Sen0

Hi ther, i have been playing rugby for about 6 years now. In about my fourth year of playing i started to have problems with my back not sure if it was from doing squats or playing rugby. I have had numerous session`s with some top physio`s from scottish rugby, they say one part of my back moves before the other making the muscles tired and then the pain comes.. Its like when u have used weights and gone to failure, like its extremely tired. I have used a fit ball for abour a year now i can doing standing squats with dumbells, all the back exercises, and most of the balance work. I have tried taking a break from everything rugby/weights to see if it can sort it self out on its own its fine until i start running or doing light weights. Any help on some new exercise`s or advice on how to rectify this problem, any info or ideas would be great thanks.

hackskii

Yes, stretching your back will help all the muscles relax and get stretched out all together. When I hurt my back, I had good results from the rowing machine. You strap in your feet and your butt slides fwd and backward on a slide. The rowing part is on a pully. I did this for 7 minutes each time I went to the gym and in 3 weeks I felt good.
The rowing machine an the bottom of the lift stretches the lower back and the pulling strengthens the back.
I know it does not sound right but it helped me and I got that from a guy that said that is how he helped his back and he got that from another guy that helped his back.
You could try that but I would atleast stretch the back.
I forgot to ask, is it one side of the back or both?

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Scott

Sen0

Cheers for the advice hackskii ill start doing that when i go to the gym now. Never even thought about the rowing machine to stretch the muscels in the back before, hopefully this will help if i keep doing my fit ball and this.

The pain comes on from the right side of the back.. As i said earlier the physio said one side was moving more than the otherside so i presume thats why the pain is only done one side.

Keep up the good advice hackskii i read alot of your other posts all top notch stuff.

T-man

I have a similar problem mate,

There is a muscle imbalance in my lower back and the left side is weaker less flexible in L4 and L5 I think. This make my hips out of line and a load of other problems. I have flet feet and they said that this could cause a lot of problems.

I was told to stop squatting but have not. I get a burning pain in my lower back from leg and back work and often have to take a few min out for it to subside.

I was given some streaching exercises but they have not really helped.

Any extra advice would help me also, thanks.

hackskii

Well, the problem with the hips out of line could be bad while squatting because they are not working together and the hip that is on the hi side will fail first. I would talk to someone about this condition. You might need special shoes to even out your legs. It might be that your legs might be diffrent lengths. I would talk to a specialist on this one.
Accupuncure can do alot to relax specific muscles too.
Also the more upper body weight puts more stress on the lower back too.

I forgot to put something on the last post. To have a strong back you have to also have a strong stomach. Working abbs would be important to the strong back. Sorry I can not be of more help.

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Scott

T-man

With me its not that I have one leg longer than the other or anything its a muscle imbalance caused by the fallen arches in my feet. I went to a specialist and he carged my £125 to talk with him for half an hour and then quoted me another £850 to make me some carbon fibre insoles. I smiled polightly said maybe someother time and got some crappy ones for free from the nhs.

hackskii if you can recommend some good strengening/streaching exercises for my lower back etc. it would be much appreciated as the ones my physio gave me don't really help.

You are right about the abs. Strong abs work like a natural belt to support your back, but you can get problems from doing to much ab work and not enough lower back.

Sen0

T-man u should try using a fitball/swissball that improved my back greatly.. never totally fixed it but it was/is excellent for the lower back and i would highly recommend using one. I have used one for awhile now and have had good improvements. I can even stand on it and squat now :P but i would searlious think about gettin one only about £20 or so well worth the money and you can do other beneficial exercises.... Try doing press ups on it so hard its unreal :p

hackskii

Well, let me think about the stretching first. I feel that if you can make the side that is the tightest relax this will help alot.

I can help you strengthen your arches though and this is easy, try this:
Take off your shoes and socks. Put down a towel on the floor (preferably a smooth floor), with your toe's 1 foot at a time, pull the towel twards you (your heel) and keep kneading the towel (with your toe's) until all the towel is twards your heel. Let it bunch up and you will feel your arches get really pumped. It would be like you are flexing your arches pulling your toe's to your heel. This will strengthen your arches and prevent heal injuries as well.

Now the back:
first of all if you have custom orthotics, I would use them.
Second does the pain go down one of your legs? Sciatic nerve?
The best thing to do is strengthen your abdominals and stretch your hamstrings.
When you sleep on your side, put a pillow between your knees - or under your knees when you're on your back.
Inversion table might help. But if you want to stretch you back, this is what I do:
sit on the ground (carpet or mat) put your legs in front of you at about a 45 degree angle so your legs are like a V in front of you.
Take a deep breath and lean fwd, as you go fwd relax and let out your air slowly. Breath through your stomach and just relax. Then sit up and take a deep breath and lean to the side of lets say your left leg relaxing and exhailing slowly.
Do this from the center to left side to right side back to center. One side will be tighter than another and you will notice this by the depth of your body to your legs on the bad side. This is the side that I would guess be the tightest.
Give this a try with the arch exercises and back stretching and if this does not work, I can give you some more advanced exercises to try. Hope this helps some.

Just a note, you cant rush stretching. To be effective, you will need to do the above for 10 minutes and have to relax. This is like tension being released from the muscle like a guy yelling at you to kick your butt. Breathing is as important as the stretch. Try listening to some nice relaxing music while you stretch. The benefits of stretching is massive and actually does not go away that sudden.

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Scott

T-man

Thanks guys,

Hackskii your right with the streaching I have been doing a similar one and one side is more flexible. I will add them to my present routine.

I went to the doctors today to get refered back to the physio at the hospital and he said he would write them a letter but I could tell he did not want to and he said to me that physio would not help me, that I should be more careful and that it was for people with more important problems. Which was nice.

Will have to wait about six months for that though. It is not causing me much pain and I can still deadlift 160 Kg for 10 reps, but I get a real burn and I can feel it giving out. Thats why I want to get it sorted so it does not cause me further problems down the line as the rest of me gets stronger.

Thanks again and sorry for hijacking your post sen0.

Sen0

hehe nps T-man i got some good advice there aswel from questions that you asked.