Lower back injury

[Snachito1]

Last Wednesday I helped a buddy work on his roof and I had lower back pain after that for the next few days or so from carrying heavy bundles/bending down. It was weird kind of pain in lower back didn't hurt if I sat still, but when I moved or stood up (OUCH), plus the weird thing... if I bent down to try to touch my toes this tightness in my lower back would want to snap me straight back up the opposite almost like a rubber band pulling against the direction I wanted to bend down to.

I haven't trained since then, but today I feel a lot better, just a wee bit of pain, but a lot better and no snapping back when I bend down. Now my question is , how long would you peeps wait to go back to squats, deads, etc if this type of injury happened to you? My mind plays tricks on me as I figured I can squat today...just put my belt on real tight and don't go to heavy...... or am I being foolish?

 

[TODAY]

Any numbness, tingling or referred pain?

 

[Rider]

I’d take it slow and easy. You’re feeling much better, and that’s good. Train by how you feel. Don’t go too heavy at this moment...test yourself but do not overdo the training. Go light then evaluate how you feel the next day afterward.

 

[searay]

ive had back issues for over 25 yrs. I finally found an osteopath that helped me more than all the other docs I saw and he always told me that it takes at least 2 wks after the pain stops for the back to be almost 100%. your prob suffering from a bulging disk and the pain comes from the disk touching a nerve. the disks bulg when your out of alignment. could be your shoulders, hips, hamstrings, etc causing the prob. my doc showed me some stretching excercises to do after the painful area is heated up with something like a heating pad. lie on your back with your arms outstretched and twist the lf or rt arm to the opposite direction so lets say your left shoulder rolls to the rt. then lift your opposite leg, the rt in this case, so your foot is pointing at the ceiling, and roll your leg to the lft so your core is in a twisting position. sometimes you will feel a pop in your lower back if you have warmed up the area enough, feels like a fucking orgasm, if you have an adult handy, have them apply pressure on the rt knee and lft elbow. lightly then more until you know it enough, that should make it pop if it doesn't on its on. then do it the other way. do this daily and it will speed up healing bigtime and do it prior to training or manual labor to keep injuries from happening. it is also very important to keep your hamstrings stretched as they are the biggest reason for out of alignment of your hips causing your spine to have a bulging disk. hope this helps...….

 

[IronInsanity]

Hopefully it was just a tweak and a few days off does the trick.

 

[BrotherIron]

I'd take the following week off completely. If I was feeling better after I'd start back with an active recovery week which for me is 50%. From there I'd slowly work back up and not just jump back into it. I'd also look for a reverse hyper and if they don't have one I'd use a high box and do BW for sets of 25-35reps..

 

[rawdeal]

I like the one week off idea, followed by mimicking the same moves you're worried about, but with the empty bar and 10 or 20 reps. If that goes well, try 135 next time. Don't know your usual working weights, but go up 50-100 each "next time." Keep it to 10 reps for a while, going up to 20 at this point might introduce too much fatigue and produce sloppy form. Maybe make your "next times" a little more frequent than your usual schedule until you start getting close to where you like to be? The symptoms you do OR do not feel during all this should be your guide. I would not wear a belt in the early going as it might mask symptoms you should be aware of. Impatience will be your worst enemy here. Taking 1-2 months to baby yourself back to where you were is a lot faster than re-injuring yourself one or more times by pushing it too soon. Ab work and light Hypers or Good Mornings might help. REVERSE Hypers if you have access to one.

 

[Snachito1]

Thanks fellas for the really good advice!! I'm going to take the week off maybe just do some light cardio. What sucks is I was doing a "Cut" and was getting into really good shape then this happens!!

 

[daman1]

I made the mistake of not taking enough time off when I initially hurt my low back. I went back too soon and ended up completely severing 40% of a disc and needing a disectomy and decompression.

Additionally, I'd focus on doing things that don't involve bending your back. Simplistic stuff such as how you put your socks and shoes on, etc. seems common sense but many put strain on the back inadvertently which can worsen things.

I also stayed away from heat and just use ice.

Hope you feel better brother

 

[Zomb131]

Sounds like your pulled your lumbar paraspinals. Common injury in today's society of sitting all day. Recovery is pretty straight forward: rest, ice, and anti-inflammatories. It could take anywhere from 5-14 days to feel better. Returning to normal activity is important once you start to feel better. First week back i'd see how the injury feels with regular exercises. Don't go crazy, just feel things out. Sets of 10-15 reps with moderate weight. Get the blood back into the muscles. Remember to do some slow static stretching targeting the muscles injured. When the muscle heals from an injury, it heals tighter since you avoid using the muscle due to pain. It's important to stretch this muscle to prevent re-injury.

Prevention would be core exercises. I'd stick with McGill's three: bird dog, side plank, and curl up. You should also be incorporating regular planking every workout. As you get stronger, good mornings, weighted hyper extensions, and other lower back strengthening exercises can be incorporated. The only issue I see is finding the balance between training and doing manual labor. Good luck

 

[956Vette]

Tiger Woods's spine surgeon would share to never squat or dead again. Take care of yourself, I would recommend going easy the rest of 2019. Best of luck!

 

[NavyChief]

Thanks fellas for the really good advice!! I'm going to take the week off maybe just do some light cardio. What sucks is I was doing a "Cut" and was getting into really good shape then this happens!!

You worked the fuck put of lower back muscles in all the wrong ways.
We stress form when we workout, but that is near impossible on a roof with bundle after bundle and twisting, turning, bending wrong, using the back instead of legs and ect ect.
I know this because I've done it to many damn times as well as having back issues from years of injuries, broken back, broken neck, and on and on.

That muscle won't let you go down, even at times you can just try to walk or stand and it throws you backwards and onto the floor about.

Hot water brother, like hot tub, hot shower on lower back, then slowly stretch the back, legs, hams for 20 mins. I start most days this way to begin with because of this kind of problem.