Extremely Tight/Stiff Erector

Training Injuries
1

2 deadlift sessions ago where I broke a pb I was shooting for for a while, I had sore erectors. Nothing out of the ordinary but for the first time ever I could feel the soreness on my thoracic spine, specifically my left erector. (I am running stronglifts so I am squatting 3x a week and deadlifting every second session. I also do bent over barbell rows and such which works my erectors quite hard.)

I never really get DOM’s so the next day I felt fine. However my erector on the left side of my thoracic spine was sore. It was a sharp/intense/stiff pain in a particular spot. I continued lifting and that spot got VERY SLOWLY worse, still nothing really to complain about. I have had it for a little over a week and today after squats the soreness had doubled, starting to be slightly annoying.

On my second set of barbell rows I stopped half way through, as the pain suddenly exploded and I felt the most intense burn of my life. I can’t bend down properly now without immense pain and the area is extremely stiff. Very few sitting and laying positions help. The pain is ONLY in my left erector. I can’t stand or walk properly I am basically like a robot, even breathing is enough to make it hurt. Only came home about 3 hours ago I have already stretched twice thoroughly, only slightly alleviates the pain and only for a few minutes.

I got a back massage which probably took the pain down a third of the way but it came back just as strong 20 minutes later. Massaging was difficult as it seems to be some sort of deep muscle (i know theres quite a lot of muscles that make up our back) since the only time when I felt relief was when my dad used all the strength he had to really dig in there.

Basically stretching and massages are only very temporary. At the moment I can’t pick things up, agonizing to bend down, cant walk properly, and simply breathing or opening the fridge door skyrockets the pain. What I am doing at the moment is having lots of calcium (since calcium defficiency can cause cramps, I see this as slightly related), and i am going to apply a hot water bottle to my back when I go to bed.

suggestions on how to get through this fast would be very appreciated, and maybe some ideas on how this could have possibly happened. Especially since it is purely on my left erector I am pretty puzzled. In case you were wondering, I have had my deadlift and squat form checked on this forum and they are both okay.

2

Hello,

I had the same problem and still have it from time to time. Think R.I.C.E:

Let your back Rest. Doing a lot of stuff like you do fatigue really quickly your core and the joint on the low back and the recovery is often slow because we use it every day despite that it is more cognitive tissu rather than muscle fibers.

Ice your back. Hot water is for DOM and cramp, not inflammation. Take a bottle of water, let it freeze in your congelator and use it as a foarm rolling tool or just lie on it, your low back touching it and stay for a few minutes.

Do some Compression, get massage from your chick or use your fist to push the muscle where it’s painful and get rid of the possible cramp you could have. Stretching on low back is really tuff because you can’t round it without making your intervertebral discs move. Stretch the areas around it (glutes, hamstrings, psoas, quads, lats) and see if it’s better.

Finally Elevation. You need to depress your low back to let both fluid and joints have better circulation and let your discs grow again. For this you can buy gravity boots and make yourself hanging from a pull-up bar by the ankles or hold it with the strength of your ankles flexor for time. The gravity will both stretch your paravertebrals muscles and lower all the fluid that you have in your legs (especially after a lower body workout). Hold for 1mn with some pause if you start having headaches and build up your time to 3mn, I don’t think that more is good.

That’s how I do, I was having pain on the right side of my low back, and all the stuff that I have wrote have help. Hope you can heal quickly.

Sorry for any strange sentence or word, I’m french.

3

Doing some side stretches might help. I also found jumping jacks to be useful in between sets.

4

[quote]Massthetics wrote:
In case you were wondering, I have had my deadlift and squat form checked on this forum and they are both okay.[/quote]

Nope. This is why i told you:

[quote]dt79 wrote:
Ok there’s a very simple solution for this.

First, get your head in a neutral position, tuck your chin and get your upper back tight.

Second, imagine there’s a loaded bar across your shoulder blades and try to push it off as you initiate the pull.

Not a bad lift though. Just spend some time getting tighter and learn to brace your core. [/quote]

And dug up a post from a near 600lb deadlifter to illustrate your problem:

[quote]emskee wrote:
From the time that you you initiate the pull until just over your knees, you are pulling from a point on your back about 4" above your belt. Do you feet that? I’m betting that you do.

Put your head normal to the rest of your spine, make your chest big and support that bigness by your upper abs which are perched on the belt, imagine pulling from a point where the cervical spine connects to your thoracic spine (like around where the bar goes when you lowbar squat), as if there is a cable there pulling you upward. I’m NOT saying hyper extend your spine because some upper back roundness, lower back flatness tends to accompany a good conventional deadlift. I’m saying use your rib cage, abs and belt and LOCK your spine.

In my experience, personal and observed, It is hard to pull from mid trap when your head is thrown back.

