HELP. Lower back pain--Came on suddenly

[speedysteve]

I'd spend your next massage money on a sports physio session.

He/she can give you exercises tailored to you and from the current state of affairs with your back health.

Should be onward and upward from there.

But in my experience you have to be prepared to do the exercises pretty much every day.

 

[torpantennis]

what are Pilates ? do they also strengthen legs ?

The #1 point of pilates is to develop 100% muscle based control of the trunk. The idea of many exercises is that you learn to keep the trunk (around lower back) 110% in place, even though you move legs and arms all over the place. A good intuition is that you place a glass of champagne on your abs (or lower back), and you fight and focus hard so that the glass will not fall over. This requires activation of deep abdominals/pelvic floor muscles. Many bluff in pilates, but if you really keep 110% control, the exercise will be harder than anything for your core, the power house of your body.

I recommend pilates classes with a good instructor, who makes sure that you keep the trunk under 100% control. You can do them on your own, but then I'd recommend taking video of yourself, to make sure you don't bluff. I'd start with basic pilates mat exercises: http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesexercises/tp/First-10-Classic-Exercises.htm

 

[Nostradamus]

I'd spend your next massage money on a sports physio session.

He/she can give you exercises tailored to you and from the current state of affairs with your back health.

Should be onward and upward from there.

But in my experience you have to be prepared to do the exercises pretty much every day.

WOW, thank you, this sounds like a great advice. Can you recommend me some websites that recommend good sports physio instructors or trainers ?

 

[Nostradamus]

The #1 point of pilates is to develop 100% muscle based control of the trunk. The idea of many exercises is that you learn to keep the trunk (around lower back) 110% in place, even though you move legs and arms all over the place. A good intuition is that you place a glass of champagne on your abs (or lower back), and you fight and focus hard so that the glass will not fall over. This requires activation of deep abdominals/pelvic floor muscles. Many bluff in pilates, but if you really keep 110% control, the exercise will be harder than anything for your core, the power house of your body.

I recommend pilates classes with a good instructor, who makes sure that you keep the trunk under 100% control. You can do them on your own, but then I'd recommend taking video of yourself, to make sure you don't bluff. I'd start with basic pilates mat exercises: http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesexercises/tp/First-10-Classic-Exercises.htm

Great website. Can you tell me what might be the Most important of these excercises ?? If you only have 15 minutes each day, which ones would you do ?

 

[speedysteve]

Great website. Can you tell me what might be the Most important of these excercises ?? If you only have 15 minutes each day, which ones would you do ?

Really depends on where you are with your back.
My story.

I have a couple of programmes from my physio.
The most basic is for when you have just done your back in / can hardly walk.
I slipped a disc pretty badly too once and it took many weeks to recover, but without the exercises I would probably have been in surgery.
A non disc slipper would not need the squeeze the disc back in exercises but the core strength ones, yes.
Then there are the intermediate exercises. You can do these once you are in better shape.
Then the more advanced ones.
If you jump to the intermediate or advanced too soon you can make things worse!
I had a bit of a stiff back one day and did an advanced exercise and have myself good old lumbago attack! Back to basics again!!!

At the time I was working in an office driving 2 hrs a day (sound familiar), too busy to take care of myself... I would get lumbago, do the exercises, get well enough, do my usual cycling, running, tennis and then out of the blue have another attack whenever. Vicious circle.
So I started doing the core exercises every day (now every other day).
That improved things no end. Kicking the desk job and the commute was the icing on the cake... but I still need to do the core exercises!

The Pilates ones are pretty similar but you would not be doing some of them with anything like a back that could go to a lumbago attack.
Non back sufferers will just not get how hair fine the trigger can be...

If you want, pm me your email address and I'll send you scanned copies of the exercises I got from my physio. You can start basic and work up.
One thing though. Pulling in your pelvic floor muscles as needed for pretty much all of these exercises to work was not a common sense thing for me to do.
Without the physio's instruction and guidance I am not sure I would have got it.

I really do advise you spend a bit of cash on the most valuable thing you have - yourself / your back (perhaps instead of a new racquet ), and see a good physio.

 

[torpantennis]

^^Yes, you first need to figure out how it feels when you activate pelvic floor and deep abdominal muscles. Most all of us aren't even aware of these muscles. I recommend either a physio, or some pilates classes with a good instructor. Doing pilates on your own, without activating the correct muscles, can even do more harm than good.

But developing core stability, and figuring out pelvic floor and deep abdominals, is essential in getting rid of all back pains. I have personally pulled my back multiple times in the past, so that I couldn't even walk or get into a car. No more back pains, after going to pilates classes and figuring out how core muscles work.

 

[comeback]

My story.

