Lower bank injury in the middle of a cycle!

[Rainmanisback]

I was doing heavy barbell rows last Saturday when I heard something cracking in my lower back and felt lost of strength in the left side of my lower back so I immediately dropped the weight and felt to the floor, feeling pain and tightness in the lumbar area and my spine. I thought everyone around heard the pop but that was obviously not the case.
I had no pain in the legs and I was able to move them so that was a good sign, but when I was able to stand up after 10 min, I could not lean on my left leg because I felt pain on the left side of my lower back and down my spine. When I got home I could not sit or walk properly, I was only able to lay down in a fetal position, it was a horrible night.

I've been seeing a physiotherapist since and things have improved, I can walk now but I still feel pain when leaning on my left foot. I cannot extend my left quad when seated. I don't feel pain in my spine anymore, but I can feel a muscle tear around the love handle area that is quite painful. I will be seeing a specialist tomorrow.

I wanted to know if any of you have been through a similar situation/injury in the middle of a cycle. I was having a really good bulking cycle, now I am not sure if I will be able to continue. Obviously, health is first but this sucks...

 

[alfresco]

my opinion . . . don’t know if this helps . . . maybe in the future

Hey Rainmanisback, sorry to hear about your injury. Hope you get back
to training pain free. It might be a long painful process but you will get
there and not get injured again if you are smart about it, which I think
you are.

I think that many of the problems associated with steroids is that often
times your muscle growth outstrips, supersedes the strength of our
connective tissue, i.e., tendon and ligament strength and that is often
when injuries occurs. (This can also happen with muscle too if the growth
is too fast and the muscle does not have time to ‘mature’ (my word)
or recover concurrent with the load.)

The weights go up and up at an alarming rate only to leave your tendons
and ligaments far behind, always playing catch-up.

I try and ‘own’ the weight, make sure my form is near perfect with the
ability to control and hold the weight in all positions (inertia is not always
your friend) and to do that on consecutive sets and workouts. It is
not easy or fun I know. And when you think it is time to add weight, think
again, maybe add more reps instead until you are really ‘comfortable’
with the weight. What’s the hurry? You can beat your log book in many
different ways. And if on steroids, you will grow even without weight
training (think puberty) so do not be in a hurry and do try to make small
incremental adjustments upward as time allows. Your body will thank
you.

Please keep us in the loop as you recover from your injury . . . what
works and what didn’t work. Follow the advice of the best health
care professional you can afford is my only advise and hopefully, with
your recovery we can all learn something from you, at your expense
unfortunately.

And no more unsupported, parallel, bent-over BB rows. In my opinion,
one of the most dangerous exercises there is due to the biomechanics
associated with the position. The stress on the lower back is just crazy.
Some can get away with it, some can’t. You, it appears, are one of those
that can’t

 

[Rainmanisback]

Hey Rainmanisback, sorry to hear about your injury. Hope you get back
to training pain free. It might be a long painful process but you will get
there and not get injured again if you are smart about it, which I think
you are.

I think that many of the problems associated with steroids is that often
times your muscle growth outstrips, supersedes the strength of our
connective tissue, i.e., tendon and ligament strength and that is often
when injuries occurs. (This can also happen with muscle too if the growth
is too fast and the muscle does not have time to ‘mature’ (my word)
or recover concurrent with the load.)

The weights go up and up at an alarming rate only to leave your tendons
and ligaments far behind, always playing catch-up.

I try and ‘own’ the weight, make sure my form is near perfect with the
ability to control and hold the weight in all positions (inertia is not always
your friend) and to do that on consecutive sets and workouts. It is
not easy or fun I know. And when you think it is time to add weight, think
again, maybe add more reps instead until you are really ‘comfortable’
with the weight. What’s the hurry? You can beat your log book in many
different ways. And if on steroids, you will grow even without weight
training (think puberty) so do not be in a hurry and do try to make small
incremental adjustments upward as time allows. Your body will thank
you.