If the bar does not move, you are on your toes or your chest collapses (back rounds) you are most probably too far from the bar. Play with foot position until your pull feels like it comes from the position I mentioned earlier. Since you will be pulling from mid trap, your delts will be a bit in front of the bar. That is okay because your lats and tris combine to make the line of force vertical. Chances are that your hip position will automatically adjust if your upper body is as above and your feet are where they belong.

You’ll probably have to decrease the weight, but if you learn to make your body from the hips up a solid, proud mass and pull from higher on your spine rather from the middle, all should fall into place.

Couldn’t hurt to try this. Just knock a ton off of the bar and try it.[/quote]

And PLEASE GET A BELT and learn how to REALLY keep your core tight.

5

your glutes suck. Get better glutes

6

[quote]dt79 wrote:

[quote]Massthetics wrote:
In case you were wondering, I have had my deadlift and squat form checked on this forum and they are both okay.[/quote]

Nope. This is why i told you:

[quote]dt79 wrote:
Ok there’s a very simple solution for this.

First, get your head in a neutral position, tuck your chin and get your upper back tight.

Second, imagine there’s a loaded bar across your shoulder blades and try to push it off as you initiate the pull.

Not a bad lift though. Just spend some time getting tighter and learn to brace your core. [/quote]

And dug up a post from a near 600lb deadlifter to illustrate your problem:

[quote]emskee wrote:
From the time that you you initiate the pull until just over your knees, you are pulling from a point on your back about 4" above your belt. Do you feet that? I’m betting that you do.

Put your head normal to the rest of your spine, make your chest big and support that bigness by your upper abs which are perched on the belt, imagine pulling from a point where the cervical spine connects to your thoracic spine (like around where the bar goes when you lowbar squat), as if there is a cable there pulling you upward. I’m NOT saying hyper extend your spine because some upper back roundness, lower back flatness tends to accompany a good conventional deadlift. I’m saying use your rib cage, abs and belt and LOCK your spine.

In my experience, personal and observed, It is hard to pull from mid trap when your head is thrown back.

If the bar does not move, you are on your toes or your chest collapses (back rounds) you are most probably too far from the bar. Play with foot position until your pull feels like it comes from the position I mentioned earlier. Since you will be pulling from mid trap, your delts will be a bit in front of the bar. That is okay because your lats and tris combine to make the line of force vertical. Chances are that your hip position will automatically adjust if your upper body is as above and your feet are where they belong.

You’ll probably have to decrease the weight, but if you learn to make your body from the hips up a solid, proud mass and pull from higher on your spine rather from the middle, all should fall into place.

Couldn’t hurt to try this. Just knock a ton off of the bar and try it.[/quote]

And PLEASE GET A BELT and learn how to REALLY keep your core tight. [/quote]
I have been working on said points, and made improvements. That is why I said my form is ‘ok’, but not perfect. I wouldn’t think that the way my form is now there would really be a chance to injure myself (if you can call this an injury, it sort of is) especially so quickly. But anythings possible I guess. Form wasn’t something I think I could blame.

Also about the belt, I haven’t really thought about buying one I guess it would be a worthwile investment. There seems to be one lying around on the floor of my gym most days (looks like it belongs to the gym for us to use) though I haven’t seen it last few sessions. I should have bought straps ages ago but money woes. Not sure how much a belt would cost but probably more than a pair of straps.

Until I recover I am just going to go to the gym twice a week, basically only bench pressing and doing lat pulldowns since theres not much else I can do.

7

Alright. I’ll just give you some stuff the think about while you recover.

  1. As yogi pointed out, work on your glutes as well. Learn to fully activate them. Your hips are not strong enough to break the weight from the floor and your lower back is picking up the slack. It is not your erectors that are weak.

  2. See the video i posted in the previous thread. Your core is not tight. Also, google valsalva maneuver.

Until you learn to do get your core tight, do not do any form of barbell rowing. That is actually even more dangerous than deadlifting if your core is not tight and glutes not flexed.

  1. If you aren’t getting straps, at least use a mixed grip. When you are losing your grip during the deadlift your attention will shift and you lose tightness.
8

Thanks dt, havent replied in a while. I have been contemplating the valsalva maneuver since you mentioned it doing pretend deadlifts with no bar in my hand it feels fairly solid. I have been really aching to try hip thrusts with a barbell, they look like a crazy accessory exercise to do to help with deadlifts and squats. Should be really beneficial for my glutes. I warm up with conventional grip but I always do my working sets with mixed grip.

About my back, I was making steady improvements the following week or so which I was happy about. Though the last week my back hasn’t made any progress at all, which is frustrating because I really want to start squatting again. Not sure what to do as nothing really works, I’ve been resting and taking it easy which has stopped working for me.

I will see what voltarin does, its an anti-inflammatory which should be of benefit. When I saw a doctor the day after I hurt my back I didn’t even have to tell him where the pain was he just saw it instantly after I lifted my shirt up, the muscle was really inflamed apparently.