Hurt my back & Jack Nobbers!!

[kenpopaul]

Hi All,

A while ago I hurt my back - looking back I had started doing lots of pushups leading up to the injury (plus a lot of hours at work).

Well, the other day I'd increased my daily pushups from 100-130 to over 150. The next day my back hurt me (in the same place as last time) so I didn't do any training. The following day It was agony!! I had to resort to strong pain killers (which I hate doing!!).

Anyway a vouple of months ago I bought a Jacknobber. If nobody's heard of them, they are tripod like pieces of plastic that you use to massage painful points on your body. The theory behind it is when you injure yourself, then it creates a weak "hotspot" in that muscle that stays with you through your life. So, next time you pull/strain that same muscle that same "hotspot" will hurt - by applying 10 seconds of heavy pressure with something (a jacknober, pen, knuckle etc) 2-3 times it relieves the pain.

I've never had an opportunity to try the technique before, so last night I did. I can't believe the results! I went from barely being able to walk so 90% pain recovery in about 20 minutes!!

I then did a 20 minute yoga workout and I'm almost back to normal!

If anyone out there gets pains in their muscles every now and again I;d sdvise on buying a jacknobber (I don't know if this is the actual name for one??) - but if you google them you'll find loads available. They're only a couple of pounds/dollars. A great investment!!!


In the meantime I think I'm going to lay off the high volume pushups for a while and perhaps return to DVR only training for a while while I concentrate on Balance to power and working stupid hours through the summer :)

Any thoughts??


- Kenpopaul

[michael]

Hi Kenpopaul,

I have three herniated & two bulging disc in my lower back and I haven't had pain in a long time.
When I did BOP I did 14 sets of the pushups 2 sets of each, I never had pain.Pushups pretty much work your whole body.Ipersonally believe they are a part of what has made my back injury free.The thing you have to watch when doing them is saging.I think this happens when we try to rush through and not keep our glutes and abs tight.Also atlas situps have made a big differance and I always finish my workouts with the back bridge.That's just my thoughts hope it helps.

michael

[tomman]

Sorry to hear about the back but glad you found relief. Mine acts up on occasion and I have found regular trips to the chiropracter are a must. I wanted to change up my workouts last time I injured the back and stuck with pull/chin ups and Isometric powerflexing along with a great deal of powerbreathing all done randomly during the day. I found that it was a great break from high volume workouts and I really enjoyed changing it up.

Tomman

[MikeNY]

Paul thank you for the information; I am a believer in using pressure point relief. Studied Accupressure and Asian techniques, I see your jack nobber as a tool that would work.

Had an accident and blew three disks in my back, they followed routine medical care and all I got was doped up on drugs, the MD sent me to a McKenzie Physical Therapy Clinic and I started to get well immediatly, and drugs were cut to a Muscle relaxer and 800 mg of Ibrupropen that helped the pain much, much better than the narcotics and allowed me to feel alive. The Neurological Surgoen said I was not a candidate for surgery due to the injury, they won't operate with less than a 50% chance.

There were several people at the McKenzie Physical Therapy Clinic went for surgery, and we the patients that didn't to go for surgery envied them. Soon we were all return to our normal lives and getting ready for discharge, and having lunch together and hitting golf balls at the range. That was when the surgery patients returned, all in horrible shape and pain, they had been suffering and looked much worse for ware. We the worse off patients were all returning to life without restrictions and back 100%. They used Mckenzie exercises that we did and did the Physical Therapists had given us therapy and hundreds of adjustments and it worked!

With Mckenzie exercises you become your own Chiroprator and you feel bones snap back into place with the exercises.

Later the Doctor and that Surgeon both became patients at the Mckenzie Clinic! This was alternative Medicine and I think now it might be mainstream. I;ve written about this before, bless you all.

[tom]

Ken, I've had some good success with trigger point therapy. There are several good books out there, and one of the main things is you can treat yourself. I don't have the books at hand to write the names. Jacknobbers, tennis balls, wall edges, foam rollers are all some of the possible tools.

I'm making a wild, unprofessional, uninformed statement here: what you had and what trigger point therapy works on is not structural, discs, joints, etc., but the spasming muscles that affect such things. Or are just plain painful as heck.

I find it strange that push ups affected the back, unless it was saggy as Michael said. But I'm wildly guessing again.

My most painful and longest debilitating injury was chondritis brought on by too many push ups. Since then I've slowed down, listened to my body, and don't have a problem.

Tom