Bill, Back Question

[GqArtguy]

Bill I need your expertise:

About a week and a half I was doing some saxon side bends, and its normal for me since my direct ab work focuses on the obliques. Well one day I did them and I think I did one incorrectly by shifting my balance but I woke up with a tweak in the lower lefthand side of my back. It feels like a square shaped area where the latsthats slightly above my waist (about 2in) and away from my spine, I think its just muscular and it feels like a knot.

In this link, its located where the "h" muscle starts getting thinner.

http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Obliques.html

Doing trunk rotation and flexing onto my left side was uncomfortable, but the trunk rotation thing went away and the flexion has assuaged since I stopped doing the side bends to heal.

After resting for about 3days, I started working out again and heres what it looked like:

Wide Stance GMs to a heavy triple (265)
Thick Bar Rounded Back Elevated SLDL: 235*3/5
Thick Bar Supine BB Rows: 165*3/6
Situps 2 sets of 10

None of the movements felt like they touched the area and the workout felt really good. Well i wake up today and have the same pain in my lower back, but its more stiff and knotty and affects the flexion mentioned above, not the torso rotation . Should I just lay off of the back work or what? Do you have a guess as to what is wrong? Im not sure because Im not doing movements that mimic the movement that caused the tweaking in the first place.

Thanks in advance.

[Bill Hartman]

My first thought is a quadratus lumborum strain based on location and symptoms.

Your rounded back exercise was probably a poor choice under the circumstances (and most likely under any circumstances unless you expect to be in that position under load for some reason that will make you $1,000,000).

You may be able to train around it by maintaining neutral spinal alignment and perhaps changing exercises for a while. QL strains can really suck so take care of it now.

Bill

[GqArtguy]

Im really flexible which is why I did the rounded back stuff off a small platform. Its just to simulate lifting an atlas stone since I dont have any at the current moment.

So do you think I should stick to RDLs instead for now? What do you think of ab work like leg lifts and situps? And maybe 1 arm deads for oblique work? Anything I should do in particular to take care of it, like a heating pad or bendgay?

Thanks for your help Bill.

[Bill Hartman]

For acute injuries use ice for 48-72 hours depending on severity of injury to minimize secondary hypoxic injury. After that time you can use heat prior to activity to increase comfort and ice after

Icy hot, ben-gay, and any other topical usually functions on the principle of counter-irritation. In other words, your skin stings and you notice the pain under the skin less. Much like dropping an anvil on your foot to relieve a headache.

Some form of soft-tissue work and stretching can be performed after the initial 48-72 hour period based on pain. Don't increase pain, in other words.

Exercises selected should not increase pain at all either during or after. This may require some experimentation.

For your lower back injury, avoid any loading without the back in neutral alignment. Rounded back exercises are out. Personally, any form of heavily loaded rounded back exercise exceeds my risk to benefit ratio. Rounding of the spine turns off the spinal erectors and exposes the posterior ligamentous structures and disc to excessive loading. Not a great idea for being functional down the road.

If you improve hip flexibility (dynamic of course), the amount of rounding should be minimal when lifting the stones. Best of luck trying to lift them without your spinal erectors. OUCH!

I like your idea of using "functional lifts" to train trunk muscles. For your needs they make more sense then sit-ups and leg lifts. Just maintain neutral spinal alignment at all times (don't hyperextend!).

Bill

[GqArtguy]

Alright Bill, thanks for the advice, you are the man. I hope this thing clears up soon

[Jean-Paul]

GQartguy,
Atlas stones, eh? You planning to do some strongman competition?

[GqArtguy]

Yeah JP, I hope to be competing in the future. I first have to get my size goals accomplished and bring up my strength and work capacity to be competitive in my target weightclass.

Once I finish my MA in Econ, I hope to go to Boston and train in a SM gym there and finish out my PhD.

Im going to take a few days off, just so this thing has more time to heal, i must say that QL strains really really suck!

[GqArtguy]

Hey Bill, do you know how long it takes for a QL strain to heal? This thing really tries one patience.

[Bill Hartman]

It varies. The hard thing is reducing tension to give it some healing time as it is a flexor and extensor depending on spinal position. Have you had it evaluated by anyone?

Bill

[GqArtguy]

No I havent had it checked out, mostly because Drs dont have a good knowledge of working out and theyd prolly tell me that squatting is bad for my knees. Then Id have to deal with advice and wait to get referred to a physical therapist. (you can tell Ive done this before).