You’re crazy if you think an ER isn’t still going to charge you. Unless your a bum they are going to send a bill to your house. I promise, I have the bills to prove it. But it’s still better than not having your back looked at.
course they send a bill!! but you just dont pay it. You cant pay what you dont have can ya?
J
[quote]Joe Joseph wrote:
Hey Andersons, is that right? How would a dominant low back during a DL present itself in injury?
Please explain a bit more?
Thanks!
Joe[/quote]
Well, in the DL there is the chain of muscles working, all the back muscles, glutes, and hamstrings. Commonly the glutes will be inhibited, and the low back or hamstrings dominant in the movement. The dominant muscles are more likely to get injured through overuse and through being worked outside the sweet spot of their ROM.
An analogy is a team with a person not doing his share of the work, like practically any group project assigned in school. 
The lazy person is fine, but the other student(s) who work hard to make up for him are the ones who are stressed to the max.
In my case, I had a strong and dominant low back, with weak and inhibited glutes. Hip flexion ROM was limited, so lumbar flexion would occur instead. So the pattern of recruitment would start with lumbar flexion, and end with lumbar extension in place of hip extension. The excessive ROM around the sacroiliac joint and lumbar spine during the movement over-stresses the facet joints, ligaments, discs, and muscles.
Weak glutes can be present in very strong deadlifters; I was shocked to read about Dave Tate’s rehabilitation of weak and underactive glutes.
Of course, a strong low back by itself does not cause injury. The weak glutes are the cause, with the strong back taking over work that the glutes aren’t doing. Ideally, everything would be strong. It is possible to have a strong back AND strong glutes AND strong hams that all work together properly during the movement.
So the old, intuitive idea that an injured area is weak and should be strengthened is often wrong. It’s some adjacent area that usually needs to be recruited and strengthened.
So now, when an area is injured, like the low back, knee, or hamstring, therapists look for a weak and inhibited synergist up or down the chain of movement. It is remarkable how many injuries are now being traced to a problem at the hips.
Paul, everyone is right. You should NOT try to strengthen your back; hopefully my other post explained why this would be the WORST thing to do.
I agree you SHOULD see a professional. However. When I hurt my back in 2002, I went to the doctor every few weeks and got nowhere. Four months after my first visit, I blew out a couple discs while deadlifting. See, I was a bonehead, continuing to deadlift while not getting any answers from my doctor! Don’t do that, believe me.
The MOST LIKELY cause of pain is a muscle sprain. These heal quickly and don’t really cause a lot of long-term problems. (However, they are a warning sign that you should check your form and muscle recruitment patterns! Check Eric Cressey’s article a few weeks ago, which has videos of good and not-so-good DL form. Even his not-so-good example is MUCH safer than most people’s execution.)
So although you SHOULD see a doctor, if you do not, do this:
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take 800 mg ibuprofen 2X per day or 400 mg 4X per day, evenly spaced. Try not to miss doses; take it at regular intervals. Take it for 2-3 weeks, or until the pain is gone.
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ice the painful area multiple times per day
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wrap the ice with a compression bandage as tight as you can
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you can also wear the compression bandage while not icing
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don’t do any lifts that tweak the pain
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several times per day, do trigger point therapy and/or myofascial release with a foam roller and tennis or lacrosse ball. You’ll almost certainly feel knots all over the place. Work them all. Work your entire glutes and hip area, including the sides, and your entire back. Foam roll the hams, quads, and IT band.
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an epsom salt soak may be helpful too
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walk as much as possible. Hiking on uneven ground is even better. Lots and lots.
All of those things will speed healing. It is best to start them (especially ice and ibuprofen) the SECOND you feel the pain. That is, the sooner the better.
If you do not feel HUGE improvement after 2-3 weeks, you MUST see a doctor because something more serious is wrong.
I love the fact that people prescribe OTC meds without even seeing you. HAHA.
As a chiropractor myself, no one is trained better than a chiropractor to assess your problem. No one. No other health care professional spends 4 years assessing and caring for the spine and nerve system.
Your issue could be several things from a sprained ligament to a torn muscle. Get to a chiro in your area and get it checked. In fact, PM me and I will help you find one in your area.
In the meantime, get in the tub with epsom salts for 10 minutes (hot water), sit on the edge of the tub for ten minutes with an ice pack, back in the tub for ten, out with ice for 10. Repeat times 4-6. The contrast will help flush any waste products than are in the area, and foster increased blood flow. Take it easy from DL’s and focus on stretching the hips and hams.
HTH
DR C