Anyone ever had back problems?

[solidj55]

I am just curious as to who has ever injured their backs. Ill tell my story and then see if you guys can maybe tell me a little about your experiences. I was doing pause squats, it will be two weeks tomorrow, and I wasnt going very heavy. I only had about 265 on there and I am probably about a 475+ squatter. Anyway, I paused on my eighth rep with 265 and about half way up I had this burning sensation right in my waist line and a little above and a little bit in my right ass cheek. Well, I was still able to go to lock out and I had to hurry to rack it. As soon as I racked the weight I went down on one knee. The muscles or nerves or something tightened tremendously. I had to have help getting to a place in the floor to lay down. I layed there for about 20 minutes and tried to get up but I could walk because of the pain. I swear I wasnt being a pussy lol, Ive had several injuries that most people would be in traction for and continued to play sports etc. Anyway, I couldnt even sit in a normal position. I was having spasms and stuff as well. I had to be taken to the hospital in the ambulance. They gave me a bunch of pain killers and shit through an IV and took xrays. Xrays were normal. Anyway for 2 days I couldnt walk without help. I am finally back feeling good and all but I still have some tightness in my lower back around the waist line. Not just on the right side where it was injured but on the left side as well. It feels tight and a little sore kind of like after stiff leg deads. I havent lifted in over two weeks though. I have a follow up visit with a doctor on Friday of this week to see if I need an MRI or not. I am just wondering what you guys think of the injury? At first I thought it was maybe a pulled muscle or a torn muscle because of two reasons. number one, usually if its a messed up disc in the back leg pain/numbness is associated with it and I havent had any of this. Number two, once I was able to walk better and move around I upped my protein intake to about 300grams a day. When I did that I seemed to feel better every day, less sore and all. I would be very interested in hearing what you guys think on this. I will be seeing a doctor on Friday like I said and maybe getting an MRI but I just kind of want to hear some your guys experiences and or opinions. Oh yea, sorry for such a long post.

 

[bigokie]

I've been there and back. Down a little there is a post from Cubanito about a very similar problem.

Anyways, doctors really don't know shit. I'm sorry that's just the way I feel. It took me almost 8 months to figure out what I did to mine(herniated disk). All the doctors ever did was give anti inflamatory's. They help until they run out, then the pain comes back.

Insist on an MRI. They are necessary in your position. Doctors will always take an x-ray. I guess they don't know that an x-ray won't pick up a herniated disk, or any disk or tissue damage. It very well might be a herniated disk or a pinched nerve, which also could be caused by a herniated disk. A pain in the ass is from doing something to a nerve. That's why it spreads into your rear. If pain starts to go down your leg, go to the doctor immediately and have them give you an mri. Otherwise wait until your scheduled visit. If the pain started to go away after a few days it sounds like a pinched nerve. Just to be safe, get an mri. Good luck and I hope it ain't serious

 

[solidj55]

Thanks Big Okie, It nice to know someone else is out there that knows the deal. I agree, doctors dont know shit. My dad deals with this shit everyday, he has 2 herniated discs and 1 buldging, along with some torn ligaments and muscles. Its been like that for a while for him. Did they do surgery on your back or what??? If its just a pinched nerve or messed up muscle it will heal but from my understanding discs have to have surgery, is this right???
My dad and everyone else I know agrees with you on the getting the MRI thing. I dread that because Im closterphobic(SP?) and also Im scared to death the results may say I have fucked up discs. I guess Im a pussy after all lol. Im more scared of not being able to lift for months on end, hell its been 2 weeks already,
than I am of going under the knife. Oh well, who knows, just wait and see I guess.

 

[spatts]

I'll copy and paste my back injury story from another PL thread:

Back at the end of January, I was deadlifting (dimmel), and heard a series of cracks, went numb form the chest down and fell on the floor. I was sure I would never walk again, let alone deadlift 225 for reps of 15. My trainer carried me to his truck and drove me to ER. They gave some MASSIVE pain killers, and I took it easy and iced for a few days. Then Hannibal brought me "bands." Not those cute things that hang in the aerobics room...these are different.

