Hey gang…Im coming to the big dogs for some advice!!!
This weekend I was asked to join a Powerlifting team. My immediate thought was, HELL YEAH AND WHEN IS OUR FIRST COMPETITION!?!?!?!
Then the logical side of me remembered I have problems with sciatica. A few years ago it was so bad I literally couldnt walk for a few days.
Im curious if any of you suffer from this but continue to compete. I would love to kick some ass (or have my ass kicked) competitively but I enjoy waling upright so Im not sure what the smarted thing is to do.
BBB, I’ve got four bad discs that are bad enough to cause symptoms, all in my neck and midback though. The truth is that heavy lifting is the ONLY thing that keeps my symptoms at bay. They improve muscle recruitment and force those active structures to provide the clearance to keep my nerves from impinging.
When it comes to sciatica, it helps to know the actual cause though. Is it from a disc, is it arthritis, is it spondylolysis/spondylolysthesis, is ti actually pyriformis syndrome? Each of those will inform how safe training is and how best to go about minimizing the disease.
Obviously low back health is imperative if you’re going to lift heavy. You have to pay adequate attention to your lordosis, your hip flexors, etc. Lifting through the pain is stupid. LIfting to prevent the pain is not.
I can’t saw for sure I had/have sciatica but when it was really bad a couple years ago I could barely get out of bed in the morning and a few different friends that were health care professionals (mostly nurses) said it was likely sciatica.
For me deadlifting and squats provided relief, but I couldn’t bench for awhile since I couldn’t lie on the bench and put my feet on the floor.
I’d say give it a shot, just monitor your situation. The one piece of advice I can give you is to focus on each rep, especially warm ups. The only time I’ve had pain lifting was on warm up sets due to rushing and lack of focus.
Tonight I made my decision and guess what…I am now the newest member of the Widebody Powerlifting Team. Im going to start going back to the chiro just to make sure things are in proper alignment and keep my frige full of ice! LOL I talked to my personal trainer about it, and of course he wants me to go down the road of bodybuilding, but said he would support me. YAY!!!
You will do great and have a blast. You have a wealth of knowledge with many of these guys online. The one thing I’ve learned in all the years of lifting is that Powerlifters share information like no other sport I can think of.
I have had sciatica/piriformis syndrome type pains on and off. I have come to believe it is an SI joint issue that causes these pains for me and most other lifters. This joint gets stiff and locks up, causing pain and inflammation that can effect you in several ways, sometimes including a shooting pain down the back of your leg a la sciatica. Seems be more common in heavier men over 30 with sitdown jobs. However, I have seen others get this. Everyone is different, but here’s is what I’ve learned first hand:
Do lifts that “unlock” the joint. Good mornings, reverse hypers, and deadlifts help.
Stretching everything inthe hip/lower back on off days
Psoas release. Hurts. But it works
Some great exercise are not good for me anymore. Box squats fuck me up. On bent over rows and shrugs, I can go all that heavy without my back locking up.
Listen to your body and figure out what it can take and what it needs. Good luck.
Pinto - I began incorporating Good Mornings and revers hypers into my workouts a few years ago. Shortly after that my back locked up and I couldnt walk for a few days. Talk about scary! Not sure that the two were related, but it did happen around the same time I started increasing my range of lifts.
Maybe my body was shocked by doing something different. LOL I have no idea. I know that I do NOT want to be scared to start doing them again. I’ll just be doing them with little pink barbells for awhile! hahaha
Challer - I have never heard of nerve flossing. Have you had this done?
[quote]Nikhil Rao wrote:
BBB, I’ve got four bad discs that are bad enough to cause symptoms, all in my neck and midback though. The truth is that heavy lifting is the ONLY thing that keeps my symptoms at bay. They improve muscle recruitment and force those active structures to provide the clearance to keep my nerves from impinging.
When it comes to sciatica, it helps to know the actual cause though. Is it from a disc, is it arthritis, is it spondylolysis/spondylolysthesis, is ti actually pyriformis syndrome? Each of those will inform how safe training is and how best to go about minimizing the disease.
Obviously low back health is imperative if you’re going to lift heavy. You have to pay adequate attention to your lordosis, your hip flexors, etc. Lifting through the pain is stupid. LIfting to prevent the pain is not.[/quote]
I concur, sciatica is inflamation of the sciatic nerve caused by something, as Nikhil said. The primary problem will dictate the treatment, disc protrusions usually respond to extension, spondys usually respond to flexion, adherent nerve roots will usually respond to nerve flossing. I’ve had back pain with sciatica, but not from lifting. The most recent was washing dishes of all things.
Most backs, injured and healthy, respond to strong abs/core, proper posture/form and flexibility of the hips. Lifting form doesn’t have to be militant, just avoid bad form.
Challer - I have never heard of nerve flossing. Have you had this done? [/quote]
Yes, but you need to be tested to see if it can be flossed before adding it to your routine. Flossing generally results in an acute flare-up for a day or 2 then, if your nerve can floss, significant relief. If the root is adhered, it might not work for you and simply be an irritant, which is why you need to be tested. A good chiro will be able to do test and teach you the technique. Call around.
[quote]BodyBldgBabe wrote:
Pinto - I began incorporating Good Mornings and revers hypers into my workouts a few years ago. Shortly after that my back locked up and I couldnt walk for a few days. Talk about scary! Not sure that the two were related, but it did happen around the same time I started increasing my range of lifts.
Maybe my body was shocked by doing something different. LOL I have no idea. I know that I do NOT want to be scared to start doing them again. I’ll just be doing them with little pink barbells for awhile! hahaha
Challer - I have never heard of nerve flossing. Have you had this done? [/quote]
Different strokes for different folks. For me, when my back pain has been so bad that everything else hurt, I could still do good mornings abnd get a good workout. But I have heard of very strong people that can’t go heavy on these or reverse hypers without aggravating their SI. Likewise, I have had people who seem to know their shit swear with religious certainty that box squats CANNOT irritate my SI. Yet me they soemtimes have.
Pinto, you’re exactly right. Everybody’s anatomy and physiology differ to some extent. I rarely use terms like “always” and “never”. Although, I will say to the people that swear box squats can’t cause S-I irritation “HUH?!”. I certainly believe they can. Be very careful about rounding at the very bottom of the motion. Even people with good form who know better may do this on a deep box.