Please keep us in the loop as you recover from your injury . . . what
works and what didn’t work. Follow the advice of the best health
care professional you can afford is my only advise and hopefully, with
your recovery we can all learn something from you, at your expense
unfortunately.

And no more unsupported, parallel, bent-over BB rows. In my opinion,
one of the most dangerous exercises there is due to the biomechanics
associated with the position. The stress on the lower back is just crazy.
Some can get away with it, some can’t. You, it appears, are one of those
that can’t

Hey, mate thanks for your kind words and also true words. I have to agree with you, being obsessed with lifting heavy can be a dangerous game if you are not looking closely at other factors. Looking back, the last 10 weeks since I started my cycle, I regain a lot of muscle weight pretty fast went from 219 to 256 pounds and I was feeling very tight especially in my back. I was also feeling intense-painful pumps in my lower back after back and leg days.

I am pretty sure that this injury was the result of poor form. I always try to be aware of my form, but that day I was trying to stretch the lats way too much and that probably I curve my back at the lower point of the movement.

I will see the specialist tomorrow and I will keep you posted on tests, diagnose and recovery, so as you said we can all learn from it.

Cheers

 

[OutToLunch]

Had something similar from deads. It was sciatica related. Was out for a couple months. Managed to train upper body some.

Now I always wear a belt, focus more on chest supported movements and when doing deads or rows. Reset each rep from a dead stop.

Some good pre/rehab is supermans, back extension and reverse hypers. All for high reps.

 

[MyNameIsJeff]

Time to cruise

 

[Rainmanisback]

Had something similar from deads. It was sciatica related. Was out for a couple months. Managed to train upper body some.

Now I always wear a belt, focus more on chest supported movements and when doing deads or rows. Reset each rep from a dead stop.

Some good pre/rehab is supermans, back extension and reverse hypers. All for high reps.

Taking notes, thanks!

 

[Rainmanisback]

Time to cruise

Damn... I´ve been telling myself... maybe you can stay on the cycle by working out around the injury and totally changing my game plan from heavy lifts to more machine-light weight-high rep approach... but you are probably right... time to go on cruise mode :banghead:

 

[GettingBackIn]

It sounds like you dodged a bullet on something that could've been a much worse injury. I had a back injury that left me permanently disabled. Many Olympic powerlifters say an injury like yours can be a blessing because it will make you focus on your form in the future.

I would take the juice down to a cruise. You may as well let everything else recover while your back heals so that your blood work is ready for a blast when your back is. It's also a waste of money to blast all that gear when you're not 100%.

 

[Rainmanisback]

It sounds like you dodged a bullet on something that could've been a much worse injury. I had a back injury that left me permanently disabled. Many Olympic powerlifters say an injury like yours can be a blessing because it will make you focus on your form in the future.

I would take the juice down to a cruise. You may as well let everything else recover while your back heals so that your blood work is ready for a blast when your back is. It's also a waste of money to blast all that gear when you're not 100%.

I agree in every sense, I think I was super lucky, to be honest, I was pretty scared. I hope I am lucky enough to be able to squat and deadlift again.

Now, as you said, is time to take a step back and focus on recovery and health.

Thanks bro.

 

[Alzadosghost]

Sounds like you herniated sum discs. Find a good chiropractor and heal up bro. Coming from a guy who has had a lot of injuries I can tell you first hand that aas will not help you heal from anything. Iv had much better healing with the absense of gear. Maybe HRT dose test and a few iu's of hgh. Gear slows the bodies healing process a lot.

 

[td]

Best wishes with your recovery.

As others have previously mentioned, you might want to reconsider exercise selection. While progressive resistance is necessary for adaptation, there is inherent danger in training heavy. We must consider risk versus reward especially as load increases absolutely. The ratio is too skewed towards danger for some movements.

Is a bent barbell row more effective than a hammer strength row or chest supported t-bar row? Perhaps. Is it worth the potential injury? Probably not.

This is more evident with aging powerlifters. Good mornings, especially treated as a max effort movement, might be one of the best ways to get ungodly strong in a squat. With the caveat that it does not break the lifter. And it has screwed up many. For most, a heavy good morning is simply not worth it. A bent barbell row isn't quite as severe but it is still in that hazardous category.

