Stiff lower back. Recovery?

[HN]

well, had a nice long stretch there without injuring myself. until this past monday. now i can't do anything with a forward bend, my lower back just won't do it. can't splash water on face, can barely manage putting on socks, and it hurts like a bitch when i sneeze . walking is a bit of a chore too, stepping my left foot is fine, but when my right foot comes down it feels like i'm all crooked.

anything i can do to speed up recovery?

 

[brikis98]

If it is really severe, the typical advice applies: go see a doctor.

Otherwise, the following usually helps me with back strains:

1. Rest (duh).

2. Massage, myofascial release (a tennis or lacrosse ball can be really helpful) and/or a visit to the chiro (especially for ART).

3. Really light weight, high rep exercises. The goal here is to flush lots of blood through the back muscles, and NOT to challenge the muscles in anyway. A few sets of ~30 reps of supermans, back extensions, good mornings (with PVC or a broom stick), cat stretch or hip bridges can really warm up the muscles and make everything feel better. You should feel a pump/burn and maybe some slight discomfort, but if it hurts, stop.

4. After the muscles are thoroughly warmed up, some stretching might help. You typically aren't trying to stretch anything in the back itself, but rather surrounding muscles that might be tight and putting pressure on it. For me, stretching the hamstrings (favorite: holding a deep good morning with the back straight) and the glutes (favorite: prone glute stretch) can often help the back relax.

 

[eits]

well, had a nice long stretch there without injuring myself. until this past monday. now i can't do anything with a forward bend, my lower back just won't do it. can't splash water on face, can barely manage putting on socks, and it hurts like a bitch when i sneeze . walking is a bit of a chore too, stepping my left foot is fine, but when my right foot comes down it feels like i'm all crooked.

anything i can do to speed up recovery?

chiropractic care

 

[HN]

thanks fellas. i'll try some of the home exercises/stretches.

I was hoping to avoid the chiro but seeing's how i just took my extended break recently, i'd really like to get back to the WODs as soon as possible. fortunately today is a rest day so i'll see if i can track down an office in the area.

 

[HN]

chiropractic care

i made an appointment.
anything in particular i should ask or be aware of when i get there?

 

[eits]

i made an appointment.
anything in particular i should ask or be aware of when i get there?

make sure that he is thorough. make sure he asks lots of questions and takes x-rays (or refers out for x-rays) before treating you. if he doesn't tell you how many visits it will take or admits that he doesn't know how many visits something will take (or if he gives you a ballpark of how many times an average patient is seen for a similar problem), that's a good sign.

if you feel comfortable with him and feel he's trustworthy, stick with him. if not, find someone else.

does this guy have a website? pm it to me. i'd like to check him out.

 

[HN]

I will be going here - http://chc4u.com/

just found through searching and looking at reviews.

looks legit?

 

[eits]

I will be going here - http://chc4u.com/

just found through searching and looking at reviews.

looks legit?

meh. i don't like it. he doesn't mention where he went to school or what techniques he does. what zip code are you in?

 

[HN]

91030

 

[brikis98]

For a shoulder injury, I had good success finding a chiro who was an ART practitioner using the ART website.

 

[eits]

i like these:
http://www.allprohealthcenter.com/doctors.htm
http://www.choychiropractic.com/

either of these two clinics have similar philosophies to mine.

 

[HN]

thanks again yall.
eits, made an appointment for your first one. which works out better actually b/c it's for tomorrow whereas my original was on saturday. sooner the better!

 

[MiniDoom]

If it is really severe, the typical advice applies: go see a doctor.

Otherwise, the following usually helps me with back strains:

1. Rest (duh).

2. Massage, myofascial release (a tennis or lacrosse ball can be really helpful) and/or a visit to the chiro (especially for ART).

3. Really light weight, high rep exercises. The goal here is to flush lots of blood through the back muscles, and NOT to challenge the muscles in anyway. A few sets of ~30 reps of supermans, back extensions, good mornings (with PVC or a broom stick), cat stretch or hip bridges can really warm up the muscles and make everything feel better. You should feel a pump/burn and maybe some slight discomfort, but if it hurts, stop.

4. After the muscles are thoroughly warmed up, some stretching might help. You typically aren't trying to stretch anything in the back itself, but rather surrounding muscles that might be tight and putting pressure on it. For me, stretching the hamstrings (favorite: holding a deep good morning with the back straight) and the glutes (favorite: prone glute stretch) can often help the back relax.

this^
these are all the stretches i did in physical therapy to recover from l4-l5/l5-s1 injury. and a good chiro. i also want to add that core strengthening helped a lot. get an exercise ball, do some planks and pelvic tilts and squats. i like ending with extensions followed by ice.

 

[HN]

make sure that he is thorough. make sure he asks lots of questions and takes x-rays (or refers out for x-rays) before treating you. if he doesn't tell you how many visits it will take or admits that he doesn't know how many visits something will take (or if he gives you a ballpark of how many times an average patient is seen for a similar problem), that's a good sign.

if you feel comfortable with him and feel he's trustworthy, stick with him. if not, find someone else.

does this guy have a website? pm it to me. i'd like to check him out.

ok, went to allprohealthcenter as suggested.