It was pretty obvious that my lower back was strong, but not strong enough to keep up with the kind of weight my legs were able to move. I have a 6 pack of abs, and they're strong, but not strong enough to support what I squat. You get my point. I had to get my core AHEAD of my legs.

So I started doing good mornings with a LIGHT band 2 days after my injury. Within a week I was up to the pink bands, and within a few weeks I was using the bar, and added some weight. The injury was about 12 weeks ago, and Monday I deadlifted 285 for 6.

At the time, I was still kinda wishy washy about the BB vs PL route. So the idea of working a muscle more than once a week was absurd! The problem isn't overtraining, the problem is under-recovering. By using the bands to precisely mimic the movements I did the day before, I keep fresh blood/oxygen in the muscle, but because there's no eccentric resistance, it will not rerip the fibers...so I can still "heal" or "recover" which is what causes growth. Adding active recovery with bands, as well as speed sets, and speed sets with bands, has allowed me to dramatically increase my strength without interfering with the recovery that leads to hypertrophy.

 

[bigokie]

No I didn't have surgery. By the time I got it figured out, it was too late it had already started to heal. Some disks require surgery, some don't. It will depend on how bad it's been done. I know guys, like me, who should have gotten surgery but didn't and recovered fine. I did it wrong, but still recovered fully. It just took a long time. Wait to go to the gym til you get the MRI. Then, start back doing bench work. Yeah a pinched nerve will heal itself. It just takes a little time. Don't worry, when you get back you will get your strength back and then get stronger.

Don't worry, you can recover from anything. The main way to recover if it's just a pinched nerve or pulled/tore muscle is to ice it and take anti inflamatories. This will keep it from getting injured worse. Then all your lower body work for a while should be with bands and LIGHT weights. The main goal of your first month back will be to get blood and oxygen into the muscle area. This is what lets the muscle and surrounding area recover. Don't go heavy when you first get back. This will hurt your back. Take it slow and listen to your body.

 

[Cubanito17]

I had a lower back injury which turned out to be a pulled muscle. There is a post a lil lower down and it has all about recovery work and what I should've done if I seriously injured it.

 

[aka-tapout]

my lower back is fried
the dr. told me if I want to walk in 10 years to give up squating because my disc(L3-L4 area) is decentigrating and squats compress it too much. its so bad I was given a perscription for a hot tub.
because of this I only squat 2 x per month and never over 405 since I was told---I just love to squat so I cant stop completly yet but my 3 lift days are over just push and pull now

 

[erickthegreat11]

Did the same thing to my back about 2 or 3 years ago. I attribute it to bad form on th dead lift. My back had been hurting, and getting slight sharp pains. My back had hurt before, thought it was normal. When I bent over the sink to wash my hands, my back went into a crazy spasm that brought me to my knees. I know the feeling. Nothing really you can do, no position is helpful. I think this lasted about a week. When I went to the doctor a day after it happened and she felt my spine for disc alignment or whatever, and it started to feel better. It felt better because she was massaging it. I heeded warning signs a couple of weeks ago and remembered the feeling and took it very easy.

 

[Grantsdu]

I have never done anything like that but I train with a guy that did the same thing last week. He works construction and picked up a big metal door and hurt his back somehow. He didn't workout any last week. He went to the ciro and he did something that seemed to have helped him but it may have just posponed it. I will let you know what happend on leg day(friday)

 

[solidj55]

WOW, guys thanks for the replies. I cant wait to go to the doctor on Friday to see if I can start back lifting again on Monday or when I can start back. I hope he releases me lol. The way I feel right now I could do all upper body with absolutely no pain but lower back and legs I doubt it. There is still certain areas that cause a dull pain, but hey its improved from an extreme sharp pain all the time to a very slight dull pain only with certain movements. We will see. You guys please keep your fingers crossed that I Ill be ok and hopefully not re-injure it lol.