Training Around a Back Injury
In
October 2013 I ruptured a disk in my lower back. It is to date the most
significant injury I have ever had. My injury made it hard to sit down
at work, walk, and lift objects off of the ground. And yet I did
something that most people thought was a little nuts. I kept lifting
weights.
That's
right! I didn't take any time off even after an MRI concluded that I
had a pretty severe rupture in my lower back. However, even though I
didn't take any time off from lifting weights, I did (1) consult with my
doctor and a physical therapist and (2) modify my weight lifting
regimen to train around my injury. Below are the things I did to keep me
in the gym, keep me getting stronger and train around my injury.
Focus On Recovery
My main focus before my injury was killing it in the gym. I pushed as much weight as I could as hard as I could push it. However, after my injury, I had to focus more on recovery. If doing a certain exercise might cause me further injury or hinder my recovery then why take the risk? The faster I recovered, the faster I could start making real progress again. Sure, I still wanted to get stronger. But I wanted to recover from my injury more. So, I headed my doctor's and physical therapist's advice and I modified my training to aide in my recovery instead of hurt it.
Put More Emphasis on Warming Up and Stretching
Most people that I know who lift weights put very little emphasis on warming up and stretching. And admittedly, I was once in that group. For the past few years, however, I always warmed up stretched prior to exercise (any kind of exercise). But now that I am in my mid-30's and I have had a shoulder injury and now a back injury, warming up and stretching isn't just a good idea; it's a necessity.
Every
time I exercise, I now do a short warmup and at least 20-30min of
stretching prior to doing anything even remotely close to working set.
This is the kind of stuff that's going to prevent future injury. It may
not be manly or macho. But if it helps to keep me flexible, healthy and
injury free (and it does) then I really don't care; I'm doing it.
Cut Out Power Training
Before my back injury I had both lower body and upper body power training days as a part of my weekly training regimen. Once I got injured, it was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to operate at 100% capacity. Lower body power movements were especially difficult because my injury was in my lower back and in order to allow it to heal, I had to keep pressure off of my spine. That meant no squats (of any kind), deadlifts, leg presses, etc.
Power
movements also require a bigger "push" which my physical therapist told
me can put additional pressure on my spine and worsen my condition.
However, even if that wasn't a concern, I probably would have cut out
power training all together until I was recovered enough to give it
100%. I mean, what's the point of power training if you can't lift with
100% of your power, anyway?
Cut Out Barbells
I don't think every kind of injury would require you to cut our barbell work. But mine sure did. I couldn't do bench press because of the arch required in my back to perform the movement. And barbell curls might cause me to lean into the movement for that one last rep or two. So, I felt dumbbells were a better bet. Finally, barbell work with legs was out because I couldn't put any load on my spine. And anything else would have required me lifting the bar above my head, which I was told by my physical therapist not to do.
The
bottom line is that barbells had to go. And I don't think that was a
bad thing. Dumbbells are a great substitute, anyway. And in many cases,
dumbbell exercises engage more muscles for stabilization and they can
isolate each side individually.
Find Equivalent Alternative Exercises
As I mentioned earlier, I stopped doing bench press. But that didn't mean I stopped doing push exercises. I just substituted bench press for alternative exercises that put less strain on my back. Instead of bench press I did the Hammer Strength Iso-Bench and Hammer Strength Iso-Incline Bench.
I
also had to stop doing barbell squats and leg presses. So, what was
left for equivalent compound leg movements? Answer: single leg dumbbell
squats. My back injury also made deadlifts impossible, do I swapped them
out with glute machine/donkey kick exercises. Maybe these exercise
alternatives weren't ideal. But they kept me growing and prevented
atrophy in my legs. And eventually I will be back doing squats and
deadlifts again. It's just going to take some time.
Change The Tempo
When I first injured my back and I told my Physical Therapist that I wanted to keep working out, even though I could barely move my left foot or even sit down, I thought he was going to laugh me out of the building. He didn't. Instead he said that I would have to significantly modify my training program. Many of those restrictions, I discussed above (and most of them I still adhere to today). But one really interesting thing he told me was that I should change my tempo when lifting weights.
He
suggested that I use a 3/3 or a 3/2 count. Basically, I should focus on
slowing the contraction in both directions. And while I was focusing on
slowing the contractions, I should breathe and engage my core. He told
me that would provide two benefits. (1) It would have me strengthen and
engage my core - essential for both recovery and injury prevention. (2)
It would force me to drop the weight and not allow me to hold my breath
and push (which I try never to do, anyway).
Stop If It Hurts
This might be the most obvious bit of advice for training with an injury, but it's also the most important. We've all heard the expression "When you come to the gym, leave your pride at the door." That expression is much more important when you are injured. Never try to do more than you can handle and certainly never do more than you can handle when you are injured. That kind of behavior will only make things worse.
Remember,
the focus is recovery. If you are doing any kind of movement, even if
you think it's no big deal and you have done it a hundred times before,
if it hurts then stop. There is no shame in cutting a workout short to
avoid further injury. I have done it. And guess what? After some rest, I
came back again and trained through when it didn't hurt.
Pain
is often something you have to push through in order to get stronger.
But if you are having pain because of an injury then that's your body
telling you that you are doing more damage than good. Just stuck it up
and stop.
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