It's like they are playing game with people's lives.
Another muscle torn
- Thread starter JowGaWolf
- Start date
OP
OP
Take your time. don't rush, remember you are injured.
OP
OP
ha ha ha ha It's cool one thing always leads to another here.
Ha ha, make this a ache and pain thread!!!
I am quite excited about the static resistance exercise. Maybe that's the break through I need to move a step beyond. Next week, I am going to try using 45lbs to do dips. If I can do that, I'll be back to where I was 15 years ago.
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Today is the first time since the back injury I try bicep curl with 40lbs dumbbells. IT IS DEFINITELY EASIER!!! Usually after not doing for 2 weeks, it gets harder, not this time. I did 9 reps and I had to stop because my back hurts and I don't want to push it. I could do more if not for the back. I think that's the result of the static holding the elastic band I've been doing the last two weeks.
Also, today is the first time I did pushups with 75lbs weight jackets since the back injury. I still did 26 and 22 reps. I quit because it hurts my back and I better stop. Usually I lost a few reps after 2 weeks off. I credit to the static press with elastic bands the last two weeks.
I am stoked.
Also, today is the first time I did pushups with 75lbs weight jackets since the back injury. I still did 26 and 22 reps. I quit because it hurts my back and I better stop. Usually I lost a few reps after 2 weeks off. I credit to the static press with elastic bands the last two weeks.
I am stoked.
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Just got my MRI today. I am still waiting for the result. Just for curiosity, I look at the MRI. Just want to show a snapshot, I think there might be a problem:
Obviously I don't know how to read it, I just point out two things that look suspicious.
1) The arrow point to the L3/L4 disc that looks funny, like the disc is not even there.
2) The circle of L4/L5 disc that seems to push into the spinal cord. The spinal canel seems to be constricted at that point.
I am going to get the result in 3 days from the lab that will tell me what's wrong even before seeing a doctor.
I am trying to make an appointment with the Dr. now that I have the MRI disk. I do feel better now, not like before. Hopefully nothing serious, that I can go easy for a little while and recover without doing anything.
Obviously I don't know how to read it, I just point out two things that look suspicious.
1) The arrow point to the L3/L4 disc that looks funny, like the disc is not even there.
2) The circle of L4/L5 disc that seems to push into the spinal cord. The spinal canel seems to be constricted at that point.
I am going to get the result in 3 days from the lab that will tell me what's wrong even before seeing a doctor.
I am trying to make an appointment with the Dr. now that I have the MRI disk. I do feel better now, not like before. Hopefully nothing serious, that I can go easy for a little while and recover without doing anything.
OP
OP
I'm glad you got that MRI. Thinking back on it, it doesn't seem like it took long for you to get it. Don't over do it, give yourself time to heal while you are waiting for the doctor's analysis.
I really push to get the MRI, follow up with doctor and the lab. That's the most important thing. The lab is going to write a report of the finding in 3 days, to me, that's the most important thing. I want to read that to see anything serious to consider whether I even want to consider surgery. I have to watch out for those knife happen doctors.
Some doctors can be very knife happy, one of the shoulder of my wife literally pressure her to have surgery on the shoulder. Of cause my wife refused because it's wasn't that bad. She took the MRI to another doctor and even the PT guy, they both scratch their heads, Why?!!! It was only a small tear that through exercise, the body can build muscle around it and make up for it. That was almost 10 years ago, she never have surgery and she's going to the gym keeping up with her exercise.
OP
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A doctor once told me that I need back surgery. He said that my back would only get worse. I decided to try other options. I changed my mattress and my back got better. ever since then, I always try less destructive options than surgery. If none of those things work then I will try surgery but only after I get more than one snaked and opinion.
OP
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Good thing for you that back surgery is much better than what it was 10 years ago.
That's the idea. I always fix my back and other injuries, just because I have not find a "magic" exercise doesn't mean it does not exist. The important thing is get the MRI and the analysis, then go from there. If the analysis is just general disc deterioration or some bulging, I don't think I want to even talk about surgery. Even if one say surgery, I definitely get two more opinions.
This seems like something you should wait to get the results of your mri (from the doctor discussion, not just the image you're interpreting), and talk with him/her about to make sure it's good for your case first.
Particularly with back issues, what helps one person could damage another, if there are complications you're not aware of.
OP
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Although it's not my back that is in question. If it was, I would be hesitant in what healing method I would take. I'm hesitant with what doctors suggest so it makes no sense for me to be eager to accept something from youtube from someone who has not looked at my injury.
