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Feeling really bad, longer than a month ago - on Valanetine's day - my lower back got injured due to some weight lifting with wrong form. Since that my lower back is not OK at all.
I kept going back to the gym after a few days rest, when I felt a little better, and unfortunately my injury got worst. I mean it always came back and my results got much worse in the gym, so I was and I am still disappointed.
I went to see a doctor, my general practitioner. She is kind and nice, but without any X-ray or CT, she said that I have SI joint pain and I should stop with my exercise regiment for a while. This is my second week out of the gym, and I am really depressed. I am not sure there are no discs involved in my injury, I might need to figure out where and how to get a CT or MRI scan, but here in The Netherlands, my GP needs to give me a referral, but she does not think I need any of these scans.
I keep taking NSAID drugs for the inflammation, and I feel a little bit better. However, I do not dare to go back to the gym yet. I want to be healthy and 100% again. I miss my workouts, some of my friends suggested me to sign up for yoga or pilates classes, but I just cannot do those. I appreciate people who love those movements, but I am very bad at them, and I only enjoy CrossFit. I know for that I need to pay more attention to my form, and care less about timing or good results. I promised to myself in the future I will do that... I won't force the RX workouts, I will scale down some of my workouts and lifting weights in order to save my form.
I am annoyed, because of my back. In the last couple of weeks I was eating all the bad foods and it might sound strange, but at least I really enjoyed their taste. Yes, they were my comfort foods. I do want to be someone who loves to eat clean and never thinks of bad foods, but I do. I guess people who say that food restrictions never work are right. Now time to get back on track, but I might need to try a different approach, when it comes to my diet. I need to find my motivation again.
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196.2 lb
Lost so far: 0 lb.
Still to go: 17.2 lb.
Diet followed poorly.
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Diet Calendar Entry for 25 March 2014:
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1929 kcal
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Fat: 106.23g | Prot: 107.50g | Carb: 128.49g.
Breakfast: OLIMP MCT Oil, Milbona Butter, Nescafe Nescafe Gold, Kruger Stevia Sweetener Tablet. Lunch: Bananas, Sauels Parizer, Aldi Bavarian Organic Smoked Cheese, Zucchini, Red Tomatoes, Drink Mango Passievrucht, Nescafe Nescafe Gold, Kruger Stevia Sweetener Tablet, Lidl half fat milk. Dinner: Lidl half fat milk, Kruger Stevia Sweetener Tablet, Nescafe Nescafe Gold, Quiche Lorraine. Snacks/Other: Greek Style Yogurt Cherry taste. more...
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gaining 1.1 lb a week
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1 to 20 of 37
 Comments
Have you tried to see a physiotherapist? These days I go and see mine with an injury before I go and see my doctor, cause if she can't fix it within 3 sittings, she will write a letter, stating exactly whats wrong and what needs to be done. I have never seen her more than twice :). & when you get back to the gym, or even at home try some core exercises. With a strong core you are a lot less likely to hurt yourself. Hope you feel better soon!
25 Mar 14 by member: schmetterling34
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I do understand how you feel. I have back pain everyday and I am not going to slow down because of it. If you can't workout at the gym are you at least walking to get some exercise?
25 Mar 14 by member: cyd69
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Hi Schmetterling34, I have not seen a PT yet, because the pain was unbearable after my last gym session. I would not tolerate any physiotherapy on that level of pain. My doctor said that she will send me to see a physiotherapist after the NSAID drug treatment, when the inflammation is gone, because she said that I might need some sessions with a PT. I have never been in this situation, I never had to visit a PT before, so hopefully it will help to solve this problem. I do a lot of core exercise, but doing more won't hurt. Thanks for your suggestions!
26 Mar 14 by member: MimiMeirah
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Hi Cyd69, I am really sorry to hear that you are having back pain too. Did you see a doctor, do you know what causes your back pain? For a month I kept trying to go back to the gym after 3-4 days of rest, and to keep up with my workouts, however my results got worse and worse. I was much slower, I could lift less weight and I was in pain, in really bad pain after the workouts. I knew that I need to give some time for myself to heal, because skipping two-three weeks in the gym feels already a tragedy for me, but to give up forever on CrossFit would be much worse. I do walk and try to be active, but it is not the same. Hopefully, soon I will be able to return my high intense workouts.
