Advice on dead's needed->

[BigRedCat]

I haven't been doing deadlifts because I have really bad sciatica and I'm not sure what else I could do in its place. I really need to strengthen my lower back but to be honest just trying to bend over and touch my toes is fucking insanely painfull. I cannot do it at all with my legs straight- it hurts too much and I have an enormous capacity to endure pain. For those not familiar sciatica is basically a pinched sciatic nerve that sends a shooting pain down one of my legs. It sucks but I am trying to work around it until I can get to a chiropracter(or afford one anyway). I have been dealing with this for 8 months now and it is a bitch! I have been doing hyperextensions(unweighted),Lat pulldowns,pullups,rows- that sort of thing for my back but I dont think I can do deads, not till I can at least touch my toes without feeling like I have been shot. Any advice? I have been doing ATF squats and they are not to bad, I can deal with those. It does make my back pretty sore but I am hoping it is getting stronger.

 

[jeremys]

i'm kinda in the same boat you are man. my injury is only about 3 weeks old though and i dont have pain in my legs but 5 mins ago i couldnt stand up straight w/out pain.

 

[BigRedCat]

Yeah this shit sucks bad! I feel like an old man. I used to be really active into MMA(jiu jitsu,arnis,kail,muy thai etc) and now I just cannot do it until I get better. The doctor or quack I saw said it would "go away on its own"- well it has been close to a year with no change so I am at a loss. Some days are better than others but it hurts pretty much every day to one degree or another. I thought it might be piriformis syndrome but the treatment is about the same with that anyway. I haven't really had any luck with stretching either.

 

[jeremys]

yeah, mine is slowly going away i think. did he say to do any stretches or excercises or anything? you have a herniated disc or something right?

the reason i ask so many questions is i've heard something like i/we have will go away on it's own in 1-6 months. maybe you can save me an expensive trip to the sports doc

 

[BigRedCat]

No he said I dont have a ruptured disc although I dont know how he can tell that without an MRI or X-rays but anyway yeah stretching is supposed to help. It hasn't done shit for me but Check here:

http://www.spine-health.com/topics/cd/d_sciatica/sc01.html
http://www.neurologychannel.com/backpain/
http://www.sciatica.org/
http://www.Aliveat55.com/sciaticacomplete.htm
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/2914/exercise.html

I even found a place that says bee venom might help and at this point screw it I might try it.

 

[jeremys]

thanks for the links. i appreciate it.

karma for you, even though my grey-ass karma wont do much for ya

 

[Scaggs]

its easy. replace deadlifts with rack deadlifts. that will work your entire back especially the lower back and you don't need to bend much at all to complete this exercise. they are just as demanding. if you need a demonstration on it i have a small mpg file. i'f anyone is interested i can post a link to it.

Scaggs.

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

just my $.02 but I would let the nerve heal before you go too heavy duty on the deads. There will be plenty of time...

 

[vapochill]

Scaggs, could you please post that link?

 

[Scaggs]

Ok here is the link for anyone who would like to know how to do rack deadlifts.

some prefer pulling the bar off the racking pins and lowering the weight for the first rep, i prefer pulling the first rep off the pins from the knees. Its a matter of preference.

pull the bar to an upright position and pull your shoulders back and squeeze your traps. on the way down keep the bar close to your body and do not rest the bar on the pins at the bottom of each rep. be sure to use proper form and do not arch your back. keep it as flat and as straight as possible. you can vary your rep ranges. max at 5. 7-9 8-12 whatever you want to do. i promise this will strengthen your back in many ways. you'll feel it the next day as well.

i put this avi file up real quick on a web page so you can quickly view it. you should only need mplayer or any avi player to view it.

Rack Dead Lifts

Scaggs