Lower back issues

[Roxosette]

my buddy slipped a disc and really messed his back up at BJJ. Negligence on his part but he hasn't been back since. I'll have to find out how he's doing, haven't heard from him recently.

[Melalvai]

Glad to find this thread. I tweaked my back again this week. I got up Tuesday morning, had had trouble finding comfortable sleeping position. I got on my bike and I was astonished at how hard it was to pedal. It hurt. Damn it, I'd gone & tweaked my back again.

It's improved a lot in a short time, but I'm terrified of re-injuring it because I did a number on myself a couple years ago. That time, I shoveled snow. It was just getting better when I reinjured it. (Too much standing too soon.) It was just getting better again when I reinjured it. (Too much walking too soon.) It was so bad the 3rd time that I couldn't get out of bed without help. And it took a long time to get better. Since then, I've been focusing on core strength. Over the winter I went to the gym once or even twice a day. Since my bicycle tour (40 Missouri State Parks -- 6 weeks- with my dad!) this spring, I've been going to the gym less often, once daily but not twice. The classes are body conditioning which includes core at the end, but all of them also do balance. I can tell my core strength has improved dramatically and I can tell it's still my weak area. I took it so carefully at first, modifying everything --legs not held as low, or hands under my lower back, that sort of thing. I'm able to modify less now, though I still modify sometimes.

I hadn't made a connection from my back to bicycling. I thought it was just because I'm too enthusiastic about things. This time, what tweaked it was putting some tiles in. We had water in our basement and we have these tiles that aren't glued down. They fit together like puzzle pieces. So when water comes in, you can pull up the tiles, let it all dry, and put them back. But the one in the middle fits really tight and is hard to get in. I pushed it so hard-- it didn't feel at the time like I was doing anything dangerous. I'm pretty sure though, that that is what did it.

Today I was talking to a friend about it. He said he'd gone to a PT and was amazed at how the guy could tell he was a cyclist and that he drank a lot of water, and a bunch of other stuff, by the way it was tight over here and the way things felt there. Bingo! I suddenly made the connection to my back.

My hamstrings have been very tight this summer. They probably always are but they've been noticeably tight since my bike trip. So tight that people can feel it (if I let them put their hands there.) I'm absolutely certain that is the underlying cause of my back problems, is tight muscles etc. The hamstrings yes but probably other bits as well.

While I'm waiting for my back to heal, I'll research the things that have been mentioned in this thread:
Foundation Training
McKenzie therapists
Pilates
Alexander technique
Hab-it

I will start doing these, either in addition to or instead of some of my other gym workouts!