26 Mar 14 by member: MimiMeirah
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i'm also Dutch, you have a right to get a second opinion, go to other doktor and ask for scan! they should do that! If not, go to germany and pay for it yourself.
26 Mar 14 by member: puhpine
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Hello fellow NL'er! I always get surprised how much effort one has to go through here to get proper medical advice. With all the costs we have to pay you'd think we'd have the right to go!
Have you tried yoga? The gentle movements might help you. If you go you should of course let them know that you have a back problem.
26 Mar 14 by member: bbosch30
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Hi Puhpine and Bbosch30, thanks for your suggestions. I am not Dutch, but I reside in The Netherlands, because I am working for an international organization, so I have a health insurance through my job. At first I pay for all the medical treatments, then I receive a reimbursement for a maximum of 70-75%. For the reimbursement of Physiotherapy sessions, I need get a medical referral, otherwise my insurance won't cover it, because they won't think that it was a necessary treatment. I will go back to see my general practitioner here in the NL and explain to her NSAID drugs helped a bit, but I still feel the pain and I really would like to be sure it is only an SI joint pain, and there are no discs injury. Otherwise, she is a nice and very helpful physician, I understand her point of view too. She does not want to refer every single sport injury for MRI, or any other scans, because that could be costly on the Dutch Health Insurance companies.
Bbosch30, are you doing yoga? All my respect yours. I tried yoga a couple of times (with healthy back), oh God, I am so untalented and for me it hurts more than spending a few hours on CrossFit and lifting heavy weights. I know it it a very beneficial activity, but I really need to learn how to be relaxed and a bunch of other skills too, because whenever I tried yoga, I just felt that it is not for me, and my body can hurt like hell during each movement. For sure, after yoga, I have never could complain about pain. So it did not cause me pain on the long term, just during some of the yoga movements.
27 Mar 14 by member: MimiMeirah
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Until you get cleared, can you walk for 30 minutes a day? This may help in the interim until you can get some answers.
27 Mar 14 by member: erwinwarrior83
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Hi Erwinwarrior83, yes I can walk 30 minutes a day now. And I try to stay active. Yesterday, I was in the gym and I was able to complete a workout with machines. So obviously I am getting better, but it would too early to go back to CrossFit or Olympic Weightlifting. Trying to be smarter at this time, and not make it worse.
27 Mar 14 by member: MimiMeirah
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if yoga hurts and is stressfull, you are not doing it right... Yoga is about putting your inner and outer health alined with each other. start with breathing and light stretching. slowly building the strength and limberness to do the more advanced exercises, if you are stressing in the body, your mind will stress and yoga will overshoot the target. Am i right or am i right? MimiMeirah?
27 Mar 14 by member: puhpine
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Mimi, I have been into power lifting for a few years and have suffered a blown out disk at L5 S1 which required surgical repair. So I have been in your shoes and know what it is like. Does the pain radiate down either of your legs or is it localized? If there is radiating pain, you better take it easy for a while. If it is muscular pain, there are weight lifting training protocols where you can work it out.
27 Mar 14 by member: GeezerDude
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Goood day Mimi, I read your story... I couldn't exercise for a year beacause of serious health issues and in that time I gained 10 kg, but now after praying for myself, people praying for me and grace from Jesus our Saviour I am healed and busy to get back in my routine again. Take it slowly, pray and know the most beautiful thing about you (any person) is the light you shine from your inside. And then I want to end of: The God of the Bible is the God of the day - healing is somethimes just a prayer away :-). Good luck! Blessings
27 Mar 14 by member: 7Chris-10
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I'm so sorry for this set back. I hope it gets better or figured out asap.
