chiro and push-ups

[vegetus25]

I have been having some upper, mid back pain, so I went to a Chiro. He said he thought all the push-ups I have been doing are contributing to the pain. He suggested doing more rows to strengthen my back muscles. Do you guys have any suggestions on good exercises for the upper, mid back besides rows?

I also have some elbow pain. The chiro suggested not doing over 30 reps per set of push-ups. He said higher reps per set can strain the elbows and shoulders. I usually do not do high rep sets, but recently have been condensing my workouts, resting as little as possible between sets. I like this type of training, but I am finding my elbows do not. Maybe the chiro is on to something. I also remember John suggesting GTG for people who have elbow problems because it spreads the work and decreases the strain on the elbows.

Thanks in advance and God bless,

Veg

[sillypup]

possible that the cause is from the front chest muscles and front arms being too tight so it pulls your shoulder forward causing curve in shoulder where front deltoid is. it's just imbalance of muscles that affects your posture and spine in upper body.

great way to prevent it is to loosen up those front upper body muscles because they may be tighter than back. that's why back muscles exercise were suggested. often times chiro and physical suggest strengthening the muscles.

they often over look that curing it may just be allowing your muscles to relax so body balance out. this way the relaxation can help reset the muscles that tighten up to loosen up. pain from exercise or overwork muscles usually is posture related due to muscles pulling spine or causing some pressure on nerve. i'm no doctor but this is just my observation from all the years of working with clients who are in chronic pain. often the case, it's imbalance of muscle from their overwork muscles or poor posture from work.

[divebomber]

vegetus, rows are great from personal experience. I can also recommend upper back DVRs, face pulls (like rows, can performed on a hanging gizmo) and the YTWLI drill, lying flat on the floor without hand weights (google the latter exercises for pictures; my explanation won't make half as much sense).

Another thing to consider is training volume. I find that I don't last long on GTG-type routines. Once I cross a certain volume threshold, injury is only a matter of time, regardless of clever program design.

[vegetus25]

taskmaster,

I have played w/ the elbow fix, but have not done it that much. I have found stretching my elbows w/ my hands against a wall has helped alot.

sillypup,

That is one of the first things the chiro noticed (some rotation of the shoulders). He has me working on it.

divebomber,

I looked up the YTWLI exercise. It looks like it will help.

Thank you all,

Veg

[kelbiz]

There's some good info on "isometric pullups" on the video blog. It may be worth checking out.

Jack

[Ederj]

Hi Vegetus,

As far as the elbow pain is concerned, i had a pain elbow from doing the DSR Biceps curl with a lot of tension, and also from doing push ups in high numbers. i'd suggest to reduce the amount of push up and work up the numbers gradually so your body and specially your joints can streghen gradually.

Another good exercise to prevent muscle imbalance in the chest and back area is the BA-5 from PYTP (Mule Flex in Powerflex) is the movement that you push your shoulders backwards and downward with tension.....this movement hit the trapezius, rhomboids and Teres major and minor effectively


Hope this help.
Eder.

[Ederj]

sorry, i made a mistake the exercise that hits the rhomboids and trapezius that i was referring is the Horse flex III.

Regards.