brikis98's crossfit journal

[brikis98]

Are there any movements in daily life that are especially aggravating? Bending over mostly through your back? Sitting with poor posture (slumped position)? If it truly is a herniated disc, then you will want to avoid anything that promotes excessive spine flexion or intraabdominal pressure (so no Valsalva).

Only thing that hurts in my daily life is something that is similar to the deadlift motion that caused the injury itself. Bending over to pick something up off the floor causes me to suddenly and largely inadvertently do a mini valsalva and is somewhat unpleasant.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Only thing that hurts in my daily life is something that is similar to the deadlift motion that caused the injury itself. Bending over to pick something up off the floor causes me to suddenly and largely inadvertently do a mini valsalva and is somewhat unpleasant.

Could still be a strain/sprain then, just maybe be worse than those others that you've experienced before.

 

[brikis98]

Could still be a strain/sprain then, just maybe be worse than those others that you've experienced before.

It's possible, but the symptoms seem different than the injuries I've had before. The pain seems "deeper" and closer to the spine, the healing has been MUCH slower, and it doesn't feel/heal better from getting lots of blood to pump through it from light exercises/stretches. A herniated or bulging disc is my guess, though I'm obviously no expert on this and could be way off. Only odd thing is that the pain is on both sides of the back, more or less evenly.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

It's possible, but the symptoms seem different than the injuries I've had before. The pain seems "deeper" and closer to the spine, the healing has been MUCH slower, and it doesn't feel/heal better from getting lots of blood to pump through it from light exercises/stretches. A herniated or bulging disc is my guess, though I'm obviously no expert on this and could be way off. Only odd thing is that the pain is on both sides of the back, more or less evenly.

Well, there is a lot of depth of musculature, especially on the lumbar spine. You have things like the lats and traps that run most of the spine that are superficial. Then you have the nine muscles of the back extensor group. Then you have deep, deep muscle groups like the transversospinal muscles, rotatores, multifidi, semispinalis, spinalis, etc.

It could also be caused by the capsule(s) surrounding the facet joints of the vertebrae. If you are hypermobile at that segment into flexion, then one segment may move too much, causing pain and instability.

It could also be disc pain, but that typically increases with anything that increases intraabdominal pressure and certain postures - coughing, doing a crunch, slumped sitting, bending downward, using the Valsalva, etc.

Continue doing light exercises to help with blood flow, but don't continue an exercise if it elicits your symptoms. You have to let your symptoms be your guide - if you keep flaring yourself up over and over, then the inflammation may become longer lasting, prolonging the injury time.

Do you do much along the lines of core rotation? That may help you activate the deeper muscles better (as they are the main rotators within the spine). You could do that by getting on a hyperextension machine (like the one that follows) and doing rotation exercises back and forth. Also, with that, do you notice that you can rotate more one way than the other? Does it reproduce your pain? If it doesn't hurt, do it for 15-20 reps for a few sets. As you start to feel better, you can start to lean further and further over it to increase the difficulty. Make sure you maintain a neutral spine with normal lordosis throughout (don't go into hyperextension of your spine, which most people do when they get tired).

 

[brikis98]

It could also be disc pain, but that typically increases with anything that increases intraabdominal pressure and certain postures - coughing, doing a crunch, slumped sitting, bending downward, using the Valsalva, etc.

Sorry if that wasn't clear before, but doing the valsalva does hurt, but I guess it hurts less than allowing the load to put pressure on my back than w/o it, so my body automatically does it. Today, after the front squats re-aggravated the injury, coughing and sit-ups hurt it as well, though I don't think they did before.

Do you do much along the lines of core rotation? That may help you activate the deeper muscles better (as they are the main rotators within the spine). You could do that by getting on a hyperextension machine (like the one that follows) and doing rotation exercises back and forth. Also, with that, do you notice that you can rotate more one way than the other? Does it reproduce your pain? If it doesn't hurt, do it for 15-20 reps for a few sets. As you start to feel better, you can start to lean further and further over it to increase the difficulty. Make sure you maintain a neutral spine with normal lordosis throughout (don't go into hyperextension of your spine, which most people do when they get tired).

I'll try this out, thanks.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Sorry if that wasn't clear before, but doing the valsalva does hurt, but I guess it hurts less than allowing the load to put pressure on my back than w/o it, so my body automatically does it. Today, after the front squats re-aggravated the injury, coughing and sit-ups hurt it as well, though I don't think they did before.

I'll try this out, thanks.

Ok, the coughing + sit-ups rules in disc a little more. You don't have any numbness or tingling though, right? If not, that may mean you have the lowest grade of disc herniation. Rehab for that tends to focus on learning how to maintain a neutral spine, strengthening the core to resist specific forces (rather than just binding down like a Valsalva), and correcting any postural deviations (due to things like tight hip flexors, tight hamstrings, tight piriformis, etc). Definitely stretch all of those muscles and throw in some core stabilization exercises (both abs and back). A good example for both abs and back would be doing a standard plank, but removing one point of contact - first time around it's a hand. Do that for both sides. If you can hold that for 20-30s, do a few sets of it. As you progress, you can remove a leg as a point of contact, which will increase the demand. If you need more exercises, let me know. You don't wanna be doing anything that aggravates you.

 

[brikis98]

Ok, the coughing + sit-ups rules in disc a little more. You don't have any numbness or tingling though, right? If not, that may mean you have the lowest grade of disc herniation. Rehab for that tends to focus on learning how to maintain a neutral spine, strengthening the core to resist specific forces (rather than just binding down like a Valsalva), and correcting any postural deviations (due to things like tight hip flexors, tight hamstrings, tight piriformis, etc). Definitely stretch all of those muscles and throw in some core stabilization exercises (both abs and back). A good example for both abs and back would be doing a standard plank, but removing one point of contact - first time around it's a hand. Do that for both sides. If you can hold that for 20-30s, do a few sets of it. As you progress, you can remove a leg as a point of contact, which will increase the demand. If you need more exercises, let me know. You don't wanna be doing anything that aggravates you.

Thanks for the advice. I'll be doing conditioning + core exercises until this thing feels better.

One more data point: sitting hunched over does not hurt; if anything, it takes all pressure off and feels strangely good. On the other hand, the sit-up motion, such as when getting up from the recliner couches at my parents' house, is quite painful at one specific point.

 

[brikis98]

"Cindy"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of: (Sub: did just 10 minutes)
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

Rounds completed: 12 + 5 pull-ups + 5 push-ups

Very short on time today, so I just did a 10 minute Cindy followed by some core work to help rehab the back injury:

Hip extensions: 20, 25, 30
Plank: 60s, 75s, 90s

Super-setted the two exercises to get done faster. Planks felt great, but hip extensions made my back a bit stiff afterwords, so I may need to avoid them for a little while.

 

[brikis98]

10 rounds for time of:
10 burpees
10 superman rock
10 hollow rock

Time: 17:50

 

[brikis98]

"Kelly"
Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters (Sub: ran on a treadmill)
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

Time: 31:10

 

[brikis98]

8 rounds for time of:
Run 400m
8 handstand push-ups
8 broad jumps, ~7'

Time: 35:30

This took way longer than I expected due to the HSPU's; after round 3, my shoulders/traps were fatigued, so it took forever to get through each set of 8.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 3 mile loop at Arastradero preserve.

Time: ~35 minutes

I ran with my girlfriend. It was her first run in a month, so she struggled much more and had to pause a few times.

Plank: 3x2:00

Made it to 3 sets of 2 minutes, so next I'll start doing them with one arm or leg up.

 

[brikis98]

Rope climb: 4 ascents and descents using legs

First rope climbs in a long time. The skin on my finger tips took a beating.

Glute ham raise: 3x8
Strict pull-ups: 12, 11, 10
Ring dips: 3x10
Strict toes-to-bar: 3x8
Broad jump: lots of singles. Didn't have anything to measure with.

As my back heals, did a bunch of bodyweight exercises in place of barbells as my strength training.

Row: 3x500m

Round 1: 1:47
Round 2: 1:46
Round 3: 1:45

The goal was to maintain a consistent pace. I was still surprisingly winded at the end.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 5 miles (ran on a treadmill)

Result: ran at 7.2mph, but got a painful side stitch 2.5 miles in and had to pause for a minute at 3 miles and another minute at 4 miles. These stitches are always on my right side and drive me insane.

 

[brikis98]

5 rounds for time of:
10 steps walking lunge, 45lb DB's in each hand
15 push-ups
20 sit-ups
25 double-unders

Time: 13:55

For time: 200 double-unders

Time: 7:03

This was just sad. I did 40 in a row, took a brief break, and when I started up again, I had lost all timing and just kept slamming the rope into my feet. No idea why - maybe just fatigue from the previous workout - but it wasn't until the 3 minute mark before I was able to get more than a few in a row. By the 5 minute mark, I was jumping well again, doing 25 in a row at a time, but had wasted a ton of energy and time. I think fresh, I should be able to shave several minutes off this time.

