Acute Lower Back Injury
And now, a guest article from friend and OS Clinician and Instructor, Dr. Kurt Brooks…
Oh! The Agony!
Today, while squatting 205#, I heard a pop in my lower back followed immediately by quite a little bit of pain and muscle spasms. Luckily, being a Physical Therapist and an Original Strength Certified Clinician, I knew what to do.
Injury comes with pain and infrequently localized swelling (and sometimes bleeding). Being an injury across the spine, I knew I can be experiencing localized spasms (to guard the injured tissues) as well. The inflammatory response (swelling) after injury is a posh series of chemical reactions that’s governed by the immune system. This happens in response to overstretching of soppy tissues (sprains, strains, tears, etc.).
The very first thing I did was to stop the workout, in fact! Then I laid down on a mat and commenced Pressing Reset: Diaphragmatic respiratory. Shin box rotations. Dead bug holds. Gentle rocking. Speed skaters. Chinese planks (a plank… but lying in your back). Later, after going home and taking some anti-inflammatory and pain medications, I did some more resets. I added forward and backward baby crawling and a few head nods and rotations while on my hands and knees.
Why did I select those things to assist mitigate the inflammation, reduce the spasms and speed along the healing process? I’m glad you asked! Let me explain.
Everyone knows the standard Fight or Flight response to an injury: Pain. Spasms. Holding your breath. Clenching your teeth or making a fist. Moving slowly and stiffly. With all of that comes the psychological or emotional response: Fear.
So where does Pressing Reset are available? Pressing reset helps to limit the Fight or Flight response (the Sympathetic Nervous System) of the body by stimulating the Parasympathetic Nervous System. The PNS decreases pain, decreases spasms, and lowers heart rate and blood pressure. The PNS, though, the inflammatory process, thus causing a short-term increase in swelling. But this also speeds along the entire inflammatory process and aids in tissue repair and regeneration!
To deal with the short-term increase in swelling, I took an anti-inflammatory medication and kept the tissues moving. Shin box rotations, rocking, hands and knees head nods and rotations all help to pump along any swelling that was coming into the realm that was hurt. Dead bug holds, speed skaters and Chinese planks were all used to maintain the spasms and muscle guarding to a minimum by forcing them to work as normal (and never shut down or over-work).
That covers the mechanical and chemical responses to the injury. Then there may be the emotional response… sometime the toughest to beat! When the tissues heal, should I avoid heavy squats again? What about dead lifts? Heavy pushing or pulling? After all not! After we exercise, or play a sport, and we always attempt to push ourselves, injuries will inevitably occur. This is not any different than biting your lip. We may chew our food funny for a couple of days, but eventually we get back to eating our food normally. Too over and over, we let injuries get inside our head and we spend the remainder of our lives avoiding that movement or situation that led to the unique injury. This often happens because we let our Fight or Flight System get uncontrolled when the injury first occurs, and we lose the power to manage it. It then dominates our lives – making us fear reinjury. We start avoiding certain activities and movements. Eventually, we create the very thing we were afraid of: a back (knee, hip, etc.) that’s weak and fragile and more likely to get hurt once we do should lift something heavy.
So, my first response, even before lying all the way down to work on gentle resets, was to concentrate on diaphragmatic respiratory and to inform myself that it might be okay, and that I can be back as soon as could. And when that day comes, I’ll modify my routine as needed in order to not reinjure the tissue, but I will likely be back! For those who’ve read or seen the movie Dune, it’s possible you’ll remember the phrase “Fear is the mind killer.” It will probably even be the body killer and life killer when you let it. Don’t let your memory of injury, or fear of injury, stop you from pushing yourself and living your best life. Injuries are a standard a part of living. But when you are stronger and more mobile… more resilient… they’re only bumps within the road.
Keep moving! And keep Pressing Reset!
For those who are local to F-V, NC and combating an acute or nagging injury, and wish some help or guidance, be at liberty to contact me at drkurt@os-institute.com or schedule an appointment at Physical Therapy | Original Strength Institute. Or if fear of injury or reinjury is limiting you, get in contact.