-he did ask a lot of questions before starting anything. i think after the first couple of answers and what i was describing, he already knew the situation. but, he did continue asking questions.

-no xrays

-did do some bends (forward, back, sideways), leg lifts, heel walk, toe walk. pretty much looking for which positions caused the pain to occur.

-had me lay down and hooked up to electric stimulus thing (couple of paddles and heat pad). 10 minutes of it. felt great!

-went on to some massages and a thing where he crossed one knee over the other leg and pushed down on it with his body while moving shoulders in opposite direction.

-laid down on a decompression bed (?). face down; held on to two handles. second half of the bed moved down and up (imagine a reverse hyper but the bed was doing the work).

Conclusion: i definitely felt better afterwards. I could still feel pressure when walking but not the stinging pain as before. got in and out of the car with no problem (before treatment had to take a minute or so to gather myself and shift into / out of the car). still feeling ok now (~3 hours after treatment and some muscle ups about an hour ago). still can't bend forward enough to properly do a situp or put on some socks but not nearly as bad as before.

made 2 follow up appts.

 

[eits]

ok, went to allprohealthcenter as suggested.

-he did ask a lot of questions before starting anything. i think after the first couple of answers and what i was describing, he already knew the situation. but, he did continue asking questions.

-no xrays

-did do some bends (forward, back, sideways), leg lifts, heel walk, toe walk. pretty much looking for which positions caused the pain to occur.

-had me lay down and hooked up to electric stimulus thing (couple of paddles and heat pad). 10 minutes of it. felt great!

-went on to some massages and a thing where he crossed one knee over the other leg and pushed down on it with his body while moving shoulders in opposite direction.

-laid down on a decompression bed (?). face down; held on to two handles. second half of the bed moved down and up (imagine a reverse hyper but the bed was doing the work).

Conclusion: i definitely felt better afterwards. I could still feel pressure when walking but not the stinging pain as before. got in and out of the car with no problem (before treatment had to take a minute or so to gather myself and shift into / out of the car). still feeling ok now (~3 hours after treatment and some muscle ups about an hour ago). still can't bend forward enough to properly do a situp or put on some socks but not nearly as bad as before.

made 2 follow up appts.

right on. yeah, the "decompression" table you were talking about is called a leander table. i love them. i'm still trying to convince my boss into getting one for the clinic

you're not going to feel 100% after the first adjustment. the fact that you felt as good as you felt after your adjustment is a great thing. that indicates that you're gonna heal faster than an average patient. typically, it takes a couple adjustments to get the results you got. it's more than likely because you've got a decent core.

did he explain to you the difference between relief care, corrective care, and maintenance care?

 

[HN]

did he explain to you the difference between relief care, corrective care, and maintenance care?

I had printed out some forms before going into the office and one of them had a brief description on relief vs. corrective care (with the analogy of wiping up a wet floor vs. fixing the actual leak). it had me choose which one i was looking for so the chiro could make his suggestions from there.

 

[eits]

I had printed out some forms before going into the office and one of them had a brief description on relief vs. corrective care (with the analogy of wiping up a wet floor vs. fixing the actual leak). it had me choose which one i was looking for so the chiro could make his suggestions from there.

good. i find that's where lots of misconceptions about chiropractors comes into play... they don't explain what the goal is and forget that the average person doesn't think in a corrective/preventive mindset.

 

[gramboh]

Sounds very similar to what I am dealing with right now, which a doctor diagnosed as an L4/L5 disc herniation. Sounds like you are on the right track, just be careful with any exercise that is going to stress the area, if you are doing CF (you mentioned WODs) watch out or high rep deadlifts, high pulls, swings etc. Make sure your form is perfect on those movements and if something feels wrong, stop immediately.

 

[HN]

Sounds very similar to what I am dealing with right now, which a doctor diagnosed as an L4/L5 disc herniation. Sounds like you are on the right track, just be careful with any exercise that is going to stress the area, if you are doing CF (you mentioned WODs) watch out or high rep deadlifts, high pulls, swings etc. Make sure your form is perfect on those movements and if something feels wrong, stop immediately.

it was the high rep deadlifts that did it (last monday). i pulled a PR a couple weeks ago and might have still been on a high from that so i didn't check my ego. loaded up a little more than i should have

yesterday (1 week from the injury), i was able to do a WOD with kb swings again; scaled down of course. the weird thing is, my part of my back felt better the rest of the day and through the night. Of course, this morning it's still sore and somewhat stiff but no worse than it was yesterday morning.

I have a follow-up appointment with the chiro this afternoon and then off to some front squats / pulls ups

 

[eits]

it was the high rep deadlifts that did it (last monday). i pulled a PR a couple weeks ago and might have still been on a high from that so i didn't check my ego. loaded up a little more than i should have

yesterday (1 week from the injury), i was able to do a WOD with kb swings again; scaled down of course. the weird thing is, my part of my back felt better the rest of the day and through the night. Of course, this morning it's still sore and somewhat stiff but no worse than it was yesterday morning.

I have a follow-up appointment with the chiro this afternoon and then off to some front squats / pulls ups

:thumbsup: