Thursday December 16 2010



STOP RIGHT NOW! Check out how you are sitting. Are you slouching? Are you sitting up straight? Are you sitting with proper form? Check it out cause I have my own personal horror story below! AND, at the same weight & nothing different beyond the injury described below, I looked 5 pounds heavier by just not being able to stand up straight like I normally do!

So, I am human! Yes, I hurt my lower back. Now the thing here is I have no idea how I did it. I was in the gym Monday doing my all weight workout & walking from exercise to exercise as I always do.. I do circuit training with no rest between exercises. You all know I am a stickler for form to so... But, as I was walking from one point to the next, I just felt some twinging. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! I continued on but could feel it & as the workout went on, it was not good. I modified along the way. When I got home, it was not pretty! As I cooled down, it was an effort just to walk & the view from the side was not pretty. I could not stand up straight nor stand with correct posture. I knew rehab needed to start ASAP!

Now, saying this, I had done something similar to this years ago.... also having no idea how I did it. That time & this time, this is an injury that may take a less fit person 2-4 weeks to recoup from. Last time I was completely better in 5 days but I was younger!

I do a ton of core work, ab work, work all parts of my body & legs so it just goes to show that even when we are diligent, we can still get injured. Because I have been at this for years, I knew what I had to do & that it was not a doctor thing. BUT I knew it was bad. I could barely walk up the stairs to the bathroom to get cleaned up!

So, what did I do? I had an arsenal of rehab movements I knew & have written about here. I will give you a link to a couple posts at the end. I have also found a couple good links on the web to help you too!

BUT, I started right away. Monday, just doing a pelvic tilt was an effort. I could not even do a low bridge off the ground. My links will show these moves so keep on reading. I managed stretches & even some abs. It is funny the things you can & can't do. But basically that was all I could do Monday. I was using a heating pad to help as well. The bad thing, I was at jury duty that day & luckily I was let go at noon. BUT, I did stand the whole time as standing felt better than sitting!

I also knew from experience that moving was better than not so yes, I was still going to work out. Tuesday morn, I slow walked into my gym & got on the treadmill. I knew I would not be able to run but I tested the waters with walking & then inclined it all the way up & increased the speed little by little. It felt so much better moving & sweating! I did 60 minutes of hill walking in the 4-4.2 range & 20 minutes on the StepMill. I also was able to do my weight routine being very careful & of course rehab moves as well. All day at home, rehab rehab rehab! Tuesday, I was already able to do more than Monday. I got a little bridge off the ground & some careful prone push-ups (see video link) along with some other rehab moves I could not do Monday... like the double swan lift in the video.

Wednesday, off to the gym. I did 30 minutes of treadmill hill walking and 45 minutes of the Elliptical. I also was able to do my weight routine with a couple modifications and of course more rehab! The funny thing was thru all of this, I could still do most of my ab work! So by this day, I was able to bridge further off the ground, do a full swan, walk up & down the stairs without much pain & without holding the railing & lots more already. I am guessing by the end of the weekend I will be fine as long as I stay diligent to my rehab work. I am writing this Wednesday so I don't have a Thursday update but will update you next week.

Right now, it feels better not to sit.. which means standing & rehab burn more calories! Yahoo! BUT, it is harder to be at the computer so I may not get out to all the blogs each day & I am falling behind in my post writing so not sure what will come your way next week & beyond. I have a couple posts done but that is it. This one cost me to sit here & write it yesterday BUT I thought the subject matter was important AND I knew some of you would get off on me being human too!

The thing about all this was that I was in a lot of pain & yes, rehab work hurts & is hard.. just like exercising & eating better, it takes hard work BUT I did it. Just like weight loss, it ain't easy but it is worth the end result!

I found this great link with a bunch of low back exercises. Look below the actual video for the series of exercises.... many I did & many I could not do the first day but could the third day.. as I write this. It was a struggle to sit Monday & Tuesday but today, Wednesday is so much better!

For as bad as I was on day one, I have made tremendous progress. This is what is important about being fit & healthy. This could have been so much worse but because I lift weights, I do stretching, I do core work... I am healing so much faster than a person that does not do these things.

As we age, the chance of injury will increase so why not start protecting yourself RIGHT NOW!

Links:

Low Back Exercises - this is the link above. In the video on the bridge here, I personally work to get higher than she does when I am healthy AND when I work my butt BUT with PROPER FORM! 

Mayo Clinic Back exercises & stretches

Abs, Core and More - this is a post by me & has links to other information in it as well.

Training Tips for Better Posture - has links to 4 exercises

OK, who is surprised by this? I am cause I have no idea what I did BUT I am going to blame age for now! I am lucky I was so fit or this could have been a lot worse & recoup time much longer!

Watch your form! Practice correct posture. Work your complete core - I do! Read my Abs, core & more past above.
 
Core encompasses way more than the abs! Stretch! Do some form of resistance training!

ONE MORE THING: I did NOT use this as an excuse to not work out or not do anything. In fact, that would have made this all worse.  Evaluate carefully BUT don't make up excuses to do nothing just because...

Always check with your doctor if you are injured. In my case, I had been here before many years ago & knew what I needed to do... in fact, the sitting is what makes it cramp up more.

The point - stop making excuses to not do anything when you can do something...