Thread: Pulled my back

i hurt mine doing deads on friday. What works is heat to loosen it up and then some light activity. Doing cardio really helps it, after 10 minutes im completley loose. Then some heat again after. Feels pretty good today.

I find, for me anyway, light activity is the best way to heal most injuries. Works with knees, shoulders, back.

wow, do I disagree with that advice.

rest, ice and an anti-inflamatory (Aleve or Advil) the first 72 hours.

hopefully for you it is just a muscle strain, if so it should feel better in abour 3-4 days, you may need to take as much as a week off from training... don't work-out at all until it feels better, not even cardio.

Well seriously no one is ever going to say "Its fine work through it", but in a lot of cases this works. I've tweaked my back many many times. Rest takes forever! Stretching, light work vastly speeds this In my case

If i did nothing i would be seizing for weeks. I am a firm believer in active recovery. Every sports injury I've ever had (many) involved light exercise within a few days, after the iceing/immediate pain phase was over with.

I have very fast recovery time. I could hardly make it to the bed when i hurt myself. If you heard the sound it made, you would have called an ambulance. Think phone book being ripped in half. When i woke up 12 hrs later the pain was nearly gone. It comes back a little during the day but not bad.

I hurt my shoulder last year on bench and after 3 weeks it was still bad. I started very light shoulder routine and it was better in a week. If i hurt my bad knee and stay off it, its over a week before its better. Walking, light running speeds this.

What can i say. Experience tells me this works. Im also not in my 40s needing weeks of rest. Though i have noticed a difference than when i was 20

When someone injures a muscle or joint the first thing they want to do is control the swelling which involves RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

The point is if a muscle or joint in injured it needs rest to heal, "working through it" can just make it worse, maybe you are thinking of a muscle cramp?

I am not saying you should lay in bed for a week, but avoiding activity that involves the injured area for a few days is usually th best thing to do.

Originally Posted by Robert DiMaggio

avoiding activity that involves the injured area for a few days is usually th best thing to do.

Of course, I havent done any exercise that works lower back. I did chest and pullups today and was careful to keep my back straight for mostly everything. It feels almost back to normal now and i will try some light lower back work friday and see how it goes.

Hows the back doing? Mines almost back to normal, did heavy squats yesterday, new personal best. It was a little sore for a couple hours. I should be back to deads next week.

Originally Posted by Robert DiMaggio

When someone injures a muscle or joint the first thing they want to do is control the swelling which involves RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

The point is if a muscle or joint in injured it needs rest to heal, "working through it" can just make it worse, maybe you are thinking of a muscle cramp?

I am not saying you should lay in bed for a week, but avoiding activity that involves the injured area for a few days is usually th best thing to do.

I agree.