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Thread: mid back extansion pain

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
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    Default mid back extansion pain

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    hi everybody, hoping yall doing great
    it's going to be a long one so i hope you can read everything and give your input, i'll mark bold what i think is important.

    in the last few months, ive been posting here on the forum about some back pain i was dealing with, some post were more useful and some were me just panicking and spilling my guts away.
    i wanted to come here now to find an end to this pain and figure out the stuff i need to do towards dealing with it.
    ill start with a little flashback to where i remember it first starting, or at least what i think lead to it.
    about a year ago, not really sure, when i was much more reckless, i remember had a shitty workout straight from the beggining, but that didn't stopped me from going to what i think was around 140 kg squat, probably even less then that.
    in the last warmup before that (i think it was about 130 for 3 reps) i felt a small pop in my back, didn't really bothered me, but i stopped there, put the bar back and rested for a few minutes.
    i was a bit shocked, but unfourtantly that didn't stopped me from going for the 140, luckily i at least sopped after 1 rep because i felt a significent amount of unpleasent mid back pressure, and if i remember correctly (not 100% sure) it felt like waves of shock just going up and down on my mid back area.
    i finished the rest of the workout without any problem, just a lack of focus and fatigued fealing.

    a few weeks later i started to have some mid back pain getting up from bed, nothing crazy, but it would bother me to the point i had to think about it all the time, also rarely when bending over / hyperextanding in my mid back.

    i'll save you some time, fast forward to today, i had to be in self isolation for a week, and after this week our gyms shut down again and it seem like were heading towards another lockdown, and who knows when gym's will be back open.

    ill do my best to now describe my pain, how it affected my training for the last few months (even before lockdown), and how it feels now.

    the pain itself, feels like 2 vertabras slide on each other, causing me an almost paralizing feeling for a few seconds every time. unfourtantly i can't describe you what specific movements cause the pain, because there is none, every time i feel it it will be for a few seconds of harsh pain, and then it just dissapear leaving me exhausted for a few seconds.
    before the first lockdown we had (if i remember correctly from about feb'/march to may), i didn't had a job, which led me to going to the gym out of boredom, which means that beside the 3 days a week of doing the program, in between them i usually had 2 (sometimes 1) workouts the consisted more of a bodybuilding type machines and mainly a back excersise (lat pulldown or chest supported rows), face pulls and 2-3 bicep excersises.
    i knew it wasn't smart but i didn't cared for what's important back then, even though i would still somehow make progress on the main lifts.

    on the back excersises i would feel the pain when i would finish the set, for example on pulldown, i would do my set without a problem, and then when i would let go of the cable, the second i would try to stand up i would feel that same harsh pain, feeling paralised for a few seconds and then about 90% for maybe 30 seconds more.

    on the main lifts howevert it's a different story, for some reason, i had pain only on some specific situations.
    first, when i am benching, after i rack back the weight and sit back up, i feel 95% of pain which comes to 100% when i stand up, again for a few sconds only and then a bit less for a few more seconds.

    second, when deadlifting, everything is fine but when i finish my last rep and stand back up, same pain, and here i also notice something, if i keep my back a bit rounded when i stand up (not when doint the excersise) it allows me to have maybe 30% of pain, but when i stand straight is when i have max pain.

    third, on the powercleans, on my warmups, i had pain when starting with the empty bar and the first weight, the pain was when i jumped and when i landed, and it would be less and less harsh with every jump, then i would feel comfterable to put on the first plate and jump with it, again a few times until it felt less harsh, and from there i would usually have another warmup from the floor which was 99% pain free, and the actuall sets was pain free.
    on the other hand, every warmup until the last, because the equipment and placement of the platform aren't great, i usually catch the weight at the bottom and lower it (exactly like rip shows in a youtube viedo about powerclean with iron plates), and it hurts (about 50-70%) on the worksets so i would control it as much as i can but still let it fall instead of lowering it.

    when we were in lockdown, i did mainly some bodybuilding workouts with the limited equipment i had, and most of it was some time under tension stuff because lack of weights.
    at that time the back pain slowly dissapeared and was almost gone, enen when doing excerises like pull ups which would hurt before.


    when i got back to the gym, i had maybe a month of only 1 of the same mainly back workouts in between my 3 days of the program, and when i finally got a job a month ago i stopped it.
    in that month, what i tought was full pain before the lockdown, became maybe 50% of what the pain had come to, and in the last week of doing this workout i could barely move any weight without it hurting too much.

    then i finally let go of it, and things started to look better, i would still have the pain i mentioned on the main lifts, and a slight pain getting in and out of bed, but it was a fraction compared to what i felt before.

    moving on to the last few days without training.
    my last workout was at the last day of june, it's been only 11 days without training so far, and shit just got worse for some reason.
    in the first days of my self isolation i started to feel some pain when moving in my bed and when getting up from it, when i was finally sitting and standing up i was painless.
    on the last few days, it got a lot worse, i can barely move in my bed, and getting up is a journy of pain.
    when i finally lay down and don't move i'm good, and for some reason when i stand up now, i can't straighten my mid back , it just hurts no matter what i do and i can just barely stand straight, but not really.


    i did noticed one thing now that is common through all of this time, when i feel the pain, is mainly when i need to use my own body to staibilize myself, for example, getting up from bed i don't have something to lean on and even when i use my hands to lean on the bed its not enough and i need to fight through my pain to just sit, and then every little movement hurts, but after maybe half a minute my spine feels like it somehow got ok with the fact that i staibilize myself and i can then move a bit more.
    then when i stand up i now have pain when trying to stand straight and it's a battle with myself to just move.
    after a few minutes of finally standing, it get's better and i can feel normal and almost forget about the pain again.

