Bad Back

[deemus]

Ice and heat is the way to go. And whatever pain meds to get you through it.

I hurt my back bad around 15 yes ago. Never been the same. Take care of this injury with the same level of serious like you would a broken arm.

You need a few days of no activity and light stretching. Lay on your back and pull one leg at a time towards your chest.
The stem treatment does work. But don't do it too soon.

Go slow, do the stem, get a massage every week for at least a month, and consider a chiropractor. That is what did mine the most good. If you can, go to the chiro after a massage for the best effectiveness.

Good luck, and go slow.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

I pulled my lower back muscles playing football years back. They used the machine that shocks your muscles to work them. I also soaked my back in ice water baths. Both treatments sucked but I was back at practice after about 10 days and only missed one game.

Same thing when I was playing rugby in college, except I ripped one of my pecs when a gigantci human threw me about 10 yards by my arm, lol.

Ice.

 

[hellishhorses]

hellishhorses, seriously man, do you work for the "squat industry" or something? Perhaps you should state your credentials supporting your personal experience/education and training relative to this "all in one, save your back, grow big giant balls and strenghten your entire body exercise"? I can, if you prefer...I know there is equal evidence contrary to what you looked up as well as in support of tons of other exercises that do everything you listed as well. The point I was trying to make is that squats are hard on us and can be dangerous. You can get every benefit you listed above doing bumbell lunges, isometrics, presses, etc, period, with little to no risk to the back. Any compressive exercise that begins with the possibilty of lumbar flexion puts every disc at risk for repetetive herniation and possible rupture. This is pure biomechanics and you cannot argue it.
I think, especially as we age, we need to exercise in "real world, everyday" type actions, mimicing the strengths we need to be highly functional on a daily basis. Core strength is an absolute and can be done safely with planks and bridges. Not too many people "need" to squat in any way on a daily basis to get through their days, hence my statement that they are not needed unless your day involves that activity, such as body building.
This guy will repeat this same back injury in short order if he continues doing squats, guaranteed. He should seek a more rounded way to build his legs, back and core without them and that is not hard to do.

Unless my wife's ACE cert counts, I have zero certification in personal training or group fitness. Although, that doesn't mean much as I have met some seriously stupid people in the fitness industry who have passed a test, received a piece of paper and regularly gives clients astoundingly terrible advice — anyone that ignores the benefits of a properly executed squat falls into this category. Additionally, I never mentioned anything about my balls.

Do squats compress the spine? Yes, both from the weight on your shoulders and the force needed to drive it from the lowered position. However, with appropriate weight and mechanics this shouldn't be a problem for anyone with a healthy back. Again, I would never advise anyone with back issues or disk injury risks to perform squats. Sounds like OP suffered a slight muscle strain, which will heal with rest. When he continues he should lower the weight and concentrate on form.

I won't argue that the squat is a complex and advanced exercise that does require supervision and critiquing. I would even advise novices to seek professional instruction prior to jumping in the rack — it IS an easy exercise to injure yourself on.

You mentioned "real world, everyday" and I had to chuckle — excuse me sir, but your crossfit is showing. Not to mention how much more "real-world" to you get than sitting down and standing back up? Bending over to pick up kids? Or putting groceries away? I've never seen anyone other than superman doing planks. When's the last time you walked to the store lunging? (This is not me picking on lunges or planks — I do both regularly)

It's not guaranteed that he'll injure his back unless he doesn't correct what hurt it in the first place — I'd bet ego and poor instruction had the most to do with it. Those are easy to fix.

 

[azkcr]

95% Ego and over training.
3% bad luck.
2% bad form.
My form is actually pretty good.... Trained with some of the aTm athletes while in college

 

[austinbirdnut]

hellish, nope, wrong on the cross-fit note...I think thats worse than squats....good for few, bad for many. Way too many injuries since its inception and it goes along with my everyday needs thought process. Rarely does anyone "need" to be that fit to get through their day so its overkill. While you are right, the squat helps with that every day bending stuff, but it misses on the core. Thats what the average joe needs now, now strong quads, hams and glutes. That was my only real point and that no, we dont do lunges around our world, a lunge exercises most of the same groups, especially holding dumbells and protects the spine, all while challenging range of motion and more open chain balance...the squat fails there and still owns the risk factor. Under 25 y/o, a squat, done well, with a lumbar support and a spotter, is probably safe, but we lose intrinsic blood supply to our interverterbal discs around age 26 anyway, so any injury or repetition is magnified. I just hope the OP, our TGT community patient, seeks alternatives that are safer and equally effedctive for him, at least my 15 years as a chiropractor and 3+ years as a pain management Nurse Practitioner think so

