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Other/Mixed Slogging my way back from a back injury

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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mprevost

mprevost

Level 7 Valued Member
Terrible disk herniation L5-S1 in May. Couldn't walk more than 100 yards without stopping. Couldn't sleep. Lots of pain. Back injuries are horrible. I can't say for sure how it happened. I just woke up with the pain. I was fine the day prior. In any case, I had terrible pain for about 7 weeks. Finally by 8 weeks I could walk again so I started doing lots of walking. I spent June and July walking about 5 miles every day. I was doing minimal workouts on the machines in the gym and going to physical therapy. By August I was feeling pretty good and expanded my workouts and moved to rucking. Today I am back to working one legged squats and lots of bodyweight training and rucking three times per week on hilly mountain trails. Life is good. Still no loaded hip hinging though. I figure it will be another month or so before I can get back to some running.

I went to bed on a Friday night in May thinking I was going to go for an 8 mile run in the mountains on Saturday morning, instead I endured 8 weeks of pain! DFYU has become my #1 guiding principle for my workouts. Be careful out there!
 
mprevost said:
Terrible disk herniation L5-S1 in May. Couldn't walk more than 100 yards without stopping. Couldn't sleep. Lots of pain. Back injuries are horrible. I can't say for sure how it happened. I just woke up with the pain. I was fine the day prior. In any case, I had terrible pain for about 7 weeks. Finally by 8 weeks I could walk again so I started doing lots of walking. I spent June and July walking about 5 miles every day. I was doing minimal workouts on the machines in the gym and going to physical therapy. By August I was feeling pretty good and expanded my workouts and moved to rucking. Today I am back to working one legged squats and lots of bodyweight training and rucking three times per week on hilly mountain trails. Life is good. Still no loaded hip hinging though. I figure it will be another month or so before I can get back to some running.

I went to bed on a Friday night in May thinking I was going to go for an 8 mile run in the mountains on Saturday morning, instead I endured 8 weeks of pain! DFYU has become my #1 guiding principle for my workouts. Be careful out there!
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Go slow, go steady. "Attention to posture" takes on entirely new significance. Good to hear you are responding well.
 
Wow, sounds like a frustrating time, especially not having any idea what caused it. Glad to hear you are on the mend!
 
My back injury was the same. The doctor told me I'd been working on it my entire life and it just picked one particular moment to blow.

-S-
 
Glad you are already feeling better Mike. Hope you recover fast. Working around an injury sucks, but we can learn a lot from them. At least I came to SF thanks to a tendonosis.
 
All the best to a proper recovery. As it was kind of sh.. what happend to you, it is great to hear from your experiences, sir.

mprevost said:
DFYU has become my #1 guiding principle for my workouts. Be careful out there!
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what is that DFYU, those damn acronyms...

Steve Freides said:
My back injury was the same. The doctor told me I'd been working on it my entire life and it just picked one particular moment to blow.
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you did quite amazing work with your back, Steve. And some amazing things you do on a regular basis I would say. Just a regular badass.
 
@Harald Motz, I believe DFYU is a version of "first, do no harm," in this case realized as, "don't f#$% yourself up." See Primum non nocere - Wikipedia

And thank you for the kind words. I am feeling pretty bada$$ about my deadlift training these days. I hope this run of good training turns into another new personal best at a meet I have coming up in about 8 weeks.

-S-
 
I've been dealing with off and on back pain that has gotten pretty aggravating at times. I find doing Brid Dog progressions, hard style bridges, and triple core progressions based on the irritably of the back and my ability to control my lumbar and pelvis helps. Prone propping after my training sessions helps keep the beast at bay as well. Spine flexion, as is taught in the course, seems to be a big no-no for me after any training. I'm also cursed to be a home musician that spends too long recording at times and I have to get myself out of sustained postures if I want my back to stay on point. Keep up your hard work!
 
wmhesse said:
I've been dealing with off and on back pain that has gotten pretty aggravating at times. I find doing Brid Dog progressions, hard style bridges, and triple core progressions based on the irritably of the back and my ability to control my lumbar and pelvis helps. Prone propping after my training sessions helps keep the beast at bay as well. Spine flexion, as is taught in the course, seems to be a big no-no for me after any training. I'm also cursed to be a home musician that spends too long recording at times and I have to get myself out of sustained postures if I want my back to stay on point. Keep up your hard work!
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Yes, sound advice. My go to resource lately is Stuart McGill's The Back Mechanic. I am doing lots of static and dynamic bridges and I have also found that I have to be extra vigilant to avoid spinal flexion after training as you stated. I try to avoid it while sitting, standing etc also throughout the day. Fortunately I moved back into retirement in May, around the time of the injury, so sitting for long periods at "work" was not an issue. I am starting school again next week though (everyone needs 4 college degrees right?) so extended sitting may be an issue. I plan to increase mobility work to counter it.

I am doing no hip hinging at all but I am doing "static hip hinging" which is basically training the hip hinge muscles in an isometric manner (though sometimes with a dynamic stability challenge). I can't see kettlebell swings in my near term future. Too bad as I love to do them. Perhaps one day.
 
Steve Freides said:
Mike, I'm honored that you asked. My story has been told in a few places - here are two:

Strength Kept Me Out of a Wheelchair

Powerless To Powerlift: Ridgewood Man Beats Back Injury

-S-
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Thanks for sharing Steve. It is an inspiring story. I can relate to the pain you described. I had a disk explode in my cervical spine 10 years ago. I felt it go, electric jolt, then intense pain. I was left with extreme left upper body weakness and partial paralysis of the muscles of my upper pec. I could not do a single pushup. I got about 75% back but am left with some left arm grip weakness and a bit of left side pressing weakness. It was also a chronic injury exacerbated by 20,000 plus miles in the aero position on my triathlon bike. I abandoned the excessive endurance exercise to focus on putting my body back together through basic strength work. The body has an amazing capacity to heal if you help it to do so. Great message, keep spreading the word.
 
Steve Freides said:
My back injury was the same. The doctor told me I'd been working on it my entire life and it just picked one particular moment to blow.

-S-
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This is a really scary thing to think about.

@mprevost Serious question. Do you think the sitting/sleeping on the floor has anything to do with it or would the pain be worse without that?
 
Mike, have you read McKenzie's "Treat Your Own Back" - if not, I highly recommend it. It was my starting point for recovery, and my copy was given to me by my back doctor. (I later bought 12 copies and gave them away.)

-S-
 
MattM said:
This is a really scary thing to think about.

@mprevost Serious question. Do you think the sitting/sleeping on the floor has anything to do with it or would the pain be worse without that?
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Hi Matt

I don't think sleeping on the floor was an issue. I had to transition to an air mattress for about 5 weeks after the injury because I have hard wood floors and for a while I could only sleep on my side in a particular position that ground my hip into the floor. However, as soon as I could sleep on my back, I got rid of the air mattress and was very happy on the floor again. Besides, humans evolved over thousands of years sleeping on the floor.
 
Steve Freides said:
Mike, have you read McKenzie's "Treat Your Own Back" - if not, I highly recommend it. It was my starting point for recovery, and my copy was given to me by my back doctor. (I later bought 12 copies and gave them away.)

-S-
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I need to get a copy. My younger brother is a chiropractor and recommended it highly. Off to Amazon.....
 
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