I have a couple of programmes from my physio.
The most basic is for when you have just done your back in / can hardly walk.
I slipped a disc pretty badly too once and it took many weeks to recover, but without the exercises I would probably have been in surgery.
A non disc slipper would not need the squeeze the disc back in exercises but the core strength ones, yes.
Then there are the intermediate exercises. You can do these once you are in better shape.
Then the more advanced ones.
If you jump to the intermediate or advanced too soon you can make things worse!
I had a bit of a stiff back one day and did an advanced exercise and have myself good old lumbago attack! Back to basics again!!!

At the time I was working in an office driving 2 hrs a day (sound familiar), too busy to take care of myself... I would get lumbago, do the exercises, get well enough, do my usual cycling, running, tennis and then out of the blue have another attack whenever. Vicious circle.
So I started doing the core exercises every day (now every other day).
That improved things no end. Kicking the desk job and the commute was the icing on the cake... but I still need to do the core exercises!

The Pilates ones are pretty similar but you would not be doing some of them with anything like a back that could go to a lumbago attack.
Non back sufferers will just not get how hair fine the trigger can be...

If you want, pm me your email address and I'll send you scanned copies of the exercises I got from my physio. You can start basic and work up.
One thing though. Pulling in your pelvic floor muscles as needed for pretty much all of these exercises to work was not a common sense thing for me to do.
Without the physio's instruction and guidance I am not sure I would have got it.

I really do advise you spend a bit of cash on the most valuable thing you have - yourself / your back (perhaps instead of a new racquet ), and see a good physio.
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^^Yes, you first need to figure out how it feels when you activate pelvic floor and deep abdominal muscles. Most all of us aren't even aware of these muscles. I recommend either a physio, or some pilates classes with a good instructor. Doing pilates on your own, without activating the correct muscles, can even do more harm than good.

But developing core stability, and figuring out pelvic floor and deep abdominals, is essential in getting rid of all back pains. I have personally pulled my back multiple times in the past, so that I couldn't even walk or get into a car. No more back pains, after going to pilates classes and figuring out how core muscles work.
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Hi Torpan and Speedy, i had many years of back pain and have it under control with this http://www.foundationtraining.com/
can either of you guys compare it to pilates?

 

[speedysteve]

the http://www.foundationtraining.com/

Are a bit different. The couple I looked at seemed to be assuming you have are not in injury suffering mode from the off.

They did not talk about activating the pelvic floor muscles like the physio was very persistent about ensuring.

I did the first one and it felt good. Will try it every day for a while

Once you know how to activate the pelvic floor muscles you can do it sitting down, standing up, lying down and also as you are doing other exercises. It hard to remember to do it though.
I remember my physio telling me the more desk bound he became the more he would activate those muscles to combat inactivity.

 

[Nostradamus]

just wondering ? Is there a good Stretching excercises you can do Just Before the match to loosen up the back and prevent the back pain from getting worse during the match ?? and also is there anything during the match you can do to prevent back pain ? Thank you in advance

 

[Nostradamus]

the http://www.foundationtraining.com/

Are a bit different. The couple I looked at seemed to be assuming you have are not in injury suffering mode from the off.

They did not talk about activating the pelvic floor muscles like the physio was very persistent about ensuring.

I did the first one and it felt good. Will try it every day for a while

Once you know how to activate the pelvic floor muscles you can do it sitting down, standing up, lying down and also as you are doing other exercises. It hard to remember to do it though.
I remember my physio telling me the more desk bound he became the more he would activate those muscles to combat inactivity.

I found their website and a trainer. do you think I should take lessons from them ? one of the trainer bio said she is "man-eater" ,,,whatever that means ?? I just want my bad back pain to go away. I am difficult time serving...

 

[Chas Tennis]

You have an undiagnosed injury and stressing it - especially with tennis - may make it worse.

 

[Nostradamus]

You have an undiagnosed injury and stressing it - especially with tennis - may make it worse.

it is diagnosed and I have already seen orthopedic MD. He said I don't have disc problem but I have spasm and muscle strain in my lower back, and these can be very painful. it got better with NSAID's but then when I stopped the drug, it got worse again. It is NOT an option to stop playing tennis because I am committed to 2 USTA teams already and they need me to play. Besides I love playing tennis as well. Thought about switching to Golf but I am not going to do that til I am 65 years old...........

 

[Chas Tennis]

............... It is NOT an option to stop playing tennis because I am committed to 2 USTA teams already and they need me to play. Besides I love playing tennis as well. ...............

....sure it's an option

I've been through that a few times but chronic injuries can develop from playing with pain. Tennis elbow is the flagship of this type of injury. There is also always uncertainty about diagnoses.

