Injury - help please.

[Nicko]

Hi Olivia and Kit,

I’ve injured my back. I have a twisted/rotated pelvis the same as Kit used to suffer from. Mine goes downwards and inwards on the right side. My glutes are firing painfully, my right hip flexor feels like fire and I get lightning shocks through my L3-5 area.

my question is what should I do for the next couple of days? Complete rest? Massage? Chiro? Thanks a bunch! Nick. 

[Nathan]

Hi Nick,

@Kit_L will be able to offer much better advice than I, but while you're waiting on a reply from him, I would say try to rest/relax, stay hydrated, and avoid painful movements. Ice can be used to reduce pain, but it's generally better to use heat since it promotes increased blood flow to the tissues. Movement is usually better than complete rest, as long as it can be done without discomfort. A skilled chiro or masseuse could definitely be helpful, but the effectiveness will depend heavily on the practitioner, so only go this route if you have a practitioner you trust or can get a recommendation from someone you trust.

Best of luck and wishing you a speedy recovery!

[Kit_L]

@Nicko: how exactly did you injure your back? Use heat as @Nathan recommended above for the next few days (not ice; completely wrong for sudden onset LBP), and do not go to a practitioner, for now. Move around as much as you can, without overdoing anything. 

More info = more reply info

Best wishes; this will pass.

[Nicko]

Thank you @Kit_L and @Nathani injured it initially in the Army with the pack work etc we did. 
 

this latest time I was doing body weight lunges and squats and must have overdone it. 

[Kit_L]

Bodyweight lunges can be quite dangerous (but usually to the knees, if not done the way we recommend, where both legs are doing the work and the trunk is vertical) and squats—what sort were you doing? Weighted? Half? Powerlifting? Olympic lifting? And if you have an actual leg-length difference, and a history of low back pain, it's effective to use a support under just the heel of the shorter leg.

Have a look at this, and test yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt7zwss7kPo&t=2s

All these things are fixable, once we now what's going on.

 

[Jason]

@Kit_L, can you explain why bodyweight lunges can be dangerous? 

[Kit_L]

Sheer forces on the patellar tendon, if done the way most youtubers demonstrate them. How were you doing these, and how were you squatting, as I asked before? Did you do the leg length test; if you did, what were the results? 

[Nicko]

Hi @Kit_L thank you. I have a shorter right leg. I’ll try the heel insert thank you. 
 

squats were just body weight, thighs to 90 degrees. Lunges were with one hand on a supporting chair, I think I just tried to do too much in the one go. 

[Kit_L]

Quite possibly, and using a small lift under the R heel is usually enough. You need only a height of around half the difference you have estimated (because your body will have adjusted to this to quite some extent, and you don't want to make these adaptations dysfunctional).