Monday, July 08, 2013

Back sprain.

Last Wednesday during warmups I noticed my back felt... tight.  Something was wrong but I had no idea what, so I persisted and did most of the calisthenics (skipped the ones which were obviously lower-back intensive) and then did class (which ended up being positional sparring for the next hour.)

One of my larger teammates offered to go a little heavier with me than usual because he was concerned that the local brownbelt who I outted might have other means of shutting me up in mind.  Of course, given that this person in question is a brownbelt, I'm probably screwed anyway-- but despite my back I accepted his offer.  And because my back was out, I couldn't even upa, shrimp, or escape with even my usual mediocrity.  So, I cowered and protected my face and generally endured.  Which was what my teammate wanted to see and show me-- even injured, even against someone twice my size, I can survive.

I really can't pinpoint what I did that cause my back to go out.  It's never done this before, and generally I think I have pretty good core support and fairly strong back musculature.  But whatever it was, my back did NOT like it.  By Friday I was really challenged to get out of bed or stand up from the toilet.  I had to miss a friend's baby shower on Sunday, and today I'm still hurting.  I will be happy if I feel like training tomorrow night; today is out of the question.

I'm going to set up a massage, hope that helps.  Otherwise I've done NSAIDs, hot showers, even tried muscle relaxants.  Foam roller and swiss ball have not improved things.



4 comments:

SavageKitsune said...

Where exactly is the pain? Is it high enough that it could be a rib?

Georgette said...

No, it's definitely lower back/sacrum area. I can lay down, sit, stand and walk comfortably (though my husband says he can tell I'm holding my muscles/pelvis differently) but any transition between them is awful. And forget bending over-- that's when I reallly feel it. I'm going to make an appointment with my massage therapist in a minute here. Maybe get on my husband's inversion table tonight.

Tree Frog said...

If there was a moment where you tipped all the way over to a side while keeping your legs stationary, that might have done it.

I hurt my sacrum back in 2007 when I was moving a washing machine with two other people. I had one end and the two the other. One of them let his end go and I tipped over while bearing the weight.

Took me a few months to get back to normal because I kept re-aggravating it when it was deceptively "healed" (as in not yet healed, but feeling much better).

Georgette said...

Interesting. I have tried to mentally recreate all the movements I did prior to feeling the tightness. The best guess I have is a quad stretch I like- you kneel on the mat, then lay backwards , with your hips on the mat between your feet. My quads are quite flexible so this isn't much of a stretch.. but my behind is pretty round, so it usually makes my lower back arch a lot. I suspect I went back too quickly and forced a hyperextension (hyperflexion?) of my lumbar spine.

In any case, I have a myofascial/sports massage in an hour, so I'm crossing my paws!