Things that I know work for my back
1. When injured - stop doing exercises and activities that require my back
2. Don't shower in warm or hot water. If I do then limit the time that the water hits my back as the heat from the water increases swelling.
3. Take medicine that reduces swelling and reduce physical activity.
4. Ice my lower back - Yep, I know what doctors and science say about the whole ice pack thing, but for me it helps. I'm fortunate to have a cold pool to sit in when the weather is nice enough.
5. Don't sit in chairs for to long in order to take the pressure off my spine vertically
6. Rest. Rest, and Rest - sometimes (a lot of times) it's not good to push through injuries with more exercise. Heal first train later.
I have yet to hear or see anything on youtube or from a doctor that would make me want to do more than those things. I also know that laying down in certain positions can help to reduce the vertical pressure on the spine. I understand that laying down horizontally can cause harmful pressures on the spine as well. Soft beds don't work for me because I end up rotating on my spine instead of twisting my torso to turn over.
With all of this that works for me. It unfortunately doesn't work well for my mom. Not that they "don't work" but they don't address the issue that my has with her back which is due to issues dealing with her nervous system.
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OP
OP
ha ha ha that last exercise is what I look like when I can't stand up due to back pain lol. To give you an idea. When it gets that bad, I'm not able to get out of bed, so I have to kind of roll out of bed and onto the floor so that I can lift my body without using my core That position is my rest position that I take because I can't stand the pain anymore. I wouldn't call it a fix though. More like what he's saying "Pain relief" the moment I leave that position the pain will come back. I haven't had back pain like that in a while, Not since I removed that sponge like padding that supposed to support the body's weight when sleeping. My wife likes it but it's murder on my back after a while.
Because of the past issues that I have had with my back, This looks like a comfortable bed to me. A soft bed is just murder.
Sounds like your back is quite bad also. This is the first time I have problem using my core and getting out of bed. You have MRI before? What did it say?
I learned a little how to read the MRI, it doesn't look good. Looks like my L3/L4 disc collapsed. My appointment is on 8/11, we'll see.
OP
OP
I didn't get that far, just a prior experience. The first time my back went bad, I went to the doctor. He did tests and took an X-ray and said that I needed surgery. So I decided to understand what was happening. I asked myself these questions:
1. When did my back hurt? What part of the day was the pain the worst.
2. What did I do the day before I hurt my back?
3. Does my back feel better in certain positions?
For #1. I tracked my pain down to being pain in when waking up and the pain easing up as the day passed. I also noticed that it felt worse after taking hot or warm showers and I tried to figure out why that would make the pain worse. I took note of what made it feel better other than Advil. I also did a self check on my back. I checked my spine (felt it) when my back wasn't hurting. I took note of what it felt like. When it was hurting I could feel there was swelling, when it wasn't hurting, I could feel more of the shape of my back. The biggest clue was waking up with a bad back. I knew it had to be something going on with the way that I was sleeping or with the bed itself. So I slept in my son's bed one night and my back felt better after waking up. It wasn't completely better. It was just better and enough of a clue.
At this point I know 2 things. Soft beds are no good for me and that when I sleep in a soft bed, I rotate on my spine when I turn over. It probably wouldn't be an issue if I was 180lbs. But I'm 209 pounds so the extra weight + the gut is going to have a negative effect on my spine. I also pay more attention to how I sit in chairs now and pay more attention to how my spine is holding up the weight.
If none of what I did solved the problem then I would have taken the surgery. The doctor didn't have complete information and I think that is what went wrong with his diagnosis. He didn't ask question 1 and 3. He only went on what the X-ray showed and didn't think that there was something in my lifestyle that was causing the problem, Like slouching in a chair, sleeping in a bed that is too soft. This is what I don't like about a lot of Western doctor's. They don't do the detective work. They don't question the suspect (the patient).
I bet if the doctor would have something different to say if he knew the activities you do, like wearing that weighted vest. They only know what the scans show and the information that the patient gives.
"Unlike wrist or ankle weights, the weighted vest can be beneficial on a walk, putting pressure on your bones to stimulate the growth of new bone cells, which helps fight bone loss. Downey says weighted vests should not exceed 10% of your body weight. For example, the weight should not exceed 15 pounds for a 150-pound person." Source: Wearable weights: How they can help or hurt - Harvard Health
If you tell the doctor the things you do, he may want to try things other than surgery to fix the problems. I'm 210 lbs and the heaviest vest that I should wear is 21lbs according to this information. Just something to think about.
