Last december I had some bad pain in my right lower abs and went to the doc, he said no hernia and most likley a strain. So after a week off and careful trainign for a while I was all good. But about a week ago I started feeling something in my left lower abdomin. There is no real pain I can just notice it sometimes. I am just wondering if anyone here has ever had a hernia or other abdomin injury?
I wonder if it might be a hip flexor problem. Does it hurt when you do a specific exercise?
Does it spasm? Does it effect your digestive system in anyway? Do you feel it more when using your legs or more when using your abs? Does it transfer into a weakness in certain lifts? Does it get tired more easily or abruptly loose strength? Does it get inflamed with a dull ache or is it a sharp acute pain?
I had the exact same problem for about 6 months this past spring and summer. Work on slowly strengtening your abs and lower back and the problem should take care of itself.
I started out by cutting out all ab exercises that would aggravate the injury. After a couple of weeks, I slowly started to reimplement them. I joined my school’s powerlifting team this year and we work abs for around 15 minutes four times a week. I haven’t had any problems for probably a month and a half. Hope this helps.
I will add, however, that it’s strange you felt the pain in two different spots. Mine was localized to the lower left abdominal only.
might not be the abs at all. i had pain in the same area and it turned out to my my psoas.
I find that I feel it most when i wake up in the morning and my lower back is also stiff. The other time I feel it most is when I bend over to pick something up on the ground, and even then its not painful really I can just notice it. I can do crunches and I dont feel a thing. Another thing to point out is that a few weeks before I started feeling some stiffness or pain in my lower back. Its not really a problem so I have just avoided any heavy stress on my trunk area and if it doesn’t go away thenm I will go to a doc. It kinda sucks though because I’m in Korea now and I’m a little weary about seeing a doc here.
Does anyone know what issue of t-mag that has the article where you suck in your stomach to strengthen the deep ab muscle.
I have also experienced similar pain and like Goldberg it was due to a hip flexor/ adductor problem. Just a quick question, have you recently done in sprinting, jumping or highly reactive sports? (baskettball/soccer/judo…)
I did play some basketball and leg day a few days before where I did front squats at high speed.
aiden,
Did a search for Transverse Abdominus (aka Deep Ab Muscle) and it turned up the following results:
“Learn all about the TVA”
“Vacuums (Sucking in your stomach to work the TVA)”
“Power Breathing to work the TVA”
“Roll your way to a stronger TVA”
“Awesome Abs, with Thin Tummy variations for a stronger TVA”
Also, check this recent article for some good exercises for the TVA (plank, side plank, horse stance):
There are many other good T-mag articles about training the TVA (or core conditioning). Don’t forget that Squats, Front Squats, Deadlifts, and other compound exercises also train your core (esp. front squats).
For those with a psoas or hip problem what did it feel like and what was need to recover?
Aiden, the reason I asked if you played bball was that was how I injured my hips. I noticed when I jump from a single leg for a layup that it would stretch sooo much that it felt like it ripped apart, that was with proper stretching and a dynamic warm up. I also get a little pain from when i sprint or make quick agressive cuts. I finaly had to stop playing for about 3.5 months and took a little time off from intense legs. One thing that really helped was I did workouts in my pool for a couple of weeks, light high knee running, side and front leg swings, jumping jacks with focus on the adduction and slowly got back into my leg routine and lots of stretching. The pool helped, but i take it easy on the courts, only a couple of games a week with proper warm ups, I hope this can help.
I dont think I hurt it playing bball. i’m relly not sure what caused it. I just know its there now, and if its not gone in about 3 weeks I’m goign to see a doc. But thanks for the help. But I did have some lower back stiffness and pain about a week or 2 before this happened, and still do a little now.
I have the same problem. I hurt my ab last season playing hockey, probably in one of my many fights. It hurt on the lower right side so I took a couple weeks off tried playing again and ended up hurting it again and I could hardly walk. So after the season I took a month or two off from training and it got better. Then at our open tryout camp on the 2nd day I got the same exact pain only on the left side. I couldn’t do any ab work all summer, and it is still bothering me.
I love it how people try to play doctor’s when they are not;). Especially when they are describing the problem online and you aren’t even face to face. Hell, I don’t even give advice to my clients eventhough, I probably know what is wrong with them. I tell to go see a doctor and have them dertermine whats wrong.
I’m going to see a doc this week if its not gone. I dont think it will be so I guess I’m going.
I just got back home tonight and it feels 99%. I think I’m going to do some light stretching and ab wokr tomorrow and see what happens. If its still there friday i have decided its doc time 100%.