chiropractors

No chiropractors, but I have been doing lots of stretching to restore my posture and that's made a huge difference.

I got into it through this company called Egoscue. Started by a guy named Pete Egoscue who got hurt in Vietnam, lived with pain, studied the body, and then came up with this system to restore himself to health. He's sort of more than a bit full of himself, but the process really does help and a quick check of the reviews of his books on Amazon will prove that. (He's written two how-to books both of which have a disgusting amount of five star reviews from people who've had their chronic pains cured). I would totally recommend this to anyone who lifts. This training cycle post Egoscue is the first that I have been totally free of injury.

I actually went to one of their in person clinics. It's overpriced, and the stretches and exercises they gave me felt like they were for granny. Defnitely very very gentle - a bit annoyingly so. But I took the concepts and ran with them, threw in my own stretches and dramatically sped up the process. Still, the sheer amount of stuff I learned from incessantly questioning the guy in the 2 hours spent with him made it worth every penny.

Before my feet were splayed out and people commented to me that I looked like i was dragging my right foot when I walked. Now it's almost perfect one in front of the other. My right knee compensated by collapsing inward too and that is almost all gone as well. My torso was rotated too, such that from a side view, my right shoulder and right foot were always in front of the left. It basically looked like I was leading with my shoulder.

My hips tilted forward/down too, so I've stretched my psoas and piriformis a shit ton and they're starting to level back out. That's done wonders for back pain. My scapula are also winged out, which is apparently the result of a weak serratus muscle, so I've been strengthening that a bit too. My rounded, internally rotated shoulders are almost gone now.

Before you get the impression that I was a walking train wreck before this, you should realize that I bet almost everyone reading this post has these same problems if not worse than what I have. Now that I know how to diagnose this stuff, I think I see about 19 out of 20 people one the street with some of these problems.

Good stuff. I've heard people preach about ART (Active Release Therapy) as well, but I zero clue what it's about. Anyone have any other good experiences?

sounds good!.i'll check it out.and i agree,most people dont realize that their body is out of alignment.when i first went to a chiropractor,i had most of what you did.

Here's one for you...

Damaged my lower back about 4 years ago doing squats. I went down and the back went TWANG! Me being me, I toughed it out about a week and a half. Finally the pain got too bad and I developed a "S" curve that was noticable to anyone that saw me.I saw a chiropractoe and was diagnosed with compression of the L3,L4,and L5. I went for about 2 months before the "S" left. I stopped the chiropractor because my plant shut down and I couldn't afford it.

I continued to experience a daily pain and it would "go out" every 5-6 months for about a week.

Back in October, my back went out again. I returned to the chiropractor and received regular treatments. I was mobile, but still experienced lower back pain. This time the diagnosis was degeneration of the L3,L4, and L5.

This time I stopped going because I was layed off.

Well, recently on a forum I frequent I met a guy just graduating chiropractic school. I explained everything I just said here and he told me some exercises to do (one involving rolling on a tennis ball). I can say that helped!! I've actually had pain free days!!!! I just found it odd a guy that never met me, saw X-rays, or anything did better than the guy I was seeing!

Originally Posted by BigRob

Here's one for you...

Damaged my lower back about 4 years ago doing squats. I went down and the back went TWANG! Me being me, I toughed it out about a week and a half. Finally the pain got too bad and I developed a "S" curve that was noticable to anyone that saw me.I saw a chiropractoe and was diagnosed with compression of the L3,L4,and L5. I went for about 2 months before the "S" left. I stopped the chiropractor because my plant shut down and I couldn't afford it.

I continued to experience a daily pain and it would "go out" every 5-6 months for about a week.

Back in October, my back went out again. I returned to the chiropractor and received regular treatments. I was mobile, but still experienced lower back pain. This time the diagnosis was degeneration of the L3,L4, and L5.

This time I stopped going because I was layed off.

Well, recently on a forum I frequent I met a guy just graduating chiropractic school. I explained everything I just said here and he told me some exercises to do (one involving rolling on a tennis ball). I can say that helped!! I've actually had pain free days!!!! I just found it odd a guy that never met me, saw X-rays, or anything did better than the guy I was seeing!

The thing with chiropractors is that they all dont use the same techniques.The first one i went to was rated number one in the entire area i live in.He didnt help.But the second one i went to did/used something different and i was better.Just gotta go to 'em until you find the one.My problem is that my rib cage is outta alignment.Iam 98% better.

hope your back gets better BigRob.Injuries suck lol.I found when i started lifting really heavy it takes a toll on the body no matter how carefull your form is.Shit will happen,just gotta hope not too much happens to you.

They are incredible. I thought I had several damaged disk from an old injury, dealing with pain every day.

It turns out my neck was twisted, and it has been causing issue to my upper back. Also, my neck and upper back lost their curve.

Ex-rays are VERY interesting.

I've had very good experiences with ART. I made the typical newb mistake of trying to progress too soon and started deadlifting heavy without a good plan. I was full of myself since I had made moderate gains the preceding months it seemed like an exciting idea at the time. Anyhow, after a few weeks of heavy singles I developed a lot of tightness in my back. It got so bad that after my warmups my back would seize up and sometimes I wouldn't be able to workout because of it.

Fast forward to me finding an ART practitioner...he found a muscle group (the Quadraus Laborum; and I know that I'm butchering the spelling) which was essentially causing the rest of my low and mid back to tense through its own tension. He really helped relax the area and it only took about 8-10 sessions before I felt 100%.

I'm deadlifting again and am stronger now than when I hurt myself. So, yes I'd definitely recommend some time with an ART practitioner. He also reminded me of some core movements that I had been neglecting due to a lack of time.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say that the moral of the story--progress slow, work within your abilities and when your technique starts to go, stop lifting. I've been getting stronger using 60-80% of my max 3-4 reps with ~40 seconds rest between sets.

Originally Posted by I.C.P.

hope your back gets better BigRob.Injuries suck lol.I found when i started lifting really heavy it takes a toll on the body no matter how carefull your form is.Shit will happen,just gotta hope not too much happens to you.

Thanks, I have started looking at my form a little more after talking to my new buddy Zeke, and I've noticed when I do shoulder exercises I tend to stick my butt back and arch my back. I'm going to drop weight so I can hit the form more correctly.

Speaking of dropping weight...between the back injury, the holidays, and being laid off, I've gained 10-15 pounds on the belly I'm sures not helping my back any. Yes...I'm currently trying to diet.

Originally Posted by Phadrues

I've had very good experiences with ART. I made the typical newb mistake of trying to progress too soon and started deadlifting heavy without a good plan. I was full of myself since I had made moderate gains the preceding months it seemed like an exciting idea at the time. Anyhow, after a few weeks of heavy singles I developed a lot of tightness in my back. It got so bad that after my warmups my back would seize up and sometimes I wouldn't be able to workout because of it.

Fast forward to me finding an ART practitioner...he found a muscle group (the Quadraus Laborum; and I know that I'm butchering the spelling) which was essentially causing the rest of my low and mid back to tense through its own tension. He really helped relax the area and it only took about 8-10 sessions before I felt 100%.

I'm deadlifting again and am stronger now than when I hurt myself. So, yes I'd definitely recommend some time with an ART practitioner. He also reminded me of some core movements that I had been neglecting due to a lack of time.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say that the moral of the story--progress slow, work within your abilities and when your technique starts to go, stop lifting. I've been getting stronger using 60-80% of my max 3-4 reps with ~40 seconds rest between sets.

I've heard nothing but positive feedback with ART.Iam gonna give it a shot at some point.