Many years ago one of my regular opponents developed a back pain, I don't recall any specific injury or his history but he was playing more tennis. He was in pain and stopped tennis. The Dr evaluated his condition and prescribed physical therapy. He did the PT for a year and said he thought it did some good. But the PT was painful and the pain never went away. After about a year, the Dr had some additional imaging test done, I'd say an MRI but it was around 1980 and I don't know what the imaging test was then. A disc injury showed up on the imaging. The Dr said that the PT could not have helped and might have done some harm. Some 'invasive' imaging techniques might have required injections of contrasting fluids into the spine and therefore might have presented some risk so they were not done as often as MRIs are now. (There may now also be a contrasting MRI for certain injuries.?) I've seen him since but he never played tennis again.

I hurt my back playing in a USTA mixed doubles match. Walking off the court I dropped my racket. It was embarrassing to have to ask one of the ladies to pick up my racket for me. I waited for the pain to go away and started back slowly. It was OK.

 

[Piickle]

it is diagnosed and I have already seen orthopedic MD. He said I don't have disc problem but I have spasm and muscle strain in my lower back, and these can be very painful. it got better with NSAID's but then when I stopped the drug, it got worse again. It is NOT an option to stop playing tennis because I am committed to 2 USTA teams already and they need me to play. Besides I love playing tennis as well. Thought about switching to Golf but I am not going to do that til I am 65 years old...........

Sorry for bringing such an old thread back to life but how did this end up for you? I ask because my lower back experienced sharp pain today while I was playing.

 

[Nostradamus]

Sorry for bringing such an old thread back to life but how did this end up for you? I ask because my lower back experienced sharp pain today while I was playing.

well its been more of spasm and muscle getting tired kind of issue which cause pain. Buying a new bed, from mattress company was good idea. Sitting on good posture at all times help with good ergo chair.

but issue is that as i get older,, my lower back gets tired and weak more quickly in the match. i used to be fine for 3 hour match,, but now after tough 1 hour of play,, it starts to get tired and becomes a issue on my serve which is my main weapon.

Not sure what i can do to really make my lower back tough and strong ??

 

[Piickle]

well its been more of spasm and muscle getting tired kind of issue which cause pain. Buying a new bed, from mattress company was good idea. Sitting on good posture at all times help with good ergo chair.

but issue is that as i get older,, my lower back gets tired and weak more quickly in the match. i used to be fine for 3 hour match,, but now after tough 1 hour of play,, it starts to get tired and becomes a issue on my serve which is my main weapon.

Not sure what i can do to really make my lower back tough and strong ??

Oh well, I guess I'll see how it goes tomorrow. First hs practice of the season tomorrow so a bit of an unfortunate time for this!

 

[Nostradamus]

Oh well, I guess I'll see how it goes tomorrow. First hs practice of the season tomorrow so a bit of an unfortunate time for this!

I have very early stage of degenerative disc issue but that is Not what' causing the problem for me. Its more muscle spasm and muscle tiredness. But i had to make sure so i saw the doctor to make sure and he took Xray to asure me that my disc isn't bad.

So at that point, i knew what i had to do. Stretch out my lower back and Calf and upper leg muscle and improve flexibility in that region. and try to strengthen the lower back somehow. I am going to be working with Physio and stretch trainers to ask what i need to do to strengthen it.

You need to find out first, you Don't have Disc issue, if you don't Great, its much easier, so you do have to see a doctor to find out. If you don't have Pain Shooting down your leg from your back, its not likely disc issue but doctor can tell you for sure.

Anyhow, for now,,, Heat pad in the lower back is what you need to do. That will help right away.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Ohhhh, Mama Mia............. After applying Ice for 15 minutes on my back, now it feels like it is spasming out even more.....................OUCH. What is going on here ??

You might need to switch to heat if that's the case. Ice is sometimes suggested in the first 24 hours after a sudden onset (or injury). But some sources suggest heat, especially for lower back pain

4 steps for back pain relief

Learn four steps to help with back pain.

www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org

 

[WildVolley]

I have very early stage of degenerative disc issue but that is Not what' causing the problem for me. Its more muscle spasm and muscle tiredness. But i had to make sure so i saw the doctor to make sure and he took Xray to asure me that my disc isn't bad.

So at that point, i knew what i had to do. Stretch out my lower back and Calf and upper leg muscle and improve flexibility in that region. and try to strengthen the lower back somehow. I am going to be working with Physio and stretch trainers to ask what i need to do to strengthen it.

....

Sounds like you need to start deadlifting. Probably easier to start with a hex bar deadlift than a straight bar. You could also do Romanian deadlifts and single leg varieties. Start with light weight and good form and then progressively increase the load.

Sprinting is good for the lower back, glutes, and hamstring strength and has direct carry-over for tennis players, but it probably isn't a good idea for someone who already is having back problems.

