Well, here I am… on the couch.
The last two weeks of my life have been confined to a reclined position. As
many of my followers know, I have been having back issues since an injury in
October, 2013: I was doing deadlifts at the gym and in standing up on one of my
reps, I felt a very sharp pain in my lower back. I immediately racked the bar, and
stepped away, as I knew something wasn’t right. I went over to the dumbbell
rack and attempted to do bent over delt flyes, but didn’t last through more
than two reps without severe pain. At that point, I gave up. Not knowing what
was happening with my back or really what to do to help it, I decided to sit in
the sauna for 30 minutes – thinking that would help to loosen things up and I could
just stretch it out and be good as new. Boy was I wrong. I got out of the
sauna, took a shower and got dressed... and at that point I knew something was
really wrong. I limped out of the gym, went to my house and immediately lay on
the floor and started sobbing. That day, I ended up going to the chiropractor
and spending the rest of the day laying on ice packs and taking copious amounts
of ibuprofen, ginger and turmeric. After about two weeks of rest and eventually
getting back to my workouts, I ran the Tough Mudder race.
Over the course of the next few
months, I experienced similar experiences two more times; once while doing
squats and another while doing bent barbell rows. Neither of these occasions was
as severe as the first, but still put me out of commission for a bit. Growing
very frustrated, and with the advice of my training partner, I eventually
decided to give my body a rest. Beginning on a Tuesday, I vowed to take 6 weeks
off of lifting and just work to strengthen that which was ailing me – my back
(and also my hip – due to my back). That Saturday, I woke up for the first time
in a long time with almost no pain at all! I felt awesome! I went to work,
worked in the kitchen all day and then worked a party that night. The next
morning, I woke up in quite a lot of pain… and pissed off. I went to The Arnold
that day so I drove up to Columbus, went to the expo and drove home. The next
morning I woke up super stiff and in more pain. I worked for a few hours then
went to the chiropractor for an adjustment… then Tuesday happened. I woke up
Tuesday morning in excruciating pain, unable to stand up or walk without
sobbing and crying. My mom took me to the ER where I was examined by a doctor
and had an x-ray. After reviewing the x-rays, the ER doctor then recommended
that I go see a spine doctor ASAP as it appeared as if I had significant damage
via herniated disc(s) and some other wear-and-tear. I left the hospital with Percocet,
an anti-inflammatory and steroids. The next few days were absolutely horrendous
– the most intense and severe pain I’ve ever felt in my entire life. A trip to
and from the bathroom (on crutches) would leave me sobbing and shaking in pain.
I got in to see the doctor that
week and had an MRI. Turns out, I have two herniated discs – one of which is “pretty
massive,” according to my doctor. I had one steroid injection into my spine and
have since been doing decompression therapy with a chiropractor. Unfortunately,
I’m not noticing much of a difference. I’m still on crutches, still can’t
sleep. I would say that some of the inflammation has gone down as the pain isn’t
as severe as it was (I can usually get to the bathroom without tears) – but a
lot of that is my figuring out the appropriate Percocet schedule to keep me
comfortable.
So what does this mean for my
life? Honestly, I’m not sure. The ER doctor suggested that I would have to give
up heavy weightlifting forever. That hurt to hear. I know that this is going to
be something I will have to be mindful of for the rest of my life – but I do
hope to get back into my training at some point.
My goal for right now is to get
the problem resolved and regain the strength in my back. Having a young and
strong body going into the injury should work to my benefit in regards to
recovery… I’m just ready to get to recovering already!
So what does
it feel like? I have a
dull aching in my lower back with a pinpoint pain at the spot of the herniation…
however, the real pain is in my right leg. I have constant pain radiating all
through my leg. Debilitating pain. It goes from my hip all the way down the
front of my leg to my ankle, and sometimes the top of my foot. The constant
pain feels like a strong ache, and then I have waves of shooting/burning pains
that are typically focused in my shin and ankle. The last couple of days I’ve
gotten a new one where there’s a huge amount of pain focused directly around my
ankle and it seriously just feels like my ankle is broken. But again, this all
comes in waves… so the intense pains will last for 5-10 minutes and then it
goes back to the regular ache. One thing I can say for sure – I have had
multiple muscle issues… torn meniscus, stretched shoulder capsule, strains and
sprains etc as well as broken bones… but NOTHING compares to the pain of a
damaged nerve. This shit is serious.
So how can
you keep your back safe? There are a
few things I’ve picked up over the last few months that I will most certainly
be continuing to practice for the rest of my life:
1. Stretch! It is so important to
be flexible. If you don’t maintain flexibility in your muscles and spine, you
become far more susceptible to injury! A stiff body is more easily damaged. So
do some yoga or at the very least, make sure that you are working in the time
to each workout for a warm-up and a pre and post workout stretch!
2. Be Mindful that your back is
there! After my injury, I started paying much closer attention to my back and
spine and how I was treating it... and I noticed that I was really just
ignoring it. Pay attention to your posture, whether you’re sitting or standing,
moving or still. Always keep your tail bone tucked under and your core engaged,
putting your spine in a neutral position and creating a trunk of strength to
support any movement you attempt. Always squat, rather than bend at the waist
and when you’re standing up, push through your heels to engage your
hamstrings/butt more than your lower back. Practice by standing still and
tucking your hips under… feel the difference in your spine! It takes practice
and you’ll have to think about it but it is so worth it!
3. Strengthen your core! The best
support system for your back is your core muscles! If your core is weak, your
back will have to compensate and can easily be damaged. Remember to work all
parts of your core doing exercises targeting upper and lower abdominals as well
as your obliques.
Well, it’s about lunch time here
in couch land, so I’m going to wrap this up. Thanks for reading and continuing
to support me. As I lay here with all of this extra time on my hands, feel free
to ask any questions or suggest any blog topics about which you would like to
read!
Keep it happy and healthy, folks!
Until next time…
No comments:
Post a Comment