Way back in September I injured myself when I pulled up a dumbbell the wrong way while lying back on an inclined bench doing presses. Both of my parents (a doctor and a nurse) and I thought it was just a pulled or strained hamstring because that is where most of my pain was, so I sort of just rested it and took it easier in the gym while not doing any leg exercises at all, which I don't do very often anymore anyway. I thought it had recovered fully so I played some basketball and of course landed the wrong way on one play and injured it again, this time in the middle of October. It's still not better. So I saw a doctor and was diagnosed with sciatica in my back.

Basically, in addition to physical therapy, the doctor told me I could continue to lift weights as long as I wasn't doing anything sitting straight up, because that would cause unnecessary stress/pressure on my lower back. I'm a little worried to do certain exercises while standing up too, like bicep curls with a bar, because that definitely strains the lower back too. He said I was the safest if I stuck to mostly lying down, or maybe some stuff on an incline bench.

So, I need suggestions for stuff I can do in each muscle group (excluding legs) that would sort of stick to those general guidelines. I already have chest down, that's pretty easy to manage. I know a couple of tricep and bicep workouts but more suggestions would be good. I'm kind of clueless about shoulders and back, I'm not sure if there is anything I could do for either in my situation.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks guys.

I'm not very sure about your condition so I can't recommend anything in particular, but have a look through the exercises section at abcbodybuilding.com. I'm sure you'll find a few that help.

Also, legs are important but again, I don't really know how far this goes. Just something I guess to keep in mind if you feel you're up for it.

Yeah I know legs are important, I just usually kept them in shape with normal basketball conditioning drills and that was enough for me. I'll probably do some leg presses and calve raises once I'm healed to replace that now that I'm not on a team, but I can't do a lot more (squats, lunges to some extent, some of the machine leg raises) because of previous injuries.

Thanks for the site though, I'll look for some exercises that look like they'll be alright. Basically anything where I'm lying down on a bench is awesome, like skull crushers, chest presses, dumbbell flies, etc.