Lower back aches.

[ArtOfWar]

Hello folks, just looking for some advice here. About 6-7 months ago, at my submission wrestling gym in Kobe, a friend and I decided to try out the feasibility of a Rampage - Arona Style slam. He triangled me and I tried to lift him and failed miserably.

But since that incident, I am experiencing some real discomfort on my lower back, near the spine area. Went to the doctor and had an X-ray, everything seems to be OK. I even went for 2nd and 3rd opinions and was told there was nothing to worry about. But everytime I try lifting even moderate weights (like picking up my 3 yr old son), I sometimes get a thudding ache at the base of the spine. Have a really tough mattress on the bed aimed at back aches, but sometimes in the morning when I get up, the ache / discomfort is so severe that I cant sit up; have to roll over.

I am 30 now, quite athletic, do running and light exercises almost daily and try not to aggravate the back. Have 14% body fat, 19 BMI. But I am kinda getting worried here especially when I cannot sit up normally. Maybe just age taking toll?(Does this even make sense?)

Does anyone have advice on what I could do? I was considering even acupunture although the treatment is damn expensive in Japan (80-90 bucks per sessions with 10 sessions recommended).

[freeman]

I got a similar problem. It is not a hernia, maybe a little disk protrusion, or maybe a muscular contracture, or some disorder in the ligament-bones-muscles in the low back area. I dealt with it in different ways, but the most important thing I did that solved 90 % of the pain was to have some treatments in OSTEOPATHIA, or TWINA (chinese osteopathia, which is in my opinion more efficient than osteopathia itself). The therapist reorder your whole body structure and by his action on the joints/bones/muscles/energies, he reequilibrates your structure, and the pain disappears in 2-3 treatments.
I tries physiotherapy, acupunctura, massages, swimming, etc... all that is nice but not dealing with the rrot of the problem, so I strongly recommend you to have good TWINA treatments, and to pay the price, it is worth it.
Another thing, i bought some ergonomic back support that I put on my chair in the car( a bad sitting position is the more dangerous for your back) , and I do little more stretching (legs-back) before and after training. Here it is...

[ArtOfWar]

Thank you very much freeman! Deeply appreciated and I will consider the options I have for chinese osteopathia in Japan.

Do you have any recommendations for the ergonomic support such as the brand name?

Cheers.

[freeman]

Hey, u can check the Homedics products on the internet. I guess they sell same style products in Japan. Hope it helps

[ArtOfWar]

Much appreciated freeman, this last week the pain has been close to unbearable. I'll give it a shot.

[freeman]

Sorry for u... When it happened to me the pain was so hard that i had to stop training (only swimming) for 2.5 months. All the treatments I tried didn't help at the beginning, I was still feeling a disturbance in the lower back while throwing upercuts or high kicks. Then I was redirected to this OSTEOPATH, and 2 weeks later (1-2 treatments per week) I came back to training and felt much better . Then I got to know a TWINA therapist and he helped me to make the remaining little pain disappear totally. He did the same work as the Osteopath, but he added some technics that were helpful. For instance, he also did me a massage of a specific adductor muscle which is called the PSOAS : this massage was also really helpful : the psoas is a muscle between the leg and the lower body, in the front of your body ( down the belly), this muscle commands the opening of the leg to the side, and this muscle is the symmetric (on the fornt) of the lower back muscles (on the back) : if the psoas is contracted too much, the lower back muscles have to compensate its strength and it results in lower back pain. The only way to cool down the psoas is a little massage, but usually only Twina therapists know how to do it, it is not recommended to ask a regular massagist to do it. Good luck, and good health for all of us... so that we can keep on training...(:

[( o Y o )]

Years and years ago I injured my back pretty badly and went through all sorts of treatment, none of which did much good.

The single worst thing I personally did, was go to a chiropractor. He was rather famous so I don't know if it was that he was no good, or just that his treatment didn't match up with my condition, but it made it far worse.

Acupunture was something I considered, but never actually tried so I cannot talk of its effectiveness. One thing you might want to keep in mind, in Japan the regulaton is to use clean needles, not disposeable ones. They obviously must wash and sanitize them after each use, but depending on where you go you may well get needles used multi times. I am sure it is safe, but I haven't done it here despite a teacher of it offering to do it for me for free.

After suffering as a result of the injury "gikuri-goshi" a couple of times a year I finally managed to overcome it by a means that right now will have you calling me all sorts of names. Extremely heavy deadlifts.

