I hurt my back today

[GIJoe6186]

Im in the gym and ready for my workout. I start with pulldowns. It goes great. I move to deadlift, load up 135 for a warmup. I pull and I dont even lift it off the ground. Just excruciating pain and I cant move.

So now my lower back feels like shit, Im seeing a chiropractor on Fri and I cant do any lower body exercises. What I want to know is what should I do?

Im gonna stretch now every night and do ab work because I have neglected both and think my injury is related to that. Any advice?

Also if there are any chiropractors on Bullshido, what do you think? Can you safely deadlift and squat or is it a damaging lift?

[PirateJon]

Back pain is nothing to fuck around with. See a real doctor.

[MrMcFu]

I think you might have just had some bad luck. Try to do some squats and work the kinks out.

Come back here to the Internet when you need some more advice.

[crowey]

Back pain is nothing to fuck around with. See a real doctor.

I agree.
meanwhile, I'd reccomend not doing anything that could fuck it up more.

[kipdynamite]

Don't ignore back pain!

I've seen a lot of medics and figrefighters try to "tuff it out" and you wind up with a jacked up back. Go see an orthopedist and stay the hell away from Chiros (my opinion) if you have to see someone for manual manipulation go to a PT or an Osteopathic Doc.

[Teh El Macho]

Get the fuck away from deadlifts for the time being. Actually, stay away from squats, chin ups, military presses, and bench presses until your back pain is taken care of. Also, go see a doctor. There are good chiropractors out there, but that's the exception rather than the rule. See a doctor, or a PT ASAP.

Also, it could be that you have extremelly poor abs and lower back. So as soon as you get better work intelligently on that. Also, you may have weak glutes and hamstrings. A lot of things could have played a factor... including being careless, or doing deadlifts with shitty forms or trying to lift too much a weight.

When you get better, try to do the following (in order of importance IMO):
- work on increasing flexibility on your lower back, glutes, hamstrings, calves and shins
- work your abs, obliques and lower back
- work your hamstrings
- work your glutes

Take some painkillers in the meantime, and CAREFULLY try to stretch yourself, you know, but touching your toes with your fingers, rotating your torso and hips. But most important of all, go see a doctor. Most likely it's nothing really bad, but a back is no shit to play with. Don't try to macho-man it.

Also, sometime in the future you may want to try yoga or pilates. Those are a real eye-opener, and do wonders to your back and core. If you don't have a yoga/pilate class near you, just get a DVD from of David Swenson ("Ashtanga Yoga First Series", or Karen Voight ("Yoga Power", "Yoga & Sculpting") , and go through it diligently. Stay away from watered-down hippie yoga-fusion shit for "dummies" or "busy people", though.

Also, go take a look at http://www.exrx.net - there are plenty of diagrams and short articles on exercises, articulations, common inflexibilties and imbalances and ways to deal with them.

Good luck and be smart when you train. Shit happens all the times, so just take it easy while you recover.

[Teh El Macho]

Dude, I just read your post one more time, and I think I know why you hurted your back. Bro, who on Earth told you to do a set of deadlifts for warming up???? Even if it's one light set, it's obvious that your body has not familiarized itself with that movement. Your body should already be warmed up by something else, a few minutes of cardio followed by stretching or something like that.

Make a note to yourself: warm up yourself with a few minutes of cardio, then stretch your ligaments, do a few ab crunches, back extensions, side back extensions and torso rotations (see here and focus on toraxic/lumbar flexion, extension, abduction and rotation.)

That's how I would warm up in preparations for a deadlift if I were you. I would leave the 135lbs deadlift warmup until you have a strong lower back and abs and flexible hips, glutes and hamstrings. Concentrate in developing a strong core and good flexibility.

[GoldenJonas]

DO NOT SEE A CHIRO UNLESS YOUR ORTHOPEDIC DOCTOR RECOMENDS IT!!!!!!!!!!

I have experience with both Ortho's and Chiro's as a patient with three herniated discs in my cervical spine (neck) from neck cranks.

If you have herniated or ruptured a disc in your lower (lumbar I believe) spine a chiro's spinal manipulation could make it worst....much worse.

Go see an orthopedic doctor or spinal specialist, have an MRI and X-Ray taken, and listen to their advice.

DO NOT GO TO A CHIRO!!!!!!!!!

[GIJoe6186]

Whats so bad about a chiropractor? Whats an ortho or PT? The guy Im seeing helped my sister and I actualy went to him a long time ago. For about a month and it helped alot. I just stopped because I was young and thought "hey guess Im ok now." He took some xrays had me do lots of stretching and ab work. He also put some wierd electric pads on my back that shocked it lightly and made it spas a bit. Trying to loosen it up. There were also cracking he did but just 2 or 3.

I know hes a chiropractor but I think hes got good qualifications. He isnt just a trained chiro. Hes got a BS in Athletic Training and MS in Exercise Physiology. He also works with body builders and MMA fighters. Thats why I want to go with him. He does BJJ and MT so I figure he knows his shit but also understands what I am/want to be doing.

