Back Injury and core strength help / rebuilding

Leksikon

Newbie
I had a back injury in 2010-11 and have since lost strength and (muscle) weight that I'd like to rebuild. I'm now working in an office environment sitting most of the day and it's getting worse. My thought is that rebuilding my core muscles will help stabilize the spine and lead to long-term ability to work out more/better.

My problem is discs in the thoracic and lumbar spine. The occasions of my back "going out" (disc slipping) has increased quite a bit since starting the new job this year and my strength and weight are both down below where I want them. My "PT" at the moment consists of stretching, using a yoga roller to keep the muscles loose, and the plank position exercise.

I'm hoping to get some input on other exercises I could try or other stretches that might help. My diet is good, I'm quitting smoking which will no doubt help, and I'm walking regularly at night. I'm looking for things I can do at home rather than joining a gym - if that means I need to purchase equipment or re-purpose / improvise things around the house I can do so.

I'd like to get back to a regular morning routine that I feel good about. Seems like at the moment I'm just trying to fight off pain. I miss knocking out pushups and pullups with ease and I would like to return to that - but I'm going to need a slower buildup of the core first. The stretching is good but I'd like to get other suggestions.

To put in perspective where I am - I'm about 6 feet, and now dipping close to 150lbs. Prior to the injury I was 6'1" and routinely in the 180s-190s, hitting upper 200s in PT tests with ease, running 2 miles in the low 14 minute range and running 10 miles or more pretty regularly. I'm 37 and don't bounce back like I used to.
 

JRude

Amateur
It most often has something to do with the psoas and iliac muscles. Simple things things to try are deep tissue massage in the stomach area from your pelvic bones to your rib cage by laying on your stomach on top of a mini basketball or softball or similar object, specifically these muscles attach at your spine and pelvic bones so try to get the muscles in the front massaged all the way to the spine. I do 2-5 minutes on each side. It works best if the object is spherical, I have not had nearly the same effect from a foam roll.

The other is to sleep on one of those specialized trapezoidal pillows that props your lower legs up like the folding beds that older people use. If the psoas and iliacus are tight, when you lay flat they put pressure on the spine. Recliner chairs, hammocks, folding beds, and those funky pillows all elevate the legs and change the angle of the thighs to the lower back, all reduce tension on those muscles. If any of those things help I definitely recommend buying one of those funky pillows.

Between that and a rogue fitness reverse hyper machine in my gym I rarely experience back pain, and when I do tweak it I can knock it out fast and get back to training.
 

JRude

Amateur
This will probably make more sense than written word


3588245613
 
Top