Barbell chiropractic

[Cheesepuff]

Deadlifts have saved me several chiro visits. Depending on the situation, use your head regarding weight. Often time warm up set weights are enough.

I have a long history of back and knee problems.... and now most of that is ... history.

Speaking of barbell magic... Rip's video for rotator cuff rehab had my doctor just stunned with my rate of recovery. You can adapt that to your rack using motorcycle straps for the bar arc in the video.

Shoulder Rehab | Mark Rippetoe
+500 to recovery
I'd pay attention to his cautions... Rips seldom says anything that "don't need saying".

[Christopher Anderson]

Rip has said several times that a proper squat with un-screw what you have screwed up.

[Meshuggah]

Rip has said several times that a proper squat with un-screw what you have screwed up.

That has not held true for me.

[Christopher Anderson]

That has not held true for me.

If Rip says it then its true! You're just not doing it right!

[Meshuggah]

If Rip says it then its true! You're just not doing it right!

Lol...

[iSquat]

My back is miraculously healed. Ever since I tweaked my low back on the novice LP (over 1.5 yrs ago?) I'd get a little nagging tightness in that same spot after a heavy session of squat or DL. It would hang around for several days. I came to accept it.

Two weeks ago when doing Rack Pulls for the first time it felt like my SI joint (at least something very low in my back) shifted/popped. Ta-da, no more nagging tightness after heavy sessions.

Makes me wonder if I could've/should've seen a chiro for an adjustment to fix it.

[Suwannee Dave]

Yes.

With chiropractors YMMV. There are a number of variations, skill level, techniques within styles, lumping them all into one bucket is pretty misleading. For pain, they have a track record remarkably similar to MD's. Which you may think good or bad. In my experience, for the right kind of problem, they tend to be better. If you've found a "good one" they will let you know if you have the "wrong kind" of problem.

Best to have your own ideas on this however. Never assume that someone taking your money will tell you to spend your money elsewhere, you've got to be the judge of that.

You have described the problem with chiropractic in a nutshell. There are no standards of practice because there is no scientific basis for the "profession"

[Bestafter60]

Another episode of "barbell chiropractic":

I lost concentration and let my form break down during a 385lb deadlift, which is not an unmanageable weight for me. Did not keep my back rigid and knew about halfway up that something bad had happened, somewhere in the L1-L3 area. Immediately applied ice and ibuprofen but knew from experience I was hurt pretty badly. This was borne out the next morning when I could hardly get out of bed. I stood in front of the mirror, closed my eyes and let my body find its own position. Opened them and observed I was rotated about 10th degreees towards my reverse grip side.

I learned several years ago that doing a Valsalva allowed me move around and even walk up and down stairs with reduced pain under these circumstances, but I wanted this fixed and put in a call to my chiropractor friend.

Meantime, I have a desk job and got to work making it worse by sitting in front of the computer.

Things got sucky early afternoon. Pain was distracting and depressing me. I decided to take a poke at the pain. Something drew me to my pull up rings. I performed a single, very controlled, bodyweight pull up with a long pause at the top and slow descent. I immediately noticed that my lower back felt better. I took the empty bar and did 10 deadlifts with only moderate discomfort. Then I went back to the rings and did another slow pull up with a pause at the top. I felt good again and decided I would turn this into a test protocol. I wound up doing 5 sets of a single slow paused pull up and 10 empty bar deadlifts. By the fourth set the deadlifts were boring and I found myself rushing and getting sloppy. Slowed down and completed the 5 set session. I can tell you that I was easily 30% less pain when i finished. Walked the dog and felt my pelvis unlock even more. Now 2 hours later the pain is only an irritation.

I'll still see my buddy in the morning because I can't afford to keep experimenting and losing work, but I can tell you guys something, most likely the slow pull ups, gave me great relief and the feeling I should skip my appointment.

Hope anybody with low back pain finds this as beneficial as I did!

[Bestafter60]

Next day update: woke up with back stiff and sore, as expected, but with noticeable improvement. Followed posted routine, warmed back up, and got good mobility, less pain. I think I can count on more pain in the morning, and an easing of the pain with this routine. About 20% improvement.

[Bestafter60]

My chiropractor was impressed with my routine but informed me the pull ups felt good mosly because they provided traction. He liked the deadlifts. He performed a quick adjustment which took the rotation out of my pelvis, relieved most of the pain and took away the feeling that something was wrong. I'm left with some inflammation for a few days which I'll address with ibuprofen, ice, and my program. So this one is "barbell plus chiroptactic" and I believe the shortest distance between points.