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Back sore

alex

New member
gday guys after last weights session i noticed that my right hand side of my back (feels like just under my collarbone) is sore. the more i stretch it it hurts. i cant seem to pinpoint exactly the spot thats sore. but when i breathe in deep i can feel it. should i see a physio???
 
Speaking of backs, I worked my upper back//bi's on tuesday, no pain, then 2 days later I did my shoulders, did

10/8/8/6 DB shoulder press
10/10/10 Reverse Fly's (sitting)
8/8 Lateral fly's
10/8/8 Overhead press

My back is sore as! >< I worked it pretty hard tuesday afternoon and didnt get anything at all.
 
^^^On overhead/military presses, you use your back and abs, you might be hyperextending a bit too much when you catch the bar on your chest without realising.
When I stuffed my lower back I couldn't do MP too well for the first two weeks.
Sorry for the highjack.
 
^^^On overhead/military presses, you use your back and abs, you might be hyperextending a bit too much when you catch the bar on your chest without realising.
When I stuffed my lower back I couldn't do MP too well for the first two weeks.
Sorry for the highjack.

Hmm I do it with the same form they show on stronglifts.com, fast and controlled up, slow and controlled down, was only with about 45kg(including bar) I dont really drop the bar onto my chest at all.(also sorry for hijack :p)

@Alex, I was doing pec deck on a multigym and jumped up too high in weight, on the upper left middle of my chest a lump appeared and it was sore & would hurt when I stretched my chest, I just layed off the heavy chest exercises that hit that area(flat bench was still fine), tried pec deck again about 2 weeks later and it was ok. I would still see a physio for your problem though because you cant visibly see whats wrong =/
 
^^ upper chest/close to your neck, when you push up head goes under the bar, then when you drop you pull your head out of it's way, I have seen some people at the gym I go to (I think I do this as well) when you drop the bar you might lean a bit too far backwards without realising it. As per Rippetoe's comment you use the abs and back to support the bar on presses.
overhead-press-start.jpg
 
gday guys after last weights session i noticed that my right hand side of my back (feels like just under my collarbone) is sore. the more i stretch it it hurts. i cant seem to pinpoint exactly the spot thats sore. but when i breathe in deep i can feel it. should i see a physio???

I sincerely doubt you need to see a physio about this.

Though, I equally doubt you should be taking advice in regards to an injury from an online forum.

Regardless, it sounds like a muscle strain / soft tissue injury. A mild one at that. Something that, with rest, will repair / heal.

Feel welcome to seek an assessment from a physiotherapist if it eases your mind.
 
gday guys. went to the physio last night as pain was getting worse. she originally thought it might be my neck causing the problems but as she worked down my back she hit the spot alright. just about jumped off the table. it looks like where one of my ribs joins the spine its a tad inflamed there and thus causing pain in that area as well as around the front of my chest. she gave me a good dose of acupunctior (however you spell it) and taped my back. apparently my posture isnt real crash hot. she has given me strength excercises to strengthen and work that area. but no weights for a week...mabey more. what the hell do i do. i was just getting in a wicked rythem too....
 
gday guys. went to the physio last night as pain was getting worse. she originally thought it might be my neck causing the problems but as she worked down my back she hit the spot alright. just about jumped off the table. it looks like where one of my ribs joins the spine its a tad inflamed there and thus causing pain in that area as well as around the front of my chest. she gave me a good dose of acupunctior (however you spell it) and taped my back. apparently my posture isnt real crash hot. she has given me strength excercises to strengthen and work that area. but no weights for a week...mabey more. what the hell do i do. i was just getting in a wicked rythem too....

Did she use any equipment to actually assess whether any inflammation was apparent? Or was it more an educated guess on her part, based on the pain sensation you were feeling?.

Most soft tissue injuries only take a week or so to recover from. (Be it a muscle strain, or the inflammation you're experiencing).

When you do return to the Gym; make sure your first week back is a light week. Ease yourself back to 'full lifting strength'.
 
tried to ease back into it today. after 1.5 weeks of from back pain. started with a mere 40kg on the bench. couldnt even do 2 reps. pain shot down my back. looks like no more weights again. so over it.
 
Give it time, Alex. Remember you are lifting for a lifetime. 10 days is NOTHING. Lots of people have had to take months or even years off due to injuries, and come back to it. A typical example is a knee reconstruction - 6 months or so of dull exercises where all you do is squeeze muscles or raise your leg and hold it there.

