Hurt My Back :(

[A790]

Long story short: I was deadlifting a couple weeks ago and got knocked by someone walking by when I had weight on the bar. I jerked a bit, but finished the set and felt fine. The next day however, BAM, sore back. It's been sore ever since, though it's calmed to a point where it's not debilitating or anything.

However, given that it's been two weeks, I'm starting to get concerned. What are some exercises/stretches that I could do to maybe speed along recovery?

Should I go see physio? I've never had to do it before so I don't know if I need a referral from a doctor or what.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

[BigMass]

if it was anything structurally serious the pain would have been instant and aggravating. Next day pain usually means you have a muscle strain, pull or some other non serious injury. What you need is to give that area proper rest. The problem with a back injury is that you use your back for a lot of lifting exercises and if you keep working out you’re not really giving your back the proper rest it needs to heal. Something that you describe could easily take 4-8 weeks to heal up so I wouldn’t be too concerned after only 2 weeks.

[A790]

Originally posted by BigMass
if it was anything structurally serious the pain would have been instant and aggravating. Next day pain usually means you have a muscle strain, pull or some other non serious injury. What you need is to give that area proper rest. The problem with a back injury is that you use your back for a lot of lifting exercises and if you keep working out you’re not really giving your back the proper rest it needs to heal. Something that you describe could easily take 4-8 weeks to heal up so I wouldn’t be too concerned after only 2 weeks.
I have been continuing to work out my upper body, and do leg exercises like lunges/calf raises/etc. However, I haven't done any squats/deads and they're my favourite :( Someone suggested that I bet back into both exercises, but use significantly lower weights and gradually rebuild the strength. Does that hold any validity?

[BigMass]

Originally posted by A790

I have been continuing to work out my upper body, and do leg exercises like lunges/calf raises/etc. However, I haven't done any squats/deads and they're my favourite :( Someone suggested that I bet back into both exercises, but use significantly lower weights and gradually rebuild the strength. Does that hold any validity?

Even exercises that you think aren’t working your back like curls, leg presses, shoulder presses, sit-ups put strain on your back. Every little bit of aggravation will push back the healing time frame. If you have to work out use lighter weights and I would recommend using machines only until your back is back to %100. Machines will help isolate your other muscles better and prevent your back form being used as a stabilizer muscle.

I wouldn’t do what your friend suggested. I would really be giving your back as much rest as possible. I speak from experience. I used to be a competitive tennis player and played constantly with injuries like you describe that would never heal because I couldn’t afford to take months off from playing. Only when I finally took enough time off completely did they heal up. You don’t need to rebuild strength until you’re %100 healed up. If you’re still injured and in pain there is nothing to rebuild, you need to heal first.

[A790]

Aww hell man, I don't want to stop lifting. Bah.

Well, what about going plyometrics for a while? Bodyweight only exercises (push ups/sit ups/chins/pull ups/dips/etc.). Being physically active is very important to me.

Also, will hill sprinting/HIIT cardio really impact my rehabilitation time?

[BigMass]

Originally posted by A790
Aww hell man, I don't want to stop lifting. Bah.

Well, what about going plyometrics for a while? Bodyweight only exercises (push ups/sit ups/chins/pull ups/dips/etc.). Being physically active is very important to me.

Also, will hill sprinting/HIIT cardio really impact my rehabilitation time?

i'm about to leave the house now but in general you can try some activity but if you feel any strain on the injured area you're going to have trouble with healing. Even if it's not painful, just the strain on that area is enough. If you feel nothing then you should be ok. Listen to your own body. It's pretty good at telling you what's wrong. Back injuries do suck because the back is such a big muscle and is used in so many movements.

The problem with running is that it’s high impact, and the damage you could be doing may be low but cumulative. Go for a light jog and pay attention to what you’re feeling in your back. If you do feel some action in your back from running you may try something lower impact like an elliptical machine. Good luck!

[A790]

Originally posted by BigMass


i'm about to leave the house now but in general you can try some activity but if you feel any strain on the injured area you're going to have trouble with healing. Even if it's not painful, just the strain on that area is enough. If you feel nothing then you should be ok. Listen to your own body. It's pretty good at telling you what's wrong. Back injuries do suck because the back is such a big muscle and is used in so many movements.

The problem with running is that it’s high impact, and the damage you could be doing may be low but cumulative. Go for a light jog and pay attention to what you’re feeling in your back. If you do feel some action in your back from running you may try something lower impact like an elliptical machine. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice.

