Tag: injury

Active Life

Nick Momrik2 Comments

I’ve posted before about the low back issues I’ve been dealing with for the last few years. Unfortunately I didn’t keep up with the exercises recommended by the PT. I also realized I was wasting my time and money going to the chiropractor every 4-5 weeks because they weren’t doing anything to correct my problem. After getting a bunch of adjustments over a 2-3 week period in August to use up some FSA funds, I tweaked my back the next day. Go figure. I’ve always been skeptical of the chiropractor; I don’t see how 5-10 minutes of work every month can have an impact.

At the end of November I saw Active Life was running a special on their Athlete Membership, which gives you access to all of their programs. $100 for a full year seemed like a steal, so I signed up.

After explaining my back problems, they told me they see similar issues with a lot of athletes, usually caused by an imbalance on one side of the body. Their recommendation was to follow the Single Leg Bias and Back Max programs. I’m over 2.5 months in and just finished the 40 workout SLB program and am over half way through the 80 workout BM program. Tomorrow I’ll be starting the Hips program to replace the SLB workouts.

I like the programs and there is enough variety in the movements to keep my interest. Since I’ve been a member I’ve experienced what felt like a few tweaks while performing my other CrossFit workouts. Only one affected me a bit for a few days, so it seems like the programs are improving things.

If you’re dealing with any CrossFit injuries, check out what Active Life has to offer.

Switching Golf Grips

Nick Momrik7 Comments

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I’ve been using the interlock grip to hold golf clubs for as long as I can remember. About a month ago I noticed my right pinky finger was swollen at the knuckle, which happens to be one of the two fingers involved in the interlock. It feels like I have a constantly jammed finger.

It seemed to be slowly getting worse after each round of golf and got to the point where I couldn’t fully bend it. After doing some Googling, it seems to be a common problem, even though I’ve never had it happen to me. I’m not sure what I’ve been doing different, but it’s not comfortable. Time for a change.

Even though I’ve used the interlock for chipping, pitching, and full swings, I’ve used a reverse overlap grip (left pointer overlapping right pinky) for putting because I’ve always liked the feel of it. I’m pretty sure I first learned about it when reading Tiger’s book “How I Play Golf.” So I set out to try the Vardon Overlap Grip, as it’s also known, for every club in the bag.

Yesterday was the first round trying it out. It was uncomfortable and I “topped” quite a few shots. I didn’t realize I was using opposite overlaps for putting and everything else until the 10th hole. From there on out I overlapped like I do for putting on every shot. It was much more comfortable and I started hitting better shots.

Last night I looked around online. I learned that the overlapping grip tends to be better for players who have large hands, like me, while the interlock is usually better for players with small hands. It turns out Jordan Spieth uses this reverse overlap grip.

It’s going to be a work in progress because every time I gripped the club my instinct was to interlock. It’s hard to change something you’ve been doing for more than a decade. At least for now, my swollen pinky acts as a mental trigger to switch it up when I go for the interlocking grip.
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Back Update

Nick Momrik7 Comments

On Sunday March 24th, I tweaked my back. I’ve been having some issues for the last year or so, but never like this. Usually I feel it happen and can continue training in a limited capacity during the same workout session. I’ll back off weights for a few days, but within a week I’m back to normal. This time was different. It literally took minutes to get out of bed on Monday morning and walking was a struggle.

When I felt worse on Tuesday morning I made an appointment to see my chiropractor. It helped a little, but not much. After getting home and sitting to work for hours, it was not easy standing back up. When I woke up worse yet on Wednesday I was getting worried. Did I have a ticking time bomb in my low back that could be set off any second? I called my chiro and he talked me down, explaining it was a good sign I wasn’t getting any numbness or tingling up or down from the area. I was so uncomfortable sitting or standing I took the day off work and spent it laying on the living room floor watching TV. Getting up off the floor wasn’t pleasant but at least I was feeling ok when I was down there.

I went back to the chiro on Thursday and he mentioned moving around while sitting on an exercise ball may help, so I actually used one as my desk chair the rest of the day and on Friday too. Finally on Friday evening I started to feel some improvement. Waking up Saturday was still a struggle and I gave up on socks after failing to put them on for several minutes. Once I was up and moving around the house, things loosened up and I saw more improvements through the day. When I woke up on Sunday I was able to get out of bed, shower, and put clothes on mostly normal.

Now I was on to week two and I felt better each day. I saw the chiro two more times that week. I was still leaning to one side and moving gingerly until probably Wednesday. I had been able to get on the Airdyne for some exercise through those first 10 days and it was actually when I felt the best. I slowly started adding in more exercise movements like air squats, box step-ups, and lunges.

On Monday, which was the beginning of the 3rd week, I squatted some decent weight (over 70% of my max) with no pain. I saw the chiro one last time on Tuesday. On Wednesday I did a workout with quite a bit of deadlift volume. Didn’t need to restrict any movements at this point and hadn’t felt any pain in several days.

I drove an hour down to Holly, MI on Thursday to see a PT who knows CrossFit. One of my friends recommended him and I liked the idea of seeing a PT who understood the movements. I figured I’d feel more comfortable with any plan he came up with compared to going to see a PT in an office.

During my evaluation we talked through the history of my back tweaks. Then he testing some ranges of motion and watched me do some squats, twists, bends, etc in his “office.” Took me into the gym and watched me squat and deadlift moderate loads. Then he had me do some unilateral movements with a kettlebell. Finally back to deadlifts but from a deficit. We were talking through everything the whole time.

It’s not a mobility issue for me, other than some minor hamstring restrictions at end range. He gave me a bracing and stability tip to get more neutral in my setup; I have had a slight tendency to arch more than needed. He recommended movements to strengthen and stretch my hamstrings under load, showed me a psoas release technique, and gave me some unilateral work to address imbalances I have in my low back muscles.

Turns out I was on the right track with some of the things I’ve done at different times to address this problem. Unfortunately I was never sure and didn’t stick to anything long enough to make a difference. So far I’m really liking the unilateral stuff, which in general is a weakness of most CrossFit programming. We love the barbell, but it can hide a lot of imbalances. I’m excited to see how things progress over the next couple of months.

Another Crash

Nick Momrik2 Comments

Yesterday I managed to crash again while out biking. The last time was in June of 2004, so I guess I was due for some injuries.

Left ShoulderThis crash was all my fault unlike the last time when my bike slipped on a wet root out in the woods. I was cruising along down a paved bike path yesterday and when I came to the turn-around at one end I didn’t slow down much. Centrifugal forces took over and my bike slid right out from under me as I rounded the corner at nearly 20 mph. I went down hard on my left shoulder as you can see in the picture. My body went sliding/bouncing/grinding across the asphalt for least a good 5 feet and probably closer to 10 or more. I didn’t hit my head, but came damn close as my sunglasses smacked the pavement and went flying off.

It took me a few seconds to gather myself and realize what happened. As I got to my feet my body was shaking a bit and I was seeing stars. The handlebars of my bike were twisted and the seat was rotated all the way to the left. I felt the pain in my shoulder right away and after lifting my shirt it didn’t look so hot. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t break anything (or at least I don’t think I did) and didn’t need stitches this time even though I was bleeding from seven different places. I’ve iced the shoulder the past two nights, but it’s going to be pretty sore for a few days. I just hope it’s good enough for golf league on Tuesday night.

I guess I need to learn how to slow down.

More crash photos.