 

[upeccmi]

I have a very bad back, was to have double fusion on my spine last year but refused and much better now. I do still have a weak leg that gives me issues when I walk though.
Get you MRI and diagnosis and come back here. No need to guess what is wrong as it can be many totally different things so advise is hard.
Also, I would do TRT until you at least recover.

 

[Bio]

I have a very bad back, was to have double fusion on my spine last year but refused and much better now. I do still have a weak leg that gives me issues when I walk though.
Get you MRI and diagnosis and come back here. No need to guess what is wrong as it can be many totally different things so advise is hard.
Also, I would do TRT until you at least recover.

:yeahthat:...Get an MRI and or x-ray find out what the injury is.

 

[Rainmanisback]

Sounds like you herniated sum discs. Find a good chiropractor and heal up bro. Coming from a guy who has had a lot of injuries I can tell you first hand that aas will not help you heal from anything. Iv had much better healing with the absense of gear. Maybe HRT dose test and a few iu's of hgh. Gear slows the bodies healing process a lot.

Thanks mate, I hope that is not the case but then again, sounds like it

 

[Rainmanisback]

:yeahthat:...Get an MRI and or x-ray find out what the injury is.

Will do!

 

[Gravyv]

Take this injury seriously and make sure you recover 100%. Ideally you should get a MRI. Lower back issues can crept up on you. You think you recovered then you end up injuring it again even further.

My lower back is fucked and my quality of life have suffered quite a bit from it. I'm still able to exercise but it's almost all machines and relatively light weight. I stay away from anything that aggravates my lower back.

Continue with your rehab and lighten up your lifting (less weight, stricter form, higher volume).

 

[Love_to_Bodybuild]

:yeahthat:...Get an MRI and or x-ray find out what the injury is.

This. You dont know if you dont know

In the meantime take a tennis or lacrosse ball, and lay on the spot, whethers its right of left side of those cords in the lowerback. Whenever the pain is, lie flat and go back and forth doing friction massage, . If that doesnt heal it up do trigger point by laying on the ball

 

[chicken]

Hate to hear about ur injury. Still getting over my last, I'll never get under a squat bar agan. Third injury from squat, I know ppl will say form, mind and muscle or its my fault that's fine, f a squat. I do belive low dose deca or npp is great while recuperating. I know it protects lean muscle and belive it to speed recovery. Gh at a couple iu a day I belive speeds recovery tremendously. And have used both together while recovering in the past. Also ibuprofen, prednisone or both directly after the injury to decrease inflammation is a must imop. There are studies that show methyl prednisone and deca together cause muscle fibers to grow in malformed ways, but I think a 5 day pack of pred while on a deca cycle and an injury occurs, well I'll take the risk to benifit. Wishing u a speedy recovery.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

 

[Rainmanisback]

This. You dont know if you dont know

In the meantime take a tennis or lacrosse ball, and lay on the spot, whethers its right of left side of those cords in the lowerback. Whenever the pain is, lie flat and go back and forth doing friction massage, . If that doesnt heal it up do trigger point by laying on the ball

Thanks mate

 

[Rainmanisback]

Hate to hear about ur injury. Still getting over my last, I'll never get under a squat bar agan. Third injury from squat, I know ppl will say form, mind and muscle or its my fault that's fine, f a squat. I do belive low dose deca or npp is great while recuperating. I know it protects lean muscle and belive it to speed recovery. Gh at a couple iu a day I belive speeds recovery tremendously. And have used both together while recovering in the past. Also ibuprofen, prednisone or both directly after the injury to decrease inflammation is a must imop. There are studies that show methyl prednisone and deca together cause muscle fibers to grow in malformed ways, but I think a 5 day pack of pred while on a deca cycle and an injury occurs, well I'll take the risk to benifit. Wishing u a speedy recovery.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

I friend from the gym was telling me about Deca last night, might be worth it to give it a try, thanks for the advice!