 

[SIG_Fiend]

hellish, nope, wrong on the cross-fit note...I think thats worse than squats....good for few, bad for many. Way too many injuries since its inception and it goes along with my everyday needs thought process. Rarely does anyone "need" to be that fit to get through their day so its overkill. While you are right, the squat helps with that every day bending stuff, but it misses on the core. Thats what the average joe needs now, now strong quads, hams and glutes. That was my only real point and that no, we dont do lunges around our world, a lunge exercises most of the same groups, especially holding dumbells and protects the spine, all while challenging range of motion and more open chain balance...the squat fails there and still owns the risk factor. Under 25 y/o, a squat, done well, with a lumbar support and a spotter, is probably safe, but we lose intrinsic blood supply to our interverterbal discs around age 26 anyway, so any injury or repetition is magnified. I just hope the OP, our TGT community patient, seeks alternatives that are safer and equally effedctive for him, at least my 15 years as a chiropractor and 3+ years as a pain management Nurse Practitioner think so

LOL Crossfit. If he only knew right? Crossfit and its high injury rate is good job security for you! jk

I'm a layman to the subject, but I have a little bit of insight from my own personal experiences. When I was a teen, I had several slipped discs, pinched nerves as a result, and spent years going to a chriopractor, being treated with the TENS machine, etc. I'm just glad the slipped discs didn't cripple me.

One of the things I'm finding is, there is usually several different ways you can work out an individual muscle group, whether it be an isolation exercise or a compound one. For me, because of my back, I've always been a bit paranoid about squatting heavy and have only ever done light squats. What I've found that seemed to work a lot better for me, while eliminating the strain on my back, was using the leg press much more often and occasionally a smith machine squat, and maybe a bit less frequently the hack squat. Leg press seems to be what I favor. Although I still need to cut a good bit of weight, I do have fairly developed quads and calves largely as a result of the leg press. I'm probably going to be having a wrist surgery soon that might even need to progress to a second surgery and partial wrist fusion that may take a long damn time to fully heal (for lifting heavy at least, usually mostly healed for normal usage in 4-6 months). So now I'm working on figuring out how I can modify exercises to continue working my upper body while relieving stress from my hand post surgery. Personally, I think that's a great way to look at it. Look at your physical strengths and weaknesses, then find ways to work with and work around deficiencies that may be unavoidable, such as working safely around past injuries.

Dorian Yates, a multi-time Mr. Olympia in the body building world, had some interesting insight on the subject. For him, he decided free squats didn't quite allow him to achieve his goals with his body type, so he switched to using machines (hack squat, leg press, smith squat). Well, he won many shows. I guess there is more than one way to skin a cat. You just have to know what you're trying to achieve and get creative about what you need to do, given your physiological restrictions, to achieve it.

Another thing I think is extremely important, is when you're performing the movement, HOW are you feeling the movement? A lot of times, especially for newbies, people go through the motions and it may look like they're performing an exercise, and they may not be utilizing the appropriate muscles for the movement, but rather using certain other muscle groups that may have biases due to their physiology. For example, trying to work chest with cable flys, but actually using bi's, tri's, and shoulders much more than pecs. When it gets to large compound movements like a squat, I think it's even more critical that people are using the appropriate muscle groups. The squat definitely has a lot of value when performed correctly, the difference being is the person performing it correctly or will their muscular deficiencies in supporting or major muscle groups even allow them to safely perform it at the given weight?

For those that are interested, here's an awesome site that gives you a great list of possible exercises to choose from for each muscle group: Dorian Yates on Squatting - Critical MAS

 

[TheDan]

I'm probably going to be having a wrist surgery soon that might even need to progress to a second surgery and partial wrist fusion

You need to show your surgeon the thumbs forward grip first and tell him "fuse it like this."

 

[hellishhorses]

snip...but it misses on the core...

Then you're doing it wrong

 

[gdouthit]

Howdy gents.
Well, in my pursuit of physical fitness, I severely pulled a muscle in my lower back doing squats.
I can hardly sit on a toilet seat. Luckily all I have to do at work is climb into a crane.
I figured you old codgers might have some advice on making it feel better.

I've been alternating heat bands and tiger balm.

Thanks

Learn to do squats right =P

 

[azkcr]

Learn to do squats right =P

Good one.
If you read the thread, form is not the culprit.
I wasn't asking for help to prevent the injury, but tips to alleviate pain.