Tag: rehab

Rehabbed Back

Nick MomrikLeave a comment

As I posted back in February, I’ve been following some Active Life programs since December to rehab my back. I finally finished up the programs on Sunday after dragging them out over the last 2 months. During these 6+ months I went through 40 Single Leg Bias, 40 Hips, and 80 Back Max workouts, usually with a Bax Max workout plus one of the others on the same day since each takes about 10-20 minutes.

The programming had a good mix of movements and rotated through them with clear progressions for reps and loading. This really kept it fresh and pushed me compared to other programs that have you doing the same thing every week. I’m really happy with the results. My last bad back tweak was in August and I had a minor tweak in January.

Another reason I know the programs worked is because of changes on the golf course that are a bit hard to explain. Over the last couple of years I’d feel things in my back while out golfing. Almost like minor tweaks from the twisting and bending over. These never affected my swing or caused any issues after the rounds, but I’d feel them here and there. I’ve had none of that this year.

I’ve learned to listen to my body much better and not to push my back on consecutive days. These workouts proved to me that most CrossFit programming doesn’t focus enough on single sided work, which ends up causing imbalances in our bodies. Then we try to compensate, making things worse.

Going forward I plan to substitute some of the movements into my regular workouts so my body doesn’t fall back into the condition I was in. I’d been doing most of the rehab work at home in my garage and only going to the gym twice a week, so I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym 4-5 days a week.

Since my membership to Active Life runs through November I’ll try out some of the shoulder programs to see if I can’t get rid of this impingement that’s been bothering me since the Open. I highly recommend checking out Active Life if you have anything you’d like to rehab on your own.

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.

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.