that routine for ten more years. He stopped after finally retiring following his last competitive showdown at the 2007 rendition of the Mr. Olympia title. After this, he decided to address the groaning lower back pains and the doctor’s recommendation from ten years prior. He underwent his first surgery at this point. As per the medical plan, four screws were implanted inside his body to attempt to stabilize the spinal disks.
Unfortunately, that didn’t work out so well in the long term. The screws were not strong enough to support the weight of the bodybuilder. After some time, they broke under pressure, making the situation worse and more painful for Coleman.
But before the screws became an issue, he had two more surgeries. In 2014, he had to have both of his hips replaced. In the following year, he suffered from an extremely sore back after a long intercontinental flight. The soreness only grew worse, and medical intervention was required.
It was found that the screws had caused further damage to the bones, making it so excruciating that Ronnie couldn’t walk. It was revealed that his legs began to feel too weak to hold him because of the nerve damage in his back.
A surgery was scheduled to fix the broken bones and replace the screws. But that turned into a 13-hour-long procedure where everyone suffered – Ronnie, the surgeons, and the admirers of the legendary bodybuilder who waited with bated breaths for an update.
And so, Coleman was left with multiple artificial stuff inside his body. Naturally, he was almost paralyzed due to all the screws, cages, and bolts put in him. Fortunately, today, we can rest assured that The King isn’t paralyzed but uses crutches and a wheelchair due to some nerve damage in his back.
Then, in 2018, Ronnie underwent three surgeries within a year. The first surgery was to fuse the vertebrae together. In the second one, the doctors attempted to fix the screws that had broken under strain and pressure over the years. The third one was conducted to replace the smaller screws with bigger ones to prevent further damage.
After a difficult year, Ronnie went public in an interview, blaming the incompetent performance of his surgeon [7].
According to him, the surgeon prolonged the treatment to milk more cash out of the bodybuilder, as the last three surgeries alone had cost more than $2 million in total.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the end of the ordeal. In 2020, Coleman had another surgery to replace his broken hips. In total, he had nine surgeries performed on his back, two on his neck, and two on his hips. In addition, Coleman underwent back surgery to remove numerous scar tissues formed due to previous surgeries and injuries.
Today, he has 14 screws inside his body, two cages to hold the disks together, and two rods. All because he didn’t seek medical attention when he was diagnosed with a career-threatening injury.
Ronnie Coleman Now
Nowadays, Ronnie Coleman is unable to walk long distances without support from crutches. He lost mobility after undergoing 13 surgeries. Despite the challenges, he continues to live the life of a bodybuilder.
He works out regularly, follows a nutritional diet, and owns a hyper-successful business providing supplements and apparel to aspiring bodybuilders. He is happily married and has four daughters.
For those looking for a happy ending, there is one. Ronnie has found solace in the form of stem cell treatments.
After years of enduring intense back pain, the legendary athlete has revealed that his newest treatment plan is working effectively, helping him mitigate pain and allowing him to walk without crutches over short distances.
Don’t miss:
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Final Words
Ronnie Coleman’s career is a glaring example of how we need to respect the limitations and strengths of our bodies.
On the one hand, his dismissal of serious injuries opened up a wide avenue for a future filled with painful surgeries and medical procedures. However, his determination to overcome the challenges and still continue, undeterred, to follow the kind of lifestyle that he loves is inspiring.
Despite everything, it’s clear that Coleman could have avoided a lot of pain if he had undergone surgery in 1997. But could that have meant a slightly less illustrious career?
In the end, nobody could tell. And it’s only up to The King himself to determine if the pain is worth the glory.
References
- Schöenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine, 46(11), 1689–1697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8
- Fred, H. L. (2014). More on weightlifting injuries. Texas Heart Institute Journal, 41(4), 453–454. https://doi.org/10.14503/thij-14-4526
- Yeah, buddy! (n.d.). Google Books. https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Yeah_Buddy.html?id=AC7KxQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
- Strömbäck, E., Aasa, U., Gilenstam, K., & Berglund, L. (2018). Prevalence and consequences of injuries in powerlifting: a cross-sectional study. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 6(5), 232596711877101. https://doi.org/10.1177/2325967118771016
- JRE Clips. (2020, June 10). Ronnie Coleman details his 13 post-bodybuilding surgeries | Joe Rogan [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-RnElujInY
- Amin, R. M., Andrade, N. S., & Neuman, B. J. (2017). Lumbar disc herniation. Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine, 10(4), 507–516. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-017-9441-4
- Muscular Development Magazine. (2018, October 22). Ronnie Coleman | “I might never walk again” [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYr96-1DuVI
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