Lower lumbar strain

[MaDmaN]

For some reason I cant seem to get rid of this lower back pain.I have not been training lower back for the last couple of weeks and still have that dull ache.Im wondering if this could be nerve damage from all the pounding from doing T-bar row and deadlifts this past year.Anyone of you have this problem and what if anything did you do to relieve the pain.I find even doing bench presses aggravates it.

 

[Lean One]

If you're getting pain in your low back when benching, it's probably because you have a heriated disc and are arching your back too much. JMHO, but it's based on experience. It's the kind of injury that doesn't have to be acute. (meaning that it can slowly develop over time.) Many people walk around with herniated discs and don't even know it. If I were you, I would get it checked out. Deads used to be my bread and butter back exercise, but I had to give them up for a while. Even hyperextentions used to agravate it. I'm finally just starting to do them again. The solution for me, was a long break from hip extention exercises, and CONSISTENCY in maintaining lower back strength and stability with stretching and core strengthening. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

 

[LunaHotel]

I agree 100% Lean One. I have a hernia.

One thing I do to help it is stretch my lower back by lying face down on a large ball on top of a flat bench with the center of the ball at stomach level. I grab the underside of the bench and just leave my legs dangling. For some reason, this really stretches the lumbar part and relieves all the pinched feelings in there.

NOW GO EASY THE FIRST TIME YOU DO THIS, MADMAN, because if you have a bad hernia, it might hurt like a phreaking byotch...

 

[MaDmaN]

Thanks alot guys,im gonna try the stretching and core strengthening.

 

[LunaHotel]

Keep us posted on progress, allright?

Oh, and you do want to take a natural anti-inflamatory, such as Devil's Claw Root powder caps. This reduces inflamation without any side-effects whatsoever, and you can take it every day in large amounts if you want to. You might want to get the tincture instead of the powder at first as it is more powerful and will get the inflamation under control quicker. Tastes realllllly yucky though

 

[Adf]

For some reason I cant seem to get rid of this lower back pain.I have not been training lower back for the last couple of weeks and still have that dull ache.Im wondering if this could be nerve damage from all the pounding from doing T-bar row and deadlifts this past year.Anyone of you have this problem and what if anything did you do to relieve the pain.I find even doing bench presses aggravates it.

Go see a sports medicine doctor at a local university if possible. I too have lower back problems. My problems are with the inner muscles/tendons not contracting properly and together and other mumbo jumbo I can't explain. Anyways he concluded, I don't have a spine/disc problem and he recommended physiotherapy which I am doing. My insurance plan pays for all the physiotherapy. My physiotherapist also does acupuncture on me and active release techniques. I guess I'm lucky that she is a licensed physiotherapist so I don't have to pay for the extras out of my own pocket.

 

[glenihan]

i had a similiar problem a few years ago 6-8 visits to the chiropractor cured everything
it was covered by my insurance so at a 10 dollar copay cost me 60-80 bucks and i haven't had back problems since
and i deadlift every week (take every 4th week off) and as of today with 415 for sets of 6

i completely believe in chiropractors and recommend you give it a try

 

[MaDmaN]

I stopped doing deads and heavy T-bar Row and my back is fine.When I started this thread I was in the beginning stages of severe overtraining(see latest posts problems after training) and 1 month later my back is fine so I am going to ease back into multi join movements for back..Thanks again all.

 

[LunaHotel]

Hey just remember to stretch your hamstrings too OK?

 

[MaDmaN]

Hey just remember to stretch your hamstrings too OK?

Thanks Luna :thumbsup:

 

[skoal]

Hey just remember to stretch your hamstrings too OK?

Good point Luna. Most of us have hamstrings that are stronger then the average person, unfortunately they are also tighter then the average person. This can cause a pull on the pelvis and tilt it back.

Another good stretch like the one with the ball is to lay on a bench on your side and let your feet and hips hang off the end. This will help stretch the back to the sides.

 

[judge-mental]

Good point Luna. Most of us have hamstrings that are stronger then the average person, unfortunately they are also tighter then the average person. This can cause a pull on the pelvis and tilt it back.

