Working the lower back. Need help.

[oicdn]

I slowly injured my lower back in gymnastics. I was doing back tucks and started noticing that my lower back was bothering me the more I started doing them.

I was VERY adamant about stretching and warm-up. My back bending backwards would aggravate it, but nothing going forward.

This stretch would aggravate it as well:

And generally speaking, any backwards bending would hurt it. Bot nothing to the front. Even after it hurt, I could still do front tucks all day without any pain.

This stretch would somewhat alleviate the pain and actually feel very good:

I thought it was just a hyper-extension (could possibly be?), but it's weak now. I can do all variations of pushups and flys on rings with no problem. I can do barbell rollouts (on the rings too) on my knees JUST FINE, but if I try them on my feet, about 3/4 of the way though the extension, my lower back just gives out. It gives out in the same disc/area as when it hurts from back tucks. Before all the back tucks, if I tried to do barbell rollouts on my feet, I just wouldn't be able to either extend all the way, or would just get stuck at full extension. Now, I get 3/4 of the way and my lower back gives way.

So, do I just need to strengthen my lower back? Will lower back exercises just aggravate the injury? Is it even an injury like a herniation? Or is it just weak and it hurts from being strained of not being strong enough?

I posted this in different forums cause I wasn't quite sure where to post. It's injury prevention, but it's weight training/building...

 

[Goldfish]

You know what? After two years of studying this stuff, here's what I have to say: See a physio. They have diagnostic training. I can rehab an injury once it's diagnosed, but even after two years of study, I can't diagnose it. It sounds to me like an anteriorly herniated disc (posterior and lateral herniations are generally more common, but if they were the case, you'd get pain in lumbar flexion, not extension), or possibly a stress fracture, but I don't know, and there's no way that you can describe the pain enough for me to know. So like I said, see someone who has the training to diagnose the problem, go through their remedy first (if it is indeed an injury), and then I can be of service.

 

[oicdn]

I went to an orthopedic surgeon and he couldn't see anything through Xrays, it was the same doctor that fixed my mallet finger. He said to just take it easy for 8 weeks and no strenuous activity. I pretty much did NOTHING that would aggravate my back, didn't even do the seal stretch in my regimen. When I did barbell rollouts (everything I do is on rings), I was on my knees, and the only time ever on my feet were for pushups and flys, which I never had a problem with anyways. I laid off pretty much on all direct core work. 8 weeks went by, I tried a roll-out on the rings on my feet and got 3/4 of the way and the lower back gave out.

In gymnastics, I didn't do anything that required me to bend backwards, nor did I do anything that required immense core stabilization with isometrics or anything that really relied on lower back strength. But I did notice on some really hard landings yesterday, if my core wasn't really contracted, I would feel discomfort back there. Nothing that made it hurt, but there was a sharp discomfort for a second.

I did some leg lifts where I lay on the top of the back of the couch and I would lift my legs to become straight so I was pretty much planked on the back of the couch with my legs hanging off. I noticed that the muscles seemed fatigued and tired after about 8 reps. There was no pain or discomfort, but I could tell the muscles were fatigued.

When I ride my bike, I do lots of twisting and whatnot (BMX, like 360 and 180s) and there's no pain or discomfort when I ride, nor is there any when landing from drops etc on the bike. Back isn't sore the next day or anything either.

thanks for your input!

 

[dswithers]

If you truly have a disk problem you need lots of rest and perhaps surgery. If the problem is alignment then a chiropracter might be able to help. If the problem is a muscle strain or something similar, then stretching, which you already seem to be doing and resistance training will help. I found stiff-legged deadlifts helped me the most. Start with an empty bar and 15 reps going all the way down until the bar touches the top of your feet, although many people will tell you to stop mid-calf level to prevent back injury. Do these 2-3 times a week and gradually increase the weight (5 pounds a week or so). After I had back trouble I did this and eventually got up to 365x6. The heavier the weights got the bettter my back felt. I read Frank Zane (if you don't recognize that name he won the Mr. Olympia in the late 70's and still looks great at 80+) used to do these with 405x15 and went all the way down to below his feet (by standing on the end of a bench).