I've gone through a lot of what you described, like bed, chair and all that. Good that you don't have a serious problem with your back. I've been living with this since 1986. Nothing help until I was introduced to weight training. That's part of the reason I am very religious in weight training all these year.
I always observe what helps and what hurts my body(including the back), do the things that helps and avoid things that hurt. Worked so far until this time. In fact from observation that nothing I did so far doesn't help and look at the MRI as shown in the post above that one of the disc collapse and literally gone, I experiment in concentrating on just "moving: the spine to flex it. Like rotating my body left and right, flexing the spine from arching to slouching, all the easy moves to just flex the spine. That seems to help so far. That's what I was talking about lying in bed and think what other ways I can experiment on things that I got stuck. We'll see in a few days whether this is a real fix or not.
I don't wear my weight jackets to walk around, I only use it to do pushups. The routine was I don't a set of pushups, then a set of squats, then I just sit down and rest, then do another set. I did 4 sets total and took off the weight jackets. So what you described really is not what I was doing. I stop using the weight jacket for two reason, it hurts my back lifting it up over my head to put it on. More importantly, I actually find it more effective using the elastic resistance band to do bench press like this:
https://www.amazon.com/INNSTAR-Adjustable-Resistance-Equipment-Brown-200LB/dp/B08BNQ8DDF/ref=sr_1_12?crid=30TIX1SUZIKN2&keywords=bench+press+elastic+band&qid=1659409215&sprefix=bench+press+elastic,aps,473&sr=8-12&th=1
I have the bands already, I have the 150lbs and 200lbs. I use one of my cane as the bar instead of buying this one for so much more money. So far, I switch one of the three resistance band between the two to get about 165lbs and 185lbs so I use the 165lbs for warmup, then 185lbs to do the real set. I do half like normal bench press, the other static resistance by pushing 2/3 way up and hold for 40sec. It's a lot easier than putting on the heavy jackets. Also, I can feel what I missed the real free weight bench press doing pushups with weight jackets, the elastic band press gives me the feel of the real bench press. It's a lot easier doing pushups with weighed jackets. I feel I can push more every time, when it comes time I need more, I can buy a pair of just the elastic band for 200lb to get back the full 200lbs for the heavy one.
I think in the real weight bench press, not only you have to push the weight, you have to balance the weight and prevent the weights from tipping sideways in horizontal direction. That means you have to use more muscles to stabilize weight while pushing up. Doing weighted pushups is just like doing bench press on machine that you only have to push forward. It's a lot easier and can push a lot more weights. The elastic band gives the feeling of real weight as you have to stabilize it too. I am not going to go back to weighted jacket anymore. Luckily I did not spend a lot of money buying steel ball bearings for weight. I have so many big nuts and bolts from doing earthquake proofing on houses, I just use those to stuff the jackets. Or else, just those weight cost a lot of money. Now a days with expensive gas and diesels, Iron weights are very expensive, go to any sporting goods and you'll see. I have those nuts and bolts sitting in the shed all these years!!!
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OP
OP
Iron weights have always been expensive for me. I hate paying for them. I stopped at 30lb dumbbells and decided that I won't buy anymore until I can master that 30lb weight.
Get the adjustable dumbbell, it's worth the money. I have a set, been using them for 20 years. From watching your videos, you should be using at least up to 50 or even 60lbs dumbbells, how can 30lbs be enough?!! Little old me is using at least up to 40lbs dumbbells. I have a few magnetic weights I made to top it off. Yes, I bought some of the small weight plates, glued some strong magnets on. I refuse to buy those magnetic weight, they are so expensive. I am born cheap. My middle name is CHEAP!!!
Get those elastic bands, I am doing a lot of exercise with elastic bands. A whole lot cheaper. Funny today, I went with my wife for her doctor appointment, I was waiting in the parking garage. I brought me elastic band to do bicep curl, I did the static one, I stepped on the elastic bands and curl up all pull with my bicep to get the peak contraction and hold for 1min for 4 sets. It was a good workout and nobody even pay attention because I was not moving, it was just curl and hold. They had to wonder why I was standing so still from the back!!!!
Here are what I am talking about:
Amazon.com : elastic resistance bands for exercise
They are very cheap for the kind of resistance, light to carry around, not taking up space when you put them away. I just hang them in the laundry room after exercise.
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