hurt lower back coming out of back squat

[Kris]

I hurt my back this morning, on my way up, felt the snap and instant loss of strength. I dumped the bar behind and crawled off the platform. The inital pain was in the upper portion of my lower back, if that makes sense, and now it feels painful there and lower. Initially I was immobilized by the pain. Now 3hrs later I'm able to walk, stand and lie down, with some discomfort. Sitting hurts more. I took 600mg ibuprofen immediately after the injurt and have been applying ice.

Any advice on healing?

I believe it to be muscular and not disc related, but I'm not sure. I split a disc much lower 3 years ago while DL'ing, and this hurts less and different. But there was a snap or pop this time. Any advice on guessing what type of injury?

Fwiw, it was only 87kg (I weigh 68kg). But I was getting tired, probably leaned forward and rounded or something. And I'm 39, surely that adds to my vulnerability.

[Kris]

Still hurts today, but I have a lot more mobility. I'm pretty sure it is muscular/tendon related, and not a disc issue. I feel like rest and focusing on mobility will have me back on the platform next week. Anyone else around my age have experience with a similar injury?

[Kris]

One week later and it's still not fully healed. There's still a tiny bit of discomfort on the right side in the lower lumbar area. Weird how the pain has migrated around to different places.

Tomorrow I'm going to put my lifting shoes back on for the first time and start with mobility/flexibility, using a PVC at most. We'll see how that feels, maybe do that for a week, then gradually work back up. Or maybe wait longer if that's what my body tells me.

I'd like to keep lifting as long as I can, and since I'm nearly 40, I'm realizing that will require some periodic adjustments to training. Sucks!

I'm going apeshit from not being able to lift. I can't sleep, due to unspent energy!

[vjohn82]

Could be a pinched nerve. Any pain down the leg? I fixed my with Naproxen and Bill Starr's Lower Back Rehab programme.

[Kris]

Well I'll be d@mned. Five months of a sore back that seemed to not heal and I finally gave an adaptation of the Bill Starr program a try, and now I'm finally healing up. I've worked up to a couple hundred bodyweight squats and good mornings a day, and I am almost completely pain free. Next week I'll start with the bar.

[vjohn82]

Originally Posted by Kris

Well I'll be d@mned. Five months of a sore back that seemed to not heal and I finally gave an adaptation of the Bill Starr program a try, and now I'm finally healing up. I've worked up to a couple hundred bodyweight squats and good mornings a day, and I am almost completely pain free. Next week I'll start with the bar.

How are you getting on now?

It was very effective for me. I now do mobility work on my "days off" and post workout every single time. I still have a soreish back every now and then but I need to work on some imbalances which will take some time.

[Kris]

Originally Posted by vjohn82

How are you getting on now?

It was very effective for me. I now do mobility work on my "days off" and post workout every single time. I still have a soreish back every now and then but I need to work on some imbalances which will take some time.

I think it's too early to say how I'm getting on now, since I haven't started using weight or even the bar at this point (by "bodyweight" I meant just my body). But after working through the first few days of pain in the injured area, as well as intense general DOMS from disuse, now I feel stronger, more mobile and pain-free than I have felt in 5 months. I'm excited about getting reacquainted with the bar next week. We'll see how it goes. I did two sets of 10 burpees yesterday to see how i do with rapid, explosive, repetitive motion, and I don't feel any complications today. I've been doing pullups and pushups, in addition to the squats and goodmornings, to try to prepare my body for push and pull activity. My pullups are now difficult sets of 10, and my pushups are easy sets of 40. All in all, I'm pretty hopeful for a 39yo who has been out of commission for 5 months.

I'd be interested to learn about your mobility work on days off. I think that would be very helpful for me.

I have to say, my wrists feel GREAT after not lifting for so long. It's a booby prize, I guess.

[vjohn82]

Originally Posted by Kris

I'd be interested to learn about your mobility work on days off. I think that would be very helpful for me.

I do all of the stretches on here straight after training and on my off days: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...tching_part_ii

And on my off days I do the stretches demonstrated by Kevin Cornell of California Strength: http://www.californiastrength.com/ca...ornia-strength

I'm going to add some ankle work in too. I have found that http://www.mobilitywod.com/ is perhaps the best site to go to for inventive exercises to improve your mobility. There's far too many things to look at but one thing which I do before I even squat is this:

http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/01/e...er-mob-rx.html

I have really tight, painful hips when I first start out. I need to warm up lots just to be free of the pain. 5 minutes of that hip exercise above and I squat pain free from the start.

Hope this helps.

[Kris]

It has been a little over a year since I injured my back and I'm still not fully healed. I haven't done any Olympic lifting. I finally started working with a physical therapist two months ago and have been making great progress.

What we think happened with the original injury was a herniated disc (or discs) at the thoracic/lumbar junction, which has not healed properly, and has been periodically slightly reinjured, due to a forward pelvic tilt caused by tight illiopsoas and quads (as well as doing a bunch of exercise that wasn't helping the healing).

I've been stretching those muscles according to program for about two months, and have incorporated the prescribed back and abdominal stability/strength exercises for the last month. I am now almost completely pain free.

I was swimming laps almost daily for a few months to stay fit. At first the swimming helped relieve pain (by unloading the spine), but over time it was aggravating the injury and preventing healing. I stopped swimming and the therapy started really getting me results. Prior to starting the therapy, I had been doing a lot of pushups/pullups/dips and bodyweight squats and goodmornings. I ditched that as soon as I started therapy, at the therapist's advice.

I've now been okay'd to start light bodybuilding as well as pullups/dips/pushups, so I've been doing that for a couple weeks. Feels good, but plenty of DOMS.

At this point my goal is to be able to play with my kids without having to worry about back pain. In time if I am able to return to Olympic lifting, I will. Getting old sucks.

[Kris]

Well, 1.3 years later, I am finally back at olympic lifting. I started 3 weeks ago, and am now up to 45kg snatch and 60kg c/j (I weigh currently about 57kg). I'm now at a point where my back is feeling progressively better every day, even with the lifting. It's not completely pain free, and I still have signs of nerve damage (particularly a numbness on the outsides of my quads), but I feel like I'm on the mend. My garage platform is covered in bicycles, furniture and boxes, due to disuse, so I have been using a barbell and iron weights, off of some weird plastic aerobics risers as blocks, at the racquet club by my house. I know I can go heavier, but I don't want to be dumping iron on the floor around a bunch of 75 year olds. And I figure it's best to take it slow. I'm alternating olympic lifting and strength training every other day, and using the elliptical machines (yes, elliptical machines) almost everyday after my training to help get my weight back down and my endurance back up. Demoralizing, but seems to get good blood flow to my spine.

I'm going to start clearing out the garage next weekend and hope to be using my platform and equipment within a month. Still no hurry to get back to where I was before the injury, but we'll see how it goes.