Back injury/muscle spasms............

[juberann]

had me in the ER last night I didn't want to go and debated not doing so but was worried about a possible kidney infection so I spent Thanksgiving night in the ER. Turns out it's muscular and I was having severe muscular back spasms and was given painkillers, muscle relaxers (no surprise there) and told to take it easy for a couple of days. I don't remember any one moment of hurting my back, have been weight training and doing alot of twisting type motions with cardio routines so I can see where I might have tweaked my back at some point but back spasms are new to me,have never experienced them before.
Any suggestions for what type of workouts to do (or not do)? the Doctor didn't have much to say regarding resuming activity except to take it easy and avoid anything heavy and stay away from alot of twisting motions.The only thing I can think of that I did wrong was the other night I did KCM's StepBoxing and I was using a higher Step then normal and was pretty sloppy with my form (thinking I just need to get rid of the Step altogether since my lower back almost always hurts the day after stepping).
Maybe it is ime for some gentler workouts a least for awhile. Any suggestions? Thanks, VFers

[dnna]

Thanksgiving night in the ER for me too. I admitted my 85 year old mother with a severe case of shingles, what a horror that was.
I am suspicious of all those twisting movements as well- and with so much to do on Thanksgiving probably you did jerk your movement or were off in form someway. I am careful to go a couple days inbetween workouts that have a ball or work the core that way.
of course, you are going to get lots of recs. to do Leslie for a while! I also love
Margaret Richard Getting Better weight workout and is great for working with an injury. It is chaptered so you can do the segments that won't hurt you, and skip the ones you want to avoid and it is a tough workout. as are all of Margaret's workouts.
don't be afraid to take some time off though, it is all for the best and you want to be careful
good luck and speedy recovery
Donna

[hedygs]

Juberann feel better.

Donna hope you Mom is better soon.

[pattyd0319]

I have stepboxing but never do it because of the pace. A lot of the upper body moves do involve your back (especially the cross and upperhook) and combined with the step and the pace, I could see how that could happen.

When I'm achy or sore or feel I need to build up core strength, I tend to prefer pilates/barre fusion where I get a good stretch in and attention is paid to the back of the body as well as the abs and front. Core Barre is a great one but it does feel a little dull at times. Anything from Karen Voight as well. I did Karen Voights Ballet Body yesterday and I love how she pays equal attention to the back of the body including the back.

Hope you feel better soon. Keep us updated if you find something that works.

Donna, sorry to hear about your mom and hope she gets better soon. Holidays can be stressful which can flare up things like Shingles.

[pollytc]

Judy:

I didn't end up in ER, but I had my back go out on me yesterday while I was cooking. I've had lower back issues on and off for 12 years. Like you, I LOVE KCM! She's my girl. :-)

The past week I've been going to the gym more vs my at home workouts. I have been walking the treadmill, and my lower body has been feeling this quite a bit (ankles up to my butt), and I truly think this is what aggravated my back. Not blaming the treadmill, but the change in workout itself. I'm going to jump on the Leslie band wagon and continue treadmill workouts for my cardio for awhile, but maybe bring down the intensity of the treadmill til my body adjusts. If I were you, I would bring down the intensity of your cardio, and avoid any twisting or heavy lower body workouts for a week or so til your back is healed. You'll find that the pain will go away as fast as it came on! (At least that's what usually happens to me).

Feel better soon, Judy!

[KarenH]

I wonder if it is your spine or the sacraliliac joints that could have been hurt. I had been doing alot of weighted twisting movements and thought it was my hernitated disc that went out on me. After 2 weeks of muscle spasms and not getting better, I finally went to the chiro who said it was my SI joints that were inflamed. Pain is very similiar to a disc problem, but if the pain is to the left or right of the spine where your pelvis connects to the spine, then it might be the SI joints that are damaged. Any twisting or stepping can cause this pain. The chiro said that alot of people assume that it is a disc that was damaged when really it the SI joints that caused the low back pain. Plus the chiro told me that I was arching my back which can affect the spine and SI joints. The Chiro told me that just one episode of exercising won't cause it to go out but constantly moving incorrectly and then doing the exercise routine will cause it to go out. So my arching in everyday life- when I lifted weights I would slightly arch the back, when reaching overhead I would arch and just walking around with an arch ( I usually had some low backpain but thought it was my herniated disc which was caused by my constantly flexing the spine) and then the weighted woodchops just was to much for my spine to handle. So I had to change my way of exercising to accomodate the injury. I found to many videos had moves that would cause damage to my disc and SI joints.

[sherry7899]

Judy-hugs!! I am so sorry!!! I would not worry about exercise right now, to be honest (but you're a vidiot, so of course you are ).

If you were told to rest, make sure to get up every fifteen minutes or so, and move around. For me at least, back pain is worse if I stay still for a long time, even with using heat. My back will just lock up, which is awful.

If you see a physical therapist or chiropractor, they can give you specific stretches to do to relieve the pain and stiffness. They will also help strengthen your core. The spasms are beyond horrible-I've had them at night where it hurts to move or breathe. I hope they are better for you today.

I have scoliosis and bulging lumbar discs, and can get out of alignment very easily.

I just purchased the Allaire Back care PBS season one. I did the first episode yesterday, and did not have back pain yesterday! I can post a link if you'd like. The instructor is a chiropractor. There are twenty six episodes, and one episode to use while you are in pain.

Hugs,
Sherry

ETA: Donna-I hope your mom is feeling better and that you can relax today-what an awful experience-hugs!

[beyond.omega]

Juberann: *hugs* so sorry to hear it. I agree with what KarenH said. This happened to me a couple months ago, and just like Judy, I thought it was my kidney. My doctor explained that sometimes and issue on the spine transmits out there, but also, sometimes stress makes normal tension signal to the body like pain and spasms. I was in PT at the time, and they gave me some upper body/neck stretches, which oddly enough helped my lower back issue that I went in for to begin with. After you back off from the muscle relaxants, I would do a round of Barbara Benaghs YfSR Passive Upper body.

Donna: *hugs* hope your mom feels better.

[dela]

I also re-injured my back a couple weeks back, I know it started doing too heavy deadlifts and I recall feeling the strain in my lower left back just like last year, then really made it worse doing an intense workout the following day at my gym. ( Last year I did it doing the side to side step moves in one of the Cathe LIS dvds that seemed to be repeated often in the dvd, I knew my form was awful and I was slouching from being tired, and that's where it really started. )

So after this years injury, I did Classical Stretch, and other back stretches, and did KCM Cardio Quick Fix workout 1 and was just very careful on certain moves, that was all fine, so I started feeling better and thought I could handle something more intense but controlled, so I tried a Delta Fit last Sunday, and right near the end of the workout really made things worse doing some kind of squat. I am slowly stating to feel less pain with the stretching and a couple chiropractor visits.

So unfortunately now I realize I'm going to have to lay off anything that could cause strain for at least a few weeks.

My plan is to do some of the easier KCM stuff like Cardio Quick Fix and Start Here, maybe some Leslie, along with Classical Stretch (I would really like to get in 2 episodes a day), Miranda's back pain dvd, and I have another one coming that was recommended here called Qi Gong for Low Back Pain with Lee Holden. I'll go to the chiropractor 1-2 times per week, and hopefully I can clear this up in a month.

Here's to healing fast!

[starbelly]

I cannot say enough good things about Gary Kraftsow's Viniyoga. I have the upper back and the lower back DVD's but I find myself doing the upper back most often. There is a 22 minute practice that also makes my lower back very happy! It is not exactly electrifying, but it is extremely effective and I notice a difference after one practice. I do it a few times a week and my back pain is almost nil.