Do the stretches and exercises your physio gave you, follow her advice. All training has to be matched to the strengths and weaknesses of the individual person. This is just another kind of training you're doing. Any time you challenge your own body, that's training.

Stick with it.

I have a scoliosis, that'll never go away no matter the training, but I stick with it. I also have a knee injury which has meant a month off so far for my legs, so what, I do the little exercises the physio gave me, maybe I can get back to it in a few weeks, six months from now who'll know the difference.
 
cheers kyle mate. i really apreciate the advice and encouragment. just what i needed to hear i think. it seems that it is only bench press that is casuing the pain as when i do deadlifts/squats/bent rows and light curls its fine. so might just leave bench out for now. and this week i think it will just be a very light session of these other lifts. its funny how bench is the only thing that triggers it.

really appreciate the support mate. how did you do your knee??
 
It's patello-femoral syndrome. An overuse injury, comes from heaps of walking, running or cycling combined with a muscle imbalance. So I can probably blame the Army :D

This is where the kneecap (patella) tracks to one side. It actually has a groove it goes up and down when you flex your knee, so if it tracks to one side then it starts grinding up stuff inside your knee, that then inflames, which is what causes the pain.

This is thought to be caused by the fact that a couple of different muscles attach through tendons across your patella. One muscle pulls it inwards (the vastus medialis), another pulls it outwards (the tensor fascia latae, connecting through the illiotibial band). The outside one is stronger, so crunch.

The treatment is to tape the patella inwards, and do exercises that strengthen the inside muscles. It usually disappears after a few weeks, no big deal, you just have to treat it and do the exercises given you.

I offer this detail not because I expect anyone to care, but just to remind you there's a process - every problem has some cause and some treatment, by understanding the cause you can work your training around it, by following the treatment you can get better.

Very very few people are 100%, if you persist with physical training, if you don't begin with something wrong with you then you'll get something. Basically, to change the body we must stress it, but if we stress it we may injure it. That's the price we pay. Just think of it this way, nobody ever climbed a mountain without falling on their arse a few times. So what, get up, keep going.
 
Kyle, what are the symptoms of patello-femoral syndrome? My knee cracks and grinds when I kneel down. Every now and then when I am resting with my feet up I have a bit of a dull ache. The pain appeared after I started cycling 200-300 kays a week, which is why I gave it up.
 
id love to know the things you do about the body. would definately come in handy :) yeah your so right, ever since i started training i have found every weak part of my body. muscles i didnt know i had, old injuries i had forgot about. but as you said your stressing your body and the result is that it will tell you from time to time. i guess the best thing is to listen to your body and train accordingly. it sounds like your knee can be quite painful. is there a permanent fix for it or just what you described? it definately is interesting learning about the body and how it works. mabey ill look into it some more and research to find how everything works. then i might get a better understanding of whats going on. when did you leave the army matey?
 
Kyle, what are the symptoms of patello-femoral syndrome?
Usually, pain in the kneecap on extension against resistance. But these are the symptoms of fifty other things, too. So don't try to self-diagnose or get an internet diagnosis from some random dkchead you never met, see a physio.

blbarclay said:
The pain appeared after I started cycling 200-300 kays a week, which is why I gave it up.
Always a pity to give up physical activities you're enjoying. Much better to see if the problem can be worked around and treated. See a physio.
alex said:
id love to know the things you do about the body. would definately come in handy
Edumacation, mate :p Anyone can get it.

But seriously, I don't know much. There's a lot more to learn. That's why we have doctors and surgeons and physios and chiropractors and osteopaths and all the rest. Even the ones with 7+ years of education have big gaps in their knowledge only some other person with 7+ years can fill.
alex said:
it sounds like your knee can be quite painful. is there a permanent fix for it or just what you described?
I dunno, is the short answer.

The treatment I described for it is mostly prescribed in Australia and NZ. In other countries it's just rest, ice, compression, elevation. So there is a big debate amongst physios whether you can do much for it long-term, and even if the cause is as I described.

I mean, there are whole books just on knee pain. I'm not kidding. People spend decades researching this stuff, and then their research gets tossed aside by some other person.

Most likely this will be a thing that flares up from time to time, I give it the same treatment, it dies down, and on we go. This is what I've been trying to get across, it's all a lifelong process, you don't get one pain and then that's that, you never train again.
alex said:
mabey ill look into it some more and research to find how everything works. then i might get a better understanding of whats going on.
My advice is to begin with basic exercise physiology. That is, what muscles are where in the body, where they attach, what are working when you do this or that exercise. Have a look for Strength Training Anatomy, it's a great start.
 
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