 

[Nostradamus]

Sounds like you need to start deadlifting. Probably easier to start with a hex bar deadlift than a straight bar. You could also do Romanian deadlifts and single leg varieties. Start with light weight and good form and then progressively increase the load.

Sprinting is good for the lower back, glutes, and hamstring strength and has direct carry-over for tennis players, but it probably isn't a good idea for someone who already is having back problems.

how do i do that without actually making my back worse ? also i think you are wrong. it doesn't help with Lower back muscles,,, it just helps glutes and leg

 

[WildVolley]

how do i do that without actually making my back worse ? also i think you are wrong. it doesn't help with Lower back muscles,,, it just helps glutes and leg

Deadlifts work the lower back along with the glutes and hamstrings. If you had any experience doing them, you'd know this. I can get a pump in my lower back and my hamstrings doing deadlifts. Your back is between your arms and your glutes, and the lower back muscles are forced to contract when you bend over and stand up with weight.

You make your back better by starting with light weight and progressively building up strength. The light weight allows you to maintain posture. I'd start with sets of 5-10 reps. Get someone at the gym to show you the proper technique.

 

[WildVolley]

Here's a video on how you want to also do core stability exercises to help stabilize the back.

 

[yossarian]

Here's a video on how you want to also do core stability exercises to help stabilize the back.

I like the McGill big three but his dogmatic philosophy and cult like followers are big too much for me

 

[tennisjunkie]

I’ve reduced my back pain by investing some money in good insoles. The arch support in my insoles cured my poor posture, thus alleviating my back pain. You’re either standing, sitting, or lying down your entire life. Be sure you’re comfortable in all three and that you’re not standing or sitting on hard surfaces for prolonged periods. Hope that helps.

 

[Fintft]

I like the McGill big three but his dogmatic philosophy and cult like followers are big too much for me

Without watching his video @WildVolley , for my displaced disc I've been told to do pushups and planks. I also do crunches and use a chest expander (with elastic bands).

 

[WildVolley]

Without watching his video @WildVolley , for my displaced disc I've been told to do pushups and planks. I also do crunches and use a chest expander (with elastic bands).

I'm hardly an expert on McGill's stuff, but I think the most questionable exercise in that bunch would be the crunches. Most of the advice I've seen says to avoid crunches if you're experiencing back pain.

 

[Fintft]

I'm hardly an expert on McGill's stuff, but I think the most questionable exercise in that bunch would be the crunches. Most of the advice I've seen says to avoid crunches if you're experiencing back pain.

True and so said my phisio. Except that I feel that I need some crunches for a strong core.

 

[bigR]

Lay on your back on a tennis ball between your ribs and your hips on your quadratus lumborum muscles. It’s close to your spine but to either side not on your spine of course. 3 minutes at a time. When the sensation fades lift your legs slightly and add more pressure. You don’t want more than a 4/10 pain scale so don’t torture yourself but there is a bit of discomfort.

You can look into a leg length discrepancy and potentially use an insert in one shoe to equalize there. I’ve had success recently with my left leg heel insert.

Generally i would stretch the hip flexors and activate the glutes to warm up if you’re seated regularly.

 

[Nostradamus]

Lay on your back on a tennis ball between your ribs and your hips on your quadratus lumborum muscles. It’s close to your spine but to either side not on your spine of course. 3 minutes at a time. When the sensation fades lift your legs slightly and add more pressure. You don’t want more than a 4/10 pain scale so don’t torture yourself but there is a bit of discomfort.

You can look into a leg length discrepancy and potentially use an insert in one shoe to equalize there. I’ve had success recently with my left leg heel insert.

Generally i would stretch the hip flexors and activate the glutes to warm up if you’re seated regularly.

how do i make my lower back super strong so it doesn't get tired and weak after 1 hour of tennis ? need 2 hours of strong lasting muscle in my lower back

 

[bigR]

Try what I said and try to play. If you release the trigger points in your QLs you may find they are more durable and do not spasm after an hour.

Then from pain free range of motion you can strengthen with weights or machines that target the low back if you still feel like building strength and/or endurance there.

 

[inflation_era]

Jefferson curl?

 

[WildVolley]

how do i make my lower back super strong so it doesn't get tired and weak after 1 hour of tennis ? need 2 hours of strong lasting muscle in my lower back

Since you don't want to do deadlifts, find a gym with a reverse hyper bench and start training your lower back. This is a safer way than doing deadlifts or good morning exercises.

 

[Tweener]

Since you don't want to do deadlifts, find a gym with a reverse hyper bench and start training your lower back. This is a safer way than doing deadlifts or good morning exercises.

These are great. I had a lower back injury a few months ago from lifting something with uneven weight distribution, and played states with the injury which made it worse. I used my back extension machine, got an inversion table, and did some cupping and was good to go within a couple weeks.