 

[brikis98]

Handstand push-ups on dumbbells: 7x2
Walking lunges (weight per DB x steps): 50x10, 60x10, 70x10, 80x8, 90x6, 90x6
Pull-downs: 200x4x4
L-sits on dumbbells: 0:10, 0:13, 0:10, 0:08

For the third day in a row, I was stuck at work until late, so I was doing the best I could with the office gym. Doing HSPU on dumbbells was shockingly hard: the extra few inches of ROM dropped me from sets of 8-12 reps to just doubles. Weighted walking lunges were very effective for the glutes and the only weighted exercise I feel confident doing while my back heals. My l-sit abilities have gotten even worse; I've said it before, but damn it, I need to do these more often.

Tabata run: 8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off (ran on a treadmill)

Did all 8 rounds at 7.8mph at 12% incline.

 

[brikis98]

Rope climb: 1xlegless, 1xlegs, 1xlegs

The skin on my fingers is getting tougher, so I felt much more comfortable on the rope climbs today. Only downside is that I got a rope burn on the front of my ankle on the way down. Need to figure out how to position my feet to avoid that.

"Tabata This!"
Tabata Row
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Squat
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Pull-up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Push-up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Sit-up (did these unanchored w/ legs in the butterfly position)

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.
Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Unit for the row is "calories".

Tabata row: 7
Tabata squat: 15
Tabata pull-up: 7
Tabata push-up: 10
Tabata sit-up: 9
Total: 48

Tried to maintain the same pace on each round. I picked a good pace for push-ups and sit-ups, went too slow on the row (easily could've had 8), and tried for too much on squats and pull-ups (tried 17 and 8 respectively, but came up short on the final rounds).

 

[brikis98]

Run: 4 mile hill run at Arastradero preserve with my girlfriend. Took about 50 minutes. We paused twice for a minute or so for her to rest.

 

[brikis98]

In the morning, before I even got out of bed, I was chatting with my girlfriend. I got the sudden urge to sneeze and quickly turned away, sneezed, and blew out my back. FML.

I guess turning away got my spine in some weird twisting position and the sneezing jerked me forward suddenly. It hurt like hell, about as bad as the original injury when deadlifting. I feel like my recovery was set back a month... by a goddamn sneeze. Not a great way to start the day.

 

[brikis98]

Run: 5 miles in ~43 minutes near the apartment

My back was feeling better than yesterday, so I chanced a run. The more I ran, the looser it felt, and I ended up doing a 5 mile loop at ~7mph. By the end, my back felt much better than it did this morning. Still worse than before the "sneeze incident", but compared to how it felt right after the sneeze, I have nothing to complain about.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

In the morning, before I even got out of bed, I was chatting with my girlfriend. I got the sudden urge to sneeze and quickly turned away, sneezed, and blew out my back. FML.

I guess turning away got my spine in some weird twisting position and the sneezing jerked me forward suddenly. It hurt like hell, about as bad as the original injury when deadlifting. I feel like my recovery was set back a month... by a goddamn sneeze. Not a great way to start the day.

Sounds less like the spine being out and more like disc herniation being aggravated. Have you seen anybody about it? At this stage of the game, I'd say it's time to get professional help. Sorry to hear that things are flared up again, man. I hope that you do see someone that can help alleviate your symptoms.

 

[brikis98]

Sounds less like the spine being out and more like disc herniation being aggravated. Have you seen anybody about it? At this stage of the game, I'd say it's time to get professional help. Sorry to hear that things are flared up again, man. I hope that you do see someone that can help alleviate your symptoms.

Not yet. I probably should, but every time I've gone - for a shoulder issue, back pain, hamstring injury, knee issue - I've been given the same damn "give it rest" advice.

My compromise was this: no barbell training until February. If it hasn't healed by then, go see someone. The tough question is who? GP? Chiro? Some sort of back specialist (how do I find one)?

 

[brikis98]

"Jackie"
1000 meter row
45 pound Thruster, 50 reps
30 pull-ups

Time: 9:00

Glute ham raise: 3x10
Strict toes to bar: 3x10

For time: 50 burpees

Time: 3:00

 

[brikis98]

Hill run: 7 miles at Arastradero Preserve

Time: 1:20

Ran the first ~3 miles with my girlfriend, which involved a couple stops for her to rest. After that, I ran the last 4 miles myself at a slightly faster pace. It felt pretty good, except on the very last mile, I got some numbness and tingling in my left foot. I finished the run and the numbness went away immediately. Feels normal now, so my guess is that my feet pounding on mud, gravel, stone, etc for over an hour made some nerve freak out.

 

[brikis98]

Back update: the back injury feels totally fine. No pain whatsoever and full ROM the last several days. I'm still avoiding any heavy lifting until the end of the month. At that point, I'll still avoid deadlift-like motions, but I'll see how I feel with front squats and presses and go from there.