Low Back Issues - I've been to hell and back and just wanna help...
I feel comfortable (recovered) enough at this point to write a short post about what I had to do to kick some really, really awful low back issues. I'm talking about the kind of pain that keeps you awake at night (not good). The list of of issues that piled up to create this situation is so long I can't begin to write. Bottom line it was Skiing + Big Bike Week 400 miles in 4 days all in TT position + Long Runs + No Recovery + Pulled Hamstring + Super aggressive PT work for hamstring - all of this combined put a shit-ton of stress on my low back resulting in two injuries at one time #1 - Aggravating L5/S1 bulging disc and #2 - Facet Joint Syndrome. But the 2012 IMCDA is the most important thing in my life, right? So I train on. I barely made it to the start line and even then I probably should have bagged the race. Sleepless nights, throbbing, shooting, aching pain everywhere. Did IMCDA and after figured I'd be "healed" in a week. A week, a month, two months passed and it was still bad news bears.
Here's how I got back on track...
#1 - Turning point in August was my sports doc called me to inquire about my Rx dosage and routines. At this point I had all the narcotics, muscle relaxers, ambien to sleep, etc. I told him I was just putting out fires with Rx as needed. He stopped me right there and said, "I am calling in an Rx for 800mg Ibuprofen and want you to take 3 X 800/day for 14 days" - that's 75% max dose. He said I'd likeley feel some mild nausea from time to time (which I did) but told me to pop a Prilosec to protect my gut. My pharmacist Cat2 buddy said to "Kick It" with 3000/mg of Tylenol a day too. Goal here was to get a big anti-inflammatory barrier setup in my bloodstream over a period of many days. Just 3 days into the dose I was feeling 100% and when I rolled off the Rx on Day 14 I was good to go. This got me over the hump. Nothing, I mean nothing else worked like this.
#2 - I started on PT and specifically working with my TVA. Week 1 was literally just practicing "bracing" my TVA 1X per hour for 30 seconds. No joke, it was so remedial but very necessary to progress. Bottom line, when you have a back injury the first muscles to atrophy are the TVA and Multifidus. Both stabilize your low back. I worked through about 3-4 PT sessions to get to the point where I could start doing Planks again. If I had just jumped to Planks I would have short-circuited the rehab and likely been worse off.
#3 - Walking and Running (for me) were awesome therapy. I still ran 3 X per week for 30-60 minutes. And I even ramped up to 90 mins. Now I am at 1:45 and only limited by the fact that I don't want to hurt other parts of my body. The blood flow, loosening the muscles, etc helped me feel much better in the mornings when I would go for a run.
#4 - Our mattress was 10+ years old. We spent the $3000 to get a new one. At first we got a Sleep Number and I did NOT like it. We returned it and got a regular, high quality inner spring mattress.
Knock on wood, things are better.