Another good stretch like the one with the ball is to lay on a bench on your side and let your feet and hips hang off the end. This will help stretch the back to the sides.

not sure what you are saying here, actualy tight hip flexors/weak abs are the cause for over arching and lumbar pains while benching, tight hams will make you generate more torsion and ROM in your spine instead of your hips needs in other exercise so its good to stretch them too.

My advice:

stretch your hips NOT your back - it cant take stretching.
see a GOOD chiro/physiotherapist/ART practitioner. (emphasis on good, those are hard to find)
work your abs with emphasis on static strength-endurance with minimal psoas activation and spinal compression+flexion as possible (spinal compression+flexion as in the crunch or leg raise replicates disc herniation mechanism)

J.

 

[glenihan]

what's psoas activation?

 

[Grim Repper]

what's psoas activation?

Psoas activation is involvement of the illiopsoas. The illiopsoas (psoas for short) also referred to as the hip flexors and serve to allow you to flex at the hips. This differs from spinal flexion and since the psoas major originate in the lumbar vertebrae, they can be associated with lumbar pain. Many who have lumbar pain can attribute this to injured psoas sometimes exacerbated through misdirected abdominal training in which hip flexion is mistaken for spinal flexion which the rectus abdominus performs.

 

[glenihan]

oh ok gotcha never heard that term for the hip flexors before thanks

 

[skoal]

not sure what you are saying here, actualy tight hip flexors/weak abs are the cause for over arching and lumbar pains while benching, tight hams will make you generate more torsion and ROM in your spine instead of your hips needs in other exercise so its good to stretch them too.

My advice:

stretch your hips NOT your back - it cant take stretching.
see a GOOD chiro/physiotherapist/ART practitioner. (emphasis on good, those are hard to find)
work your abs with emphasis on static strength-endurance with minimal psoas activation and spinal compression+flexion as possible (spinal compression+flexion as in the crunch or leg raise replicates disc herniation mechanism)

J.

Check out some x-rays then, a picture is worth a thousand words. Can't say I've actually ever seen anyone over-arch on a bench once they had proper form down. Hip flexors only pull on the hips, not the entire spin.

 

[judge-mental]

Check out some x-rays then, a picture is worth a thousand words. Can't say I've actually ever seen anyone over-arch on a bench once they had proper form down. Hip flexors only pull on the hips, not the entire spin.

the posas(major and minor) pull the spine as they are connected to the 6 lower vertabrae

and psoas activation=psoas activation not hip flexors

 

[skoal]

While one head of the iliopsoas, the psoas, does connect to the spine on the lower vertabra, the iliacus attaches only to the pelvis. Even with that being said, the iliopsoas is used to bend the the joint to reduce the angle of the hip. So it moves the thigh or the top of the pelvis forward. Since when you bench properly, you should be driving your butt down, this is not activated.

And I'm not sure where you came up with the concept that the back can not be stretched. If you are saying you can't stretch the disks I'll agree with you. But it sounded lie you were saying you can't stretch the muscles of the back. Any muscle can concivable be stretched.

 

[mrbig]

I was reading your posts about lower back pain where do you get Devils Claw Root
powder caps?Thanks for any help on finding this.

 

[judge-mental]

While one head of the iliopsoas, the psoas, does connect to the spine on the lower vertabra, the iliacus attaches only to the pelvis. Even with that being said, the iliopsoas is used to bend the the joint to reduce the angle of the hip. So it moves the thigh or the top of the pelvis forward. Since when you bench properly, you should be driving your butt down, this is not activated.

And I'm not sure where you came up with the concept that the back can not be stretched. If you are saying you can't stretch the disks I'll agree with you. But it sounded lie you were saying you can't stretch the muscles of the back. Any muscle can concivable be stretched.

you should revist your biomechaincs resoas.

I didnt say you can't I said you shouldn't. check stuart mcgill : lower back ultimate performance, book published 2004. he's the world's number 1 spine biomechanist and injury expert. will solve your psoas problems as well.