10/10 low back pain, worst of my life, and a very humbling experience is what I lived through two weeks ago. The morning started out very normal, a few meetings followed by a round of golf with a chiropractic school buddy. Throughout the round my low back had felt somewhat tight on the left side by the SI joint, but nothing that would warrant any concern. After the round I was offered to meet for dinner and drinks but decided to have just go home and have a quick meal because I wanted to get a workout in later than night because I wasn't able to in the morning.
My workout started with 3 sets of deadlift, 8 reps with 2-3 left in the tank. This means I wasn't going relatively heavy and this volume was normal for me since I had been running this program for over 2 months at this point (Renaissance Periodization Program, if anyone cares). Deadlifts felt great, low back wasn't aching but I was just a bit tired from the golf round and since I was working out in the evening. Barbell back squats were next after deadlifts with the same rep and set scheme.
During my second set, second rep I got to the bottom of the squat and felt a "pop/pull" and was immediately introduced to an "uh-oh" level of pain. I very slowly managed to remove the weight from the bar and hobbled myself home at a snail pace.
Throughout the rest of the night I was in tremendous pain but tried to keep moving, because once I slowed down and stopped my back would tighten up and make it difficult to move. Sitting was bad, but getting up was damn-near impossible, and lying down comfortably was out of the question. However, I needed to get some sleep because I wanted to be able to work the next day, even though I knew it would be a long shot. I was in for a rude awakening...
I tossed and turned all night trying to get comfortable, having to physically lift my left leg with my arms to pull it into the position I thought would feel better. Giving up on trying to get good sleep around 4am, I committed to try and go to the bathroom. When I got half-way standing, I fell back down into bed pain so severe it caused me to shake. Luckily, my girlfriend was next to me and supported my walk to the bathroom after minutes of lying in agonizing pain. There was no chance I was going back to bed so I went to the living room and paced back and forth before informing the clinic staff of the situation.
So the real question, how was I able to return to seeing patients within one work day?
My self-made treatment plan consisted of these following movements and progression from those. Aside from lying down to getting up, sitting to standing was the most painful movement, but the most doable.
- I sat myself in my desk chair, turned on the TV (WWII: From the Frontlines, was my show of choice) set a timer to 1 minute and forced myself to stand up until the pain subsided, then sit back down. Initially, this required a lot of effort from my hands to push myself up, but that's okay because the motion is all that I was looking for. Once 1 minute seemed relatively easy, I progressed to two minutes on the timer, then again to 5 minutes, then 10 minutes... you get the point. My goal was to build my capacity to sit, since I didn't want to stand all day, and this was the easiest thing I could do. Once I was able to sit-to-stand with a decreased level of pain, I progressed to...
- Standing knee raises. This forced my low back and hips to move more than the sit to stand and performed these until I achieved the feeling I wanted.
- Cat/cow yoga pose was next, and was only done to the extent that I could with only minor pain. This was the ending move of day 1 and became the starting point for day 2.
- Squat to a pain free depth
- Hip hinge with my arms supported on a table.
When I was confident in my abilities to drive and get out of my car, I went and got an adjustment, which was a huge relief on my low back.
After 1 week of these types of progressions I was able to get to around 90% improvement. Which is a huge step given the severity of pain and lack of mobility I was experiencing initially. Within 2 weeks I was able to barbell back squat 225lbs, which may not be much but again it was very reassuring to have that amount of weight on my back without pain. My goal is to be back to 100% effort in the gym by next week and am very proud of the way I programmed my recovery and trusted my body to heal the way it knows how to!
This progression is a great starting point for severe low back pain if you are able. The biggest step is rebuilding confidence in your movement and figuring out what you are able to do in the moment and when to be aggressive in your movement.
If you have ever experienced this type of injury or suffer from low back pain, reach out to me and let's work together on how we can get you back to doing what you love and trusting your body as you do it!
