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Pulled back muscle?
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Posted by: Tropicalgirlxx
Yesterday I was waiting for my so called "gym partner" who is never on time and decided to do some ab work while waiting. Great idea! I got on the oblique machine (which I never use) and the rotation felt strange because my small frame didn't reach the pads (my fault because I obviously didn't adjust the machine). ANYWAY...a couple hours later I felt a pain in my upper back by my shoulder blade which sent a shooting pain around the side making it feel like it was a heart pain 
Needless to say...*ouch* Anyone experience this? What is it? A muscle pull? 
The thing that upsets me the most is I can't work out now 
I think I may ditch the training partner!!
Thanks for your help!!
Posted by: Trouble
I had the same problem last year. I assumed it was due to my imprudently doing very heavy SLDLs...but come to think on it, I had started to use a similar machine for core/abs work. I wonder it if its connected... hmmm.
Anyway, my read on it was muscle strain that included a nerve center. Very painful, and it got worse over the course of a week, from me not letting it heal.
Rest, and avoidance of re-spasming that nerve node (very easy in day to day regular activities) is essential. An ice pack, applied to the location. I put a towel on my bed and laid the ice pack on it, then another towel, then positioned my injury over the pack and laid on it...which of course, caused minor spasming..again...but it did help relieve the swelling and tenderness somewhat.
Get yourself a foam roller and some BioFreeze. Someone will have to rub it in for you, because the location makes it nearly impossible to self treat.
Maybe Patrick or someone who knows foam roller technique can mention it. Lots of posts suggest using it, but don't say a peep on how to use it correctly.
You might consider using the time to stretch and warmup (time until your partner shows), rather than ditching them, unless there are other reasons for them not being acceptable as a workout partner. Good partners tend to be hard to find and keep. You could do a set of pilates type movements before your workout, and accept the fact that modern urban living means being late is (mroe or less) being on time.
Posted by: Tropicalgirlxx
Thanks Trouble!
I actually heard of the foam roller but as you say ...I don't know how to use one! I do have BioFreeze (thank God)!
I stretched for doing legs and by the time he was on the way I was done with my routine so I decided to jump on that oblique torture machine not warmed up for it, now I am suffering the consequences. I just hate the heart attack feeling! What is doing that? The nerve? It hurrrrts!
Problem with resting....I have a 27 pound 21 month old! I had my BF set things up for me to make it easier on me but she is a live wire and I have no help. So much for quick recovery.
My work out partner is unreliable. You are correct when you say they are hard to find. I am going to have to search for a reliable person that I see in the gym all the time who doesn't already have someone.
Thanks for your advice 
Posted by: Trouble
Must be impacting a nerve node that runs under the arm and around to the side of the chest. My injury was to the opposite side (dominant side, which meant I spasmed the same injury about a dozen times a day).
I'll see if Patrick has any ideas on how to pick up your baby without aggravating the injury even more.
If you can swing by a drug store (or you can call them), see if they have a cream called Traumeel. Its exceptionally effective at calming damaged tissues and promoting repair. Its not exactly the most common medication around..however, you might get lucky if you are in a larger metro/urban area. If you can find it, your BF might pick it up for you (given the struggles of getting an heavier infant in and out of car seats when you're injured like this. The same company also makes drops, that can help speed healing and provide pain relief. Otherwise, you are forced to use OTC pain relievers.
Of note: if you have used Naprosen, a common muscle relaxant, in the past, watch out for an allergetic reaction that can occur if you use Alleve (same compound). It happened to me; I thought I had killed my kidneys. A clever physician told me that its common to see this sensitivity (I had used it previously..years before...for a back injury).
Could take as long as a week to 10 days for this nerve impingement to cease being a real bother. Good luck, we feel for you. Its a painful and annoying injury.
Posted by: BulkMeUp
About your pre wo streaching. I have seen many a post from P & CP suggesting a dynamic flexability/streaching routine as opposed to static streaching (assumuing that is what you are doing). Here is a great resource for that : http://www.trickstutorials.com/index...e=content/flx3. I would suggest that you do a dynamic flexability routine while you are waiting for your gym partner and do the static streaching for the end of your wo or at the end of a set of exercises.
Posted by: P-funk
I read this earlier today and refrained from commenting because it is really hard to assess what has happened, what may be happening or what potentially MIGHT happen, without being there to see what we are talking about.
it sounds like you pulled a muscle in your back...on the obllique machine (which is a piece of shit and should be illegal in most gyms). If I had to guess (again, take this for what it is worth since I am not there), you probably didn't have the machine set up properly and you probably more kyphotic that you should have been when you moved (rotated)......muscle pulled, pain, yada, yada, yada.
Now, the heart attack feeling? Are you saying that you have pain in the front of your body now and it is not in the back of the shoulder blade?
it sounds like some nerve entramptment to me.
How is your posture? Are you slightly rounded foreward? Foreward head at all? These are things you need to assess.
Posted by: Tropicalgirlxx
Thanks again trouble! I am a pillaphob (not a real word...I know)! so I avoid any and all pills like they are the plague simply because I do get every side effect!! It is easing up a bit and the "heart attack feeling was much worse yesterday. It was a pain that would come and go on the left side of my chest between my arm pit area and my boob...hence where I got the heart attack feeling. It also hurt to move in the direction that the oblique torture chair pulled the back and you are right...I had no business on there, I agree...it should be illegal!