[Yrkoon9]

Chiropractors have helped my back several times.

I mean times when I did not sleep all night, was doubled over in serious pain, and with a little massage and adjustments I was upright and walking. They gave me some excersizes and stretches to do and I have been golden.

I cringe at some medical doctors idea of treatment: Pills and surgery. Oftentimes when it is unneccessary. I do not say that ALL doctors are like this. But I have known some people who went under the knife and thier backs never recovered.

Both have thier place.

I would say a medical doctor would be good for the Xray and MRI and medication. But before any kind of operation I would see a chiro ASAP. They aren't going to be cracking your back and aggravating any serious injury. That would be dumb. In my opinion chiro's know more about back and spine problems than your average doctor. A sports doctor or specialist is probably going to know more than the chiro. But going to your general physician to diagnose is a mistake.

[GIJoe6186]

Are there any Chiros on this board? What do they think about it?

[Teh El Macho]

An orthopaedic surgeon (or orthopaedic for short) deals with prevention and correction of injuries of the skeletal system, muscles, joints and ligaments. That is, an orthopaedic is a medical practitioner.

A PT is a physical therapist or physiotherapist - an allied health professional that provides treatment to injured people to speed up their recovery and rehabilitation, and maximize physical ability with less pain via exercises, massage, heat, water, electricity and a whole bunch of other crap, the efficiency of which is backed up with scientific evidence. My sister has a master's degree in physical therapy and she has dealt with rehabilitation of elders and accident victims. She's helped me in the past with muscle spasms and back problems, thus saving a shitload of money.

A chiropractor is a alternative medicine professional who works on the premises that manipulation of the spine can deal/prevent mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system. This theory is controversial since as of yet there is a lack of scientific evidence to support it.

Having said that, chiropractors have one of the lowest malpractice insurance premiums, which may be an indicator of their safety. Furthermore, to enter a chiropractor school, one has to have a BS degree from an accredited university. Therefore, these aren't wankers blindly pulling stuff out of their asses.

Also, I've never had the need to visit a chiropractor. As a result, I cannot comment on that. But more or less that's what orthos, PTs and chiropractors are...

... courtesy of liberal google-fu and wiki and Windows copy-and-paste. Good luck and never again use a deadlift set as warm up :tongue3:

[GIJoe6186]

I was already warmed up. I use a bike to warm up before I lift. After the bike though I then do 2-3 light sets of the movement to warm up further. I dont just go straight into my work sets. I didnt mean I was using deads to warm up for my workout.

[Teh El Macho]

Ah, ok, I though that's what you did :P Shit, then you either have a very weak torso or you have a pre-existing condition. You better get that checked asap to know for sure what you have.

BTW, I had a similar incident when I first started lifting weights. I was doing some overhead presses at home without proper warming up, somehow I lost my balance, tried to keep the weights from falling and my back just decided to bitch. The pain was so unbearable that I vomited and almost dumped a turd, no exagerations. My left side including my lats and erector spinae spasmed and I was literaly bent over to the left side.

One of my sisters drove me to see a doctor, and after a quick analysis, he injected me in my lumbar area with some sort of muscle relaxant or corticosteroid - about 10 minutes after the injection, I could move my torso again. Then he proceeded to massage the area and prescribed me some more painkillers. Of course, the pain went back a few hours later, but it was nowhere near as it was before the injection. I could move my torso and carefully started to stretch.

With stretching and heat patches I was like new after a couple of days. I don't know if that's what you have, but if you only have a muscle spasm, most likely you'll get some sort of painkiller or muscle relaxant.

[GoldenJonas]

A chiro will manipulate your spine through pulling and/or pushing. A chiro will not be able to appropriately diagnose and treat a slipped disc that is impinging on nerves in your spine and can, in fact, increase the aggravation caused to the nerve by manipulating the vertebra around the disc.

adjustments are fine IMO, just like a nice massage is good for you, but are not a recognized and medically accepted treatment for cervical, lumbar, or thoracic trauma.

I did not mean to imply that chiro's were useless for SOME back treatment (just like a good massage) but for trauma to the vertebra, the discs, of nerves in the spinal column you need to go see a medical doctor, and orthopedic surgeon, specifically one that specializes in the spine.

The first thing the ortho will do is refer you to a physical therapist who will run you through a battery of injury specific exercises to strengthen the muscles around the injured area, the next step varies on your doctor but if your pain has not subsided you could be recommended for epidural injections which essentially help reduce the swell of the affected disc area to take the pressure off of the nerves in that area.

The absolute last option, unless there is an incredible amount of trauma, i.e., major car accident, is surgery. Typically you will go and get a second or third opinion before going under the knife and the other forms of treatment have absolutely failed and your pain is continuing.

IMO a chiro is a middle man who will only delay a diagnosis from a medically recognized physician who will set you on the correct path to recovery.

I've used both chiro and ortho, and as I said above the chiro did nothing to help chronic back pain or injury.

The ortho may say, "hey you just strained a muscle and you should do XYZ exercises and go see a chiro" but at least you'll have a good diagnosis.