PT is a wonderful thing

[midnight armadillo]

Thanks to physical therapy, my back has largely healed, and now we are addressing the underlying lower back muscle weakness that lead to a bad muscle/ligament strain (precipitated by standing up too fast from the kitchen table) in my lower back about 6 weeks ago.

I used to be able to deadlift about 365 lbs, do 315 lb good mornings, etc. with no back problems at all. What did my back in was sleeping on the couch for 6 motnhs with our first son (who's now 3). He had bad acid reflux and had to be held upright to sleep until he started outgrowing it. This curved my lower back, and weakened the muscle. Once I returned to the gym when he was 18 months old I kept having persistant back pain and could never lift like I used to. Moral of the story: if it hurts, seek professional help!

8 more weeks of PT plus lots of exercise ball work and I should be better than ever. I start jumproping again tomorrow and will wait another week or so before pulling out my 16 kg kettlebell.

[MemphisTiger]

1. Sorry to hear about your back...

I know from experience sleeping on the couch with infants is hard on your back. With some hard work your back strength will come back due to muscle memory, but be careful not to further injure yourself. Good luck with PT. Ahh, the joys of getting older.