Tweaked lower back.. Nervous about taking time off! Advice?

marrrisa
marrrisa Posts: 44 Member
edited November 20 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Today I was dumb and had a small annoyance in my lower back.. decided to deadlift and made it 10x worse to now its painful to do anything.

I'm going to Hawaii for the first time in about 3.5 weeks, but now that I think I might need to take some time off, I'm worried about being in good enough shape/maintaining what I've got. I was trying to really put in some good effort to be in my best shape!

Does anyone have recommendations on either ways to quickly resolve a tweaked lower back, or maybe good exercises to do that avoid causing more harm to my back, while still being able to work out?

Any recs would be awesome.

Thank you!

Replies

  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    I can sometimes untweak mine by dead hang from the pull-up bar. But that's only if it's an alignment problem. If it's a muscle tear, that won't help and might hurt.
  • marrrisa
    marrrisa Posts: 44 Member
    Darn I was hoping you guys wouldn't say that.... haha.

    I'm not worried about gaining weight, I am more worried about losing muscle mass :/
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    Let it rest and, if it doesn't go away on its own, see a doc and get xrays and an MRI.
  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
    marrrisa wrote: »
    Darn I was hoping you guys wouldn't say that.... haha.

    I'm not worried about gaining weight, I am more worried about losing muscle mass :/

    It's not going to happen. Eat at maintenance, get some protein, do other exercises that don't hurt your back.

    It's hard to gain muscle, it's hard to lose it as well. You could drop your training to 50% and keep the muscle you have. You could also lift super super light just to keep you muscle memory (recommended).

    Rest and healing is >>>>>> than training and injury, the most muscle you ever be able to get in a month or two would be 2-4 lbs, but if you injury yourself. You'll be off for months and lose much more.
  • chelllsea124
    chelllsea124 Posts: 336 Member
    Time to rest...
  • MidModJenn
    MidModJenn Posts: 216 Member
    Rest, rest, rest. Heal your back so you can truly enjoy your vacation! Ice packs and hot showers (the heat loosens the muscles, the ice lessens inflammation)... my doc also has me take 800mg of ibuprofin 3x/day for the first few days to lessen the inflammation and help with the pain (might what to check with your doc and see if s/he is OK with that). Also -- a good chiropractor can be a miracle in helping you heal when your back is tweaked. Good luck!!!
  • ijsantos2005
    ijsantos2005 Posts: 306 Member
    Complete rest may not always be the best approach for quick recovery.
    You might want to look up some lower back mobility movements or ways to reset your pelvis. Decomposing your spine for a couple minutes could help as well.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    marrrisa wrote: »
    Darn I was hoping you guys wouldn't say that.... haha.

    I'm not worried about gaining weight, I am more worried about losing muscle mass :/

    ymmv but most of the time when i get something that absolutely makes me back off, i seem to spend a lot of time investigating and reinforcing whatever does NOT bother it. i'd hate it if this came off like i'm totally pollyanna-minded, but i do kind of see things like that as useful. actually feeling the area that's obviously not being properly served helps me to figure out what i was doing wrong and what something more right might be like.

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