What are your goals and aspiration for this year? What do you want to spend more time doing?
What do you want to spend less time doing? What needs to happen for 2021 to be a success to you?
Shoot me some of your ideas I would love to hear them. Sometimes saying them out loud can be powerful. It can make them real if spoken!!
On another note I wanted to let you in on a secret. Come a little closer …..closer….but not too close (social distancing rules still apply) …NO..I did NOT have COVID if that’s what your thinking BUT I did have some wicked pain in my low back! Did you know that doctors get back pain too!!!! I know it’s hard to believe but we are definitely not immune from having bouts of back pain.
Here’s the deets:
The other day I performed a good warm -up to get ready for a workout. It lasted about 15 minutes, went through some kettlebell movements like deadlifts, kb snatches and kb cleans with push presses. Everything felt good. Then, it was time for something called speed squats, nothing heavy for me about 50% of my max. The idea is to move relatively quickly down and up in a squat with a barbell and weights on my back but still under complete control. For the speed squat you must be explosive out of the bottom. It serves a purpose and is effective only for those who can exhibit control through the whole range of motion. Well, during my 4th set as I reached the bottom, I apparently was not one of those people at that moment. I felt a brief sharp pain in my lower back. It was most likely my L5/S1 level. Honestly, I was unsure if I would be able rise up to rack the bar. Well fortunately I did. The remaining 2 sets I still performed against my wife’s better judgement. She immediately knew I had injured my back.
Later that day and for two subsequent days it was difficult to hinge/bend at the waist and my low back felt very vulnerable. Thankfully, Dr. Spina worked on me for the next 3 days in a row and I was able to start training again in 2 days.
I thought over what might have transpired during that squat to explain to myself what happened. I think in this case I briefly lost control of my bracing of the core and of the lumbar spine for a brief millisecond and the L5 area of my spine couldn’t handle the excessive motion at the bottom of the squat.
Consequently, the disc at the lower spine became inflamed and then surrounding muscles “spasmed” to serve their job to protect the spine.
You, yourself, may not perform the same exact activities as I, but this mechanism can be mirrored when we lift objects at home/work, playing with our kids and fur-kids, or enjoying recreational sports etc. The idea behind chiropractic rehab and functional exercise is so your body can develop tolerance by loading these tissues and conditioning them to be able to handle everyday tasks that you perform. The tissue tolerance is different for each individual.
But what remains the same for all of us across the board is that we need to move more often. Fingers on a keyboard does not count. We all spend so much time sitting in cars and at computers these days that it’s no wonder we have become victims of stiffness, achiness and tightness and emotional distress. Our body is basically begging us to move when we feel these symptoms.
With that being said, I’m back at it full force and feeling great with a constant reminder (thank you, Dr. Spina) to keep that core and midline tight before loading my spine. As for you all, keep moving forward and get a plan on how to move MORE, move SAFE and progress through 2021.
Dr. Marc & Dr. Jolene