    another example, when i brush my teeth, and i bend over to the faucet to wash my mouth i'm good because i can lean on the counter, but then standing back up hurts.

    i've tested this with some air deadlifts as well, bending over with a round back is fine and everything is ok until i need to set my back straight, it used to maybe hurt for a few seconds but now it barely disappears, and if i don't lean with my hands on my knees it hurts alot, even moving one hand is extremly painful.

    so now i need your help, i've realised you can't give me medical advice on what to do, but i believe you worked with whole lot of different pepoles, with some injuries that will make my pain look like a scratch, so i want to know your advice moving forward,
    • considering i don't know when i'll have an excess to a barbell again, and that most of the excersises i used to do on the first lockdown hurts now, what can / should i do in terms of still moving and becoming even more sedentary the i am already, maybe walks can do good? should i try to start training lightly through the pain with what i've got to get some more moving and contracting of the muscles?



    • should i look for a doctor? and if so what kind, chiro? maybe an orthopedist? (i will mention that, getting an appointment with a doctor where i live takes a lot of time, and unfourtantly most of them just give you pills and tell you to rest more thinking it would help anything, and if you were to ask for a certain procedure, you barely have a chance to get it. unfourtantly that's the healthcare where i live, and with private doctors, most of the time you pay way too much for someone just to find out the are worse the the free doctor you could get).


    *worth mentioning, i've been thinking for a while now of getting an online starting strength coach to help me with this issue, and becuase of the whole covid situation i don't won't to get a choach just to leave him 2 months later because i can't train, and not really getting anywhere with my goals.

    *also worth mentioning, my pb lifts post lockdown: got my squat to 167.5 kilo, 167.5 deadlift, 87.5 bench, 60 press and 62.5 powerclean.
    the squat, deadlift and powerclean were new pb, my press was the same, and the the bench pb was 90 kg, i had 1 reset on the press and the bench that unfourtantly i couln't finish.

    thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Wichita Falls, Texas
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    Sir, I have to reiterate that the length, complexity, and substance of what you are asking here requires a professional consultation. Again, this forum is best suited for general education, very simple questions regarding training and injuries, and for individuals looking for minor guidance. This is not a forum to access the intellectual property, experience, and solicit concierge service from a specially trained and educated strength coach with a clinical degree. That type of service requires financial compensation, much in the same way that I am required to pay a diesel mechanic for his / her time spent working on my Cummins diesel.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
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    Quote Originally Posted by Will Morris View Post
    Sir, I have to reiterate that the length, complexity, and substance of what you are asking here requires a professional consultation. Again, this forum is best suited for general education, very simple questions regarding training and injuries, and for individuals looking for minor guidance. This is not a forum to access the intellectual property, experience, and solicit concierge service from a specially trained and educated strength coach with a clinical degree. That type of service requires financial compensation, much in the same way that I am required to pay a diesel mechanic for his / her time spent working on my Cummins diesel.
    Hey, that exactly what I’m here for, I understand that my pain is too complexed for a simple forum answer of I think it might be X, but considering COVID slows everything and that generally it takes a few months at least to get an appointment, even with private doctors, I’m here for an advice of where and what should I start looking, there are many types of doctors, and I prefer not to waste time from a doctor to another and to have at least an advice where to start, that’a why I asked where should I aim, chiro, orthopaedic, etc.

    That’s also why I asked what should I do with training, because not moving at all won’t help.

    Anyhow, if it helps in any way, it seem like our gyms will be open for a week or two (Stupid political reasons).
    I tried squatting but it was too painful, I did a few sets of fives and a set of 25 I think, mainly because I wanted to see if anything gets better / if I can notice a certain pattern.

    Every set felt the same, first rep was 9/10 pin, and the last was maybe 3/10 even less.

    On the last set, first 5 reps were the same, and about at the 10th rep my low-mid back started to burn, but not in a bad way, in about mid set I didn’t have pain.
    I stopped there and went home.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Wichita Falls, Texas
    Posts
    2,414

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Dror View Post
    Hey, that exactly what I’m here for, I understand that my pain is too complexed for a simple forum answer of I think it might be X, but considering COVID slows everything and that generally it takes a few months at least to get an appointment, even with private doctors, I’m here for an advice of where and what should I start looking, there are many types of doctors, and I prefer not to waste time from a doctor to another and to have at least an advice where to start, that’a why I asked where should I aim, chiro, orthopaedic, etc.

    That’s also why I asked what should I do with training, because not moving at all won’t help.

    Anyhow, if it helps in any way, it seem like our gyms will be open for a week or two (Stupid political reasons).
    I tried squatting but it was too painful, I did a few sets of fives and a set of 25 I think, mainly because I wanted to see if anything gets better / if I can notice a certain pattern.

    Every set felt the same, first rep was 9/10 pin, and the last was maybe 3/10 even less.

    On the last set, first 5 reps were the same, and about at the 10th rep my low-mid back started to burn, but not in a bad way, in about mid set I didn’t have pain.
    I stopped there and went home.
    I am not familiar with the intricacies of the health system in your country. I am unable to give you direction for seeking care in your country.

    I do not know what is wrong with you, therefore, recommending a specialist to you would be fruitless, outside of a recommendation that you will likely benefit from the care of a behavioral health professional.

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