Firstly let me say DO NOT do them while you have any pain at all. And when you start them do them with zero weight (ego always left in the change rooms when it comes to your back), just the bar until your form is perfect. Then, slowly up the weight. For me I found doing hig reps with low weight (what I was recommended) did nothing good for me and only made things worse, but when I started to really lift heavy in the 2 to 4 max rep range, my back problems quickly went away and I now haven't had a "gikuri-goshi" episode for a couple of years.

Let me just say again before one of the couple of doctors that are members here come and tell me I am a moron, this is not to help you get over your current pain, but to hopefully stop it from coming back once it has gone as back injuries are notorious for hanging around for ever, or coming back when you least expect it (like me in a changing room of a shopping centre bending over to pick my wallet off the floor and....not being able to stand back up). And, it is long term....get the form correct with superlight weight.....even if you know how to do it back it back down and start to learn the movement again as we all pick up bad lifting habits....raise the weight slowly....back off with any pain. I have heard a lot of back injuries are hard to get over due to most people having far stronger abs than lower backs....pulling things out of line.....

anyway, just my $0.02

[freeman]

This makes sense to me : in fact since that back pain I work more on the back musculature, although without weights, just by lying on the belly and pulling my upper body up and down .

[Titan]

Had lower backpains. The day I could kick, I'd throw 10 of them on the mits and then my lower back was shot. Squats were pointless. I got strong legs, but after about 10 on 40 lbs, my lower back would give up. Stop working. I saw a chiropractor for maybe a year at almost 4 week intervals. I went and got massage once a week. I thought it all was because of me sitting down and working, because I can't remember injuring it per se. Anyhow, my lower back pain is gone now. Completely. No more tensions or cramps there and no more just giving it up. I went to a homeopath. Some friends have gone there to get their injuries treated. So much had failed for me that I didn't think this would work. On the third month of my treatment, I quit going to chiropractor and I quit getting massages. I should be on my 7th month now and I got no pain at all in my back. Previously, I couldn't even bicycle or walk up a hill without it giving in and in turn killing my legs. I walk 1.5 hours daily now without feeling anything but stability in my lower back. I've really noticed a physical difference over the treatment. There was one day where I felt that I was ready to go out running, so I did. That helped build up stability in my lower back and abdomens that I hadn't felt for years.

I've kept a thread on my experiences at http://forum.kakutougi.info/showthread.php?t=131 and will copy this answer there.

[freeman]

This is satanic !

[Titan]

Well of course!

[ArtOfWar]

Thank you folks. Boobs, you got 'gikkuri goshi'? Should not laugh, but it totally conflicts with my image of you. So forgive me -> *ROFL*! I see your point with deadlifts. Have not been to a regular gym for a while, but will head to a well known chiropractor for some treatment and invest in a bar-bell at home.

Freeman, seriously thank you so much. I am currently looking for a TWINA specialist, but having trouble deciphering what it would be in Japanese. I will consult with the chiropractor as well. BTW, your comment on Satan's message is hilarious! *lol*

Satan, much appreciated. That thread is extremely informative =)

Thanks guys, all of you!

[( o Y o )]

Boobs, you got 'gikkuri goshi'? Should not laugh, but it totally conflicts with my image of you. So forgive me -> *ROFL*!

Damn......I'm afraid to ask what sort of image you have of me!! lol

BTW, if you are going to do weights at home (once the pain has gone) make sure to do it infront of a mirror so you can watch your form doesn't get messed up to help lift heavier weights. A good way to keep your back straight while doing deads is to stare at your own eyes the whole time in the mirror.

[freeman]

Hey ArtOfWar.
I got a correction for u, twina is not spelled like I wrote , but TUINA. So you can now easily find some Tuina centers in your area by searching on the Internet.
About chiropractors, I only heard that they use too hard movements in their treatments, but i never tried it personnaly. Did it help anybody ?
Also I'm sure that Satan's advice is purposeful : these energetic therapists explained me that often when the Chi (body energy source) is deregulated, it can cause kind of energetic traffic jams in some sensitive area in your body and create pain, but the reason is not only mechanic. Of course, if the pain started with a training accident, it also has a mechanic cause, and the Tuina deals with both.

[MZN]

Ehm I barely dare to ask but what is gikkoru goishi?

[ArtOfWar]

Ahh, TUINA treatment! Now I know what that is. Let me try checking around again this weekend =)

MZN, a gikkuri goshi is Japanese for a slipped disc (koshi = lower back). As you know, it can be pretty serious and so I was wrong for laughing at Boobs.

[MZN]

ooh that's bad indeed. I'm lucky to be blessed with a strong back but I had to spend most of my youth iceskating to get that far.

Bob Schreiber also has some back problems and to pay for the operation they had a donation to support Bob. Perhaps that's an idea boobs ;).