I have found over the last week that my back doesn't hurt at all during/after running. It hurts when I wake up in the morning, when I'm sitting at my desk, etc. When I'm moving about I get no pain/tension at all.

[pepschnops]

You should take a sore back very seriously.... If you try and continue with your normal workout regime it could become chronic. I tried to continue my regular workouts after I hurt my back doing squats a year ago and it took about 4 months for me to get back to normal.

What part of your back is sore? What kind of pain is it? Are you just stiff or does it stop you from doing things such as bending over etc... How is your flexibility affected?
It sounds like BigMass is right about it being a muscle strain.

As for plyometrics, pushups are great for strengthening your back and I would just use discretion when doing sit-ups, chin-ups and so on. If these exercises hurt your back stop right away. As for Sprints I would definitely stay away from them, the chance of jarring your back is very high and it will just aggravate it even more so.

Check out these stretches: I used them religiously when I hurt my back and they helped out a fair bit.
http://www.gargoylesdomain.com/Back_stretches_1.jpg

If the pain keeps up and you decide to go see a physio I would recommend Richard Robinson at Calgary Sports Therapy (403 237-0121). He's very knowledgeable and was a huge help when I was doing rehab on my back.

[Mibz]

I'd just go to physio right off the bat and get diagnosed by somebody who can accurately tell you what the problem is. It's not like there's a huge waiting list at physio places.

[liquidboi69]

When I started DL'ing, I didn't know what I was doing and I maxed out 2x/week. I then started doing sumo DL and thought I could do the same weight, but I was wrong and hurt myself (my sumo was 75% of my conventional, hurt to get out of bed, always had to sleep on my back and not my sides. Symptoms were similar to what you are describing.)

I took 2 weeks off. At that point, it hurt to even go near 80% of my 1RM.

I ended up doing a really light weight after those two weeks (I didn't stop training as I had a comp. coming up, so I did 10 reps not pushing it too much. I very carefully and slowly ramped up the weight again week by week to where it was before, carefully gauging my recovery. I was constantly aching and sore...but then I deloaded/did nothing for 1 week before before the comp.

That one week made me feel 100% and I pulled more than I have ever at that point in time.

I constantly foam rolled and stretched it out, even though it hurt to even lie down and sit at certain angles.

EDIT: I gauged if I was pushing myself too hard by my NET recovery. ie) I still did 10 rep sets which wears you back down again, but by the next week if I didn't feel better than the week before, I knew I had to back off a bit.

I think if you do VERY LIGHT 3x10 (maybe ramping it up SLOWLY as you feel better), light back extensions, and stretching/rolling...you should recover decently fast. Bear in mind that if you have no net gain in recovery, then back off a bit.

So cliffs on what I did:
-Took 2 weeks off
-Did light weight to promote bloodflow, backed off when it felt really bad/net recovery was negative
-Always wore a belt during recovery worksets
-Deloaded/did nothing for 1 whole week

[Pacman]

I hurt my back doing deadlifts about 5 years ago. I assumed the pain would go away, but it didn't.

2 years later, I had my first back surgery for a herniated disc. I had my 2nd surgery in July 2008 as the same disc re-herniated from me sneezing.

Now, I've got minor numbness in my left leg/foot, and a constant pain in my groin.

I'll probably just get the vertabrae fused in the next few years and hopefully that will relieve the pressure on the nerve.

I would suggest you take some time off from the gym, and let your back heal. Hopefully it's just a pulled muscle and not a tear in the annulus which could lead to a herniation.

It's really not worth screwing your back up in order to get back to the gym. I really wish I hadn't gone back to the gym so soon after my injury. The initial pain wasn't too bad, so I didn't seek any help, but it continued to get worse and worse.

[A790]

Wow, great things to day about Lakeview Physio! Found their ad in the Yellow Pages and visited there today. Did some initial diagnosis and determined that no discs/muscles were seriously damaged. Turned out that one of my lower joints was locked and not moving in a full range of motion, so my hips were compensating.

Did some work, de-stressed and decompressed a bit. Feeling pretty good now! No pain right now at all, so hopefully I am well on the road to recovery.

Here's to hoping that it really WAS just that simple :)

[wts]

Take lots of time off from the gym. DOn't worry missing some gym time won't make you deflate like a balloon. But like was mentioned in earlier posts not doing it might takes it's toll over time.
I know, I've screwed my back (many times) from DL's over 25 years ago and it still goes out all the time now. So fix it right now or forever deal with constantly having it go out. The lower back is the slowest muscle group to heal itself so be kind to it.