27 Mar 14 by member: FitOKay
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Puhpine, I am sure I did not do yoga right, because I am not an expert at yoga at all. I tried to follow the instructions of the yoga teacher, to be honest they did not seem to be that much difficult, but took a great effort to be able to do all the movements. Many of us who attended for these yoga sessions were CrossFitters, we all felt that we are not good at these movements, though some of the movements seemed to be great stretches. The yoga teacher could execute all the movements beautifully, we the others, not really and for us it was kind of painful. Maybe, because we did it after a CrossFit workout, and our muscles were already tired or simply because we were not that flexible, and talented to do it. I do not know. Watching yoga made me feel that it cannot be that hard, trying to do it, well it is another story, it is much harder than that what I thought. By the way I agree with your statements.
27 Mar 14 by member: MimiMeirah
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GeezerDude, I am sorry to hear that you had to go through surgery and all these pain, because of your injury. I am still hoping that I did not suffer a serious disk injury. The pain does not radiate to any of my legs. I feel pain in the tailbone area, at the lower back, around my hip bone and in my buttock especially at the left side. I felt some kind of pain in the groin too, since I started to take Naproxen and Paracetamol at least this last one is much better.It is definitely not muscular pain. I have had before muscular pain in my lower back due to weight lifting, and not so perfect form, but usually those disappeared in 2-3 days. Geezer how long did it take for you to feel normal and to be able to start lifting (heavy) again?
27 Mar 14 by member: MimiMeirah
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Thank you 7Chris-10 and CalynLZ.
27 Mar 14 by member: MimiMeirah
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Mimi, 4 !/2 years later, I still have chronic pain from nerve damage. I began lifting again with an empty bar one year after my injury and slowly began adding weight each session. Two and a half years later I had progressed to a 465 pound squat and 450 pound deadlift. I hope that gives you some encouragement to stay in the game as the best defense against back injuries is a strong back.
27 Mar 14 by member: GeezerDude
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Mimi, I seen in your profile that you have been doing Crossfit. My advice would be to drop Crossfit and get yourself on a decent full body type weight training program. The reason I advise this is that the way Crossfit is ran, it leaves you in greater potential for injury than just lifting at your own pace. This is beacuse a lot of their WOD have you doing as many reps as you can get in a defined period of time. This sets yourself up for a loss of good form which is one of the most important details you need to stay mindful of when you lift weights.
27 Mar 14 by member: GeezerDude
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In my experience with persistent lower back pain (exacerbated by workouts), I've found that massage really helps to address the problem. It also worked very well for my father, who thought he had and injury in his lower back for several decades, until he relented and got a massage. The immediate relief he experienced was shocking to him. Before you go through all the medical procedures, it's definitely worth a shot. Just make sure to describe to the massage therapist what's going on with your back so they can address it appropriately. I'd recommend a sports massage or deep tissue, but you can talk that over with the therapist. Good luck.
27 Mar 14 by member: pippylongstockings
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Geezer, I know what you mean by your loosing form because of timed workouts and high reps due to competitiveness. I agree with you it is a greater potential for injury. Although, I am trying to find the middle way, because I do love CrossFit, here we have a great community and it is fun to work with them. Here, in our gym these guys are amazing, they are not arrogant and conceited. I am not competing, so I explained to myself I need to know my limit and make sure safety and form is the most important during work outs. I do not feel the pressure here to go always RX and to care only about the number of reps. But I know what you are talking about, because I have been in CrossFit gyms, where competitiveness is the number one priority, which can cause lots of injury. Also I do not say that CrossFit is perfect work out solution, but with a great community I find it really enjoyable. I know myself, if I have to plan my lifting routine I tend to be bored easily, and not to accomplish. I see people in the gym doing lifting by themselves, but most of the time I have a feeling they do not exactly know what they are doing, and implementing very long rest times, and lifting light weights easily they do not see any results. I think on long term I would be one of them, and repetitiveness would kill my mind. Before I was visiting gym, worked out there, visited group fitness, but I was bored and never got really stronger. By the way your progress is amazing, your numbers are really encouraging. I am sorry to hear that you still have chronic pain from the nerve damage. Back issues are really tricky.
27 Mar 14 by member: MimiMeirah
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