P-Funk...my posture is really bad. I am working on it but I am a sloucher and I tend to wear my shoulders in my ears. It's a hard habit to break.
Bulk me up...thanks for the link! I am going to check it out now 
Posted by: P-funk
okay, that says a lot about:
1) what your problem is currently
and
2) what your problem may turn into or why the problem is a pain in the butt right now.
gotta go to work....be back later.
Posted by: P-funk
okay back.....
oh, you never answered whether there was now pain in the front of your body as well as at the shoulder blades?
Anyway, fixing your posture is going to help immensly with stabilization of the scapula (shoulder blades) and help to prevent nerve entraptment and impingments taking place.
You need to focus on stretching the overactice muscles (chest, lats) and strengthening the underacite muscles (lower traps, rhomboids, serratus anterior).
Posted by: Dale Mabry
WRT the heart attack feeling...
Does it feel like heavy pressure towards the front of the spine? When you breathe in does the pain increase? As mentioned, hard to tell what the issue is, but if you tweaked an intercostal and it shifted or swelled up and came into contact with the pleural sac of the lungs, the sensation could be similar to a "heart attack". I don't know how likely that machine would be to cause this, but athletes in contact sports can get a similar issue.
Posted by: Trouble
Uhh. OK, I worked for nephrologist, big lab. One of his new asst profs, also a nephrologist, told me of a case, lady sueing a certain hospital over kidney procedure. Surgeon sliced into a nerve node (up in the middle of her back), a hot (trigger) point that involved nerve feed to her rib cage and diaphram. I am assuming that nerve impingement and over stretching caused these transient nerve flashes to TropicalGirls side, as she has explained:
"It was a pain that would come and go on the left side of my chest between my arm pit area and my boob (sic: on side of thorax, not front) ...hence where I got the heart attack feeling. It also hurt to move in the direction that the oblique....chair pulled the back" In other words, her *intercostals got overstretched and probably tore slightly at one end, with nerve damage and pain over the entire muscle expanse.
*Not sure that it wasn't an adjacent muscle, not intercostal, that got damaged, but affects the nearby intercostal via nerve impingement/\
Tropicalgirl: one stretch that my chiro showed me, for a similar problem with not keeping shoulder back, was to stand in a doorway, grasp either side of the frame and stretch the chest. You can also put one fist in the other behind your back over your lower back, and gently pull the shoulders back in a long stretch as well.
The only way I can see that you can pick up your baby, is to stoop, scoop her close to your body, brace her against you with your good arm supporting her backside, and then stand with your back as straight as possible, as you would from a squat (lift). You can't bend over and reach down and haul her like usual into your arms, that will aggravate your injury.
Posted by: ponyboy
Using a roller is very easy but usually results in quite a bit of pain over any affected area. Essentially what you are doing is massaging a trigger point that has evolved from trauma you have done. Most often it is used for lower boy but can be used for many parts in the back and even shoulders, neck etc.
The idea is to lie on the roller with it resting under the affected area. What you then have to do is move around slowly until you find the point you want to hit (it will feel like a small ball under the roller - and also hurt like hell likely). The best thing to do is then put pressure on that point and lie there for 30-45 seconds - which again can be excruciating depending on how bad it is. Release after this point and recover and move onto the next spot (usually more than one).
I'll try to find an article I used to have with pictures attached and post it up.
Posted by: P-funk
i posted a way to use a foam roller in the traning stickie on stretching.
Posted by: Tropicalgirlxx
Thank you everyone for all your great advice. Today the pain is strictly in the back exactly where the damage was done, obviously!! It is a little hard to take deep breaths but I feel like this is the road to recovery now that I know exactly where the pain is. It is between my shoulder balde and my spine in my middle back. I pulled this same muscle before a loooong time ago. I am not going to use that machine again! I hate missing the gym
It's very depressing. Trouble...I made my daughter walk all day and my bf bought all of her changing needs to the main floor of the house. She had to crawl on to the couch for bed time and he carried her up to her crib when he got home from work. That helped a lot!! She wasn't happy about being "a big girl" but she can walk!!
I will definitely get the roller in the event that this may happen again. I think it is to late to get one now seeing that this happened on Monday. I never seen one in stores only online.
Question. I get regular messages and I am scheduled for tomorrow. Would this be a good thing or should I cancel??
Posted by: Trouble
Get the foam roller and use it regularly. Once you do, you'll wonder how you survived without it.
I have a sticky I will post shortly that discusses techniques to use with the foam roller for various muscle groups.
Have your massage, but talk to the massage therapist before she/he begins. If they are unused to working with specific injury types, have them work around the affected area. If they know what they are doing, they can really help speed relief and recovery for this type of injury.
Glad to hear you found workarounds for lifting your daughter. Missing a few days of gym is more than OK. Its necessary. Make sure you take regular "vacations" (extended rest breaks of a week or more) every 3-6 months, to keep your outlook and enthusiasm for the gym fresh, and to avoid overtraining.
Posted by: P-funk
go get the massage!
you need something to inhibit the tissue (the muscle spindles) that are contracting and causing spasm.
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Pulled back muscle?
