Spinal Compression

[Tom P]

Did a search but couldnt find anything.

Sometimes after I do any heavy (except bench), my lower back feels a little tight, however its not painful at all, so I usually go hang off a chinup bar for a few seconds to get a bit of a stretch. At this point I get a sharp, painful stretch feeling in my lower back, it lasts a few moments so I figured the pain was associated with 'decompressing' the spine.
Should I be worried about this? Or is it just a normal thing for the spine to do after heavy lifting?

I think I might extend my warmup period for a bit, see how that works out. What do you guys recommend?

 

[ghostwipe]

That's a good question. Lately, the heavier my deads/rackpulls/bors have gotten, the tighter my lower back has gotten (not talking about DOMS), and sometimes it lasts for days.

 

[Tom P]

Well for me, the tightness isnt that bad, its the pain I get when I hang off a bar after lifting heavy that worries me most.

 

[oyaji poi]

maybe you shouldn't hang from the bar?

you could try grabbing a verticle bar, like a squat rack or even a door frame. grab it at about waist height, bend over, hunch your upper back a bit, and lean your butt back.

 

[niagareven]

First of all. Why do you continue to do something that hurts you?

Second of all, if you have access to a reverse hyper, start using it.

 

[ghostwipe]

Another idea (which I need to do myself) is to try a foam roller.

 

[graedy]

GRab the chinup bar and stay tight. Just flex your whole body. Then slowly but shurely relax. Maybe this will work better than just relax immediatelly when hanging from the bar.

 

[PariahCarey]

Back off for your next few work-outs, do alot of assistance stuff for lowerback and core and then work up again slowly.

 

[erskine777]

just lie down on a bench and try and relax your lower back muscles. puts a lot less strain on it than hanging

 

[Tom P]

Thanks for the tips, I'll see how it goes

 

[ziggs]

in the olympic lifting course i did a month ago, our coach for the last two sessions was a former big time coach in romania. He had us hang from the chin up bar at the end of each session.....I was thinking "sneaky russians!"

 

[Fedoraba]

Your guys back just feels tight?

I feel like someone took a sledge to my lower back after a new DL PR. Trick is to use your toes to pick stuff up from the floor for next few days

 

[Dan's Knuckles]

...I think what is causing you pain is spinal traction. The good news is that if spinal traction relieved your pain you might have a disk problem, so it sounds like you don't have a disk problem, congratulations. Keep in mind that when you completely relax your core your spine is held together by ligaments and joint capsules, as your spine articulates at 3-4 points with the vertebrae above it, and 3-4 points with the vertebrae below it. These ligaments all have stretch receptors which will feel pain when you stretch them, such as letting your lower extremity pull down on them, as these joints were designed to handle compressive force, not distracting force. I recommend lying on the floor, and passively bringing your kneeds to your chest, and doing some deep breathing for the stretch instead of doing what is very painful. If bringing your knees to your chest is still as painful, you might want to get it checked out.

 

[IrishAssassin]

First of all. Why do you continue to do something that hurts you?

Second of all, if you have access to a reverse hyper, start using it.

thats what i was going to suggest...i used to feel all sorts of random pains in my lower back before i started using one of those

 

[Tom P]

Ok, I'll just try doing what you guys suggested tommorow. The thing is theres no pain unless I hang limply on the bar, maybe I should just not do it lol. I remember reading somewhere that you should hang in between sets to decompress the spine, anyone think its necessary?
I wish my gym had a reverse hyper, but no such luck.

 

[Duncon76]

Do Yoga