18 Year old with 4 months of lower back pain! :(

[TIMBO]

Hi everybody, My name Is Tj, and I started working out hard in the summer, I really love working out and I was progressing quite a bit, I gained muscle mass, looked alot better, and felt better about myself. As I began increasing weights, I noticed I hurt my back when I lowerd a 100LB Barbell without bending my knees. I continued to work out only to notice my lower back would feel aggrivated and such. Here I am 4 months later, no working out , back pain all day, bad sleeping habits and quite depressed. I have tried many streyching programs for months at a time. Has anyone had a similar experience where they have had a muslce spasm occur? Is their one universal stretching program I can try, Please help me guys, I would love nothing more then to return to the GYM!

[SeafordMdf]

Hi TJ ,

Getting a Bad Back when young is a pretty rough deal

If you are still a member of the Gym , Ask them if they can target some basic exercise routines specifically at your Back issue only . ( A light program that wont place any stress your back ) I "Think" most Gyms are reasonable well versed in this , But make sure they are !!!!

I'd be patient and hold off on the Weight Lifting until your back is 100%

At only 18 your chances ( IMHO ) are far greater of a good recovery in a short time span.

The depression is a part of a Back Injury , I think everyone here would have gone thru various forms of depression at some point .

I assume you have had a Doctor or Physio look at you and locate the area / cause of your pain ?
If not I would certainly get them to take a look.

If you are not still a member of a Gym , Deans book is full of very specific exercises and since you enjoy the Gym , I'm sure you would enjoy them .

Hope all goes well for you

[Jeanette]

I gained muscle mass, looked alot better, and felt better about myself. As I began increasing weights, I noticed I hurt my back when I lowerd a 100LB Barbell without bending my knees. I continued to work out only to notice my lower back would feel aggrivated and such.

Hi TJ -- It's great that you've incorporated routine workouts into your life. However, while the kinds of lifting that you sound like you're doing may build up those large showy muscles you fellas are so fond of , it doesn't usually get to the smaller supportive muscles that keep your spine/pelvis/neck aligned and internally strong. You need to be addressing those, too, as part of a complete program to keep them functioning and supportive.

As SeafordMdf mentions above, you might want to check out Dean's book. He includes some helpful warm-up exercises (don't short yourself there) and others that would add some balance to your weight lifting program.

Good luck.

[randolph]

Hello TJ!

Glad to read the posts by Jeannette and Mark in response to your requests for help. Lots of good stuff there for you, TJ, and I hope I can add a bit here for you. Man, we know the pain you're going thru and we really want to help you get thru it, stronger than you were, with a back impervious to re-injury.

I love the gym, too; the last 7 years while driving around the country in my big rig, been carrying around a couple hundred pounds of weights and used them most days, alternating with running. It's a rush to get bigger and stronger. So I know how bad you must feel not being able to workout the last 4 months. I miss a day and I feel bad. I'm just getting back into lifting again after 5 months off due to an injury similar to yours that I suffered 6 months ago.

I want to repeat Mark's advice: see a GP if you can, just to make sure all you've done to your back is strain some muscles and ligaments .. and eliminate the possibility that you have problems that require more aggressive treatment than the conservative methods outlined in RYB.

It may not seem like it now, but the depression will pass ... especially as you use the RYB stretches and exercises and start seeing success. But success, instead of seeing yourself getting bigger and stronger, will now be measured in lessening pain, better sleep, and more flexibility. I could only crawl back and forth from my bed and bathroom the first two months of my injury and the first 5 weeks, got very little sleep due to constant, horrible pain. But I did as much stretching as I could with Dean's basic exercises for a month, adding the advanced exercises as the pain would allow. It seems very important to do as much gentle stretching and exercising (as outlined in Dean's books) as possible ... but not too much. And don't beat yourself up too bad after doing too much one day, and hurting bad the next day; just back off and start again. Trial and error is a great teacher and apparently rather forgiving of our mistakes as we learn our limits.

I can't say enough for how effective Dean's exercises are. They seem rather wimpy compared to the huge stresses we are used to while lifting weights. But they are very effective, especially in relieving pain. Progress, in my case, has been very slow ... but very steady. Others have reported faster progress ... and considering your age, may indeed be very fast. But each back has it's unique time-table for rebuilding. In my case, it's not as fast as I would wish ... but it's been constant improvement. The last month I've started pressing/curling very light weights. It's nice to see the muscles pump again!

Hope this helps you some. Please keep coming back here to get educated and encouraged. There's a lot of good help here

Randolph