Injuries suck. Point blank. There’s no way to get around that fact. If you’re an athlete, a gym rat, or hell…even human….you’ve probably had an injury or two. Having been an athlete and spending much of my time confined within the walls of the gym, I’ve suffered a handful of injuries, probably too many to count. Recently, I did exactly that. Two injuries in two weeks…so not ideal.
It’s Sunday, leg day. The week prior I had hit my own PR of 205lbs x 6 reps. So I try banging it out again during this next work out. Nailed it. I’m feeling good, great actually. So I decide to go for 215lbs x 6. I get to 4 reps without a problem, and my left low back snaps. I thought maybe it was just a muscle spasm, so I rack the weight and rest for a bit. I strip the weight down to 175lbs, try to bang out 12 reps. Two reps in and I was shot. So I racked the weight and literally just walked out of the gym.
I haven’t pulled a muscle in my back that bad since last summer when I completely threw my back out. I let a couple weeks go by, resting it and taking it easy. Two weeks later, it’s still bothering me, and then all of a sudden, doing nothing in particular, my knee starts swelling up and is so damn tender that I can’t even walk or stand on it.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I have scoliosis. It’s not a terribly extreme case, but I have just enough of a curvature that prohibits me from being able to do a lot of things easily that other people find to be no problem, like standing for more than 30 minutes without extreme pain. Due to this, without even realizing it, I’ve created some muscular imbalances and weakened the intrinsic muscles that you normally don’t work out at the gym, that I’m much more susceptible to injury. It’s been a huge hindrance for the past decade or so to say the least. I hadn’t been X-rayed or even had it looked at since I was first diagnosed, so I decided to make a physical therapy and doctor’s appointment.
Physical therapy sounds like it’d be a breeze, but I was nervous as all hell, to put it lightly. I suppose I was expecting the worst news possible. But I finally went...and nailed it. I actually really enjoyed it...although I found out I was kind of more fucked up that I thought.
Basically, although I do have a curvature in my spine, that wasn’t contributing to most of my pain. My hips seem to be the culprit. From the scoliosis and poor posture to 15 years of dancing, my hips have developed an extreme anterior pelvic tilt. So basically, it looks like I’m arching my back and trying to stick my ass out…but that’s literally how my body is aligned. Because of this poor alignment, my hips have been pulling on all of my back muscles (which has been the main cause of my pain) and in turn, effecting my IT band (in addition to the fact that I don’t stretch it as much as I should) which has caused my knee to flare up. My spine I can’t correct, just prevent from getting worse. However, I can correct my hips over time, in which I’ll be going to physical therapy every week for.
It all makes sense now, by squatting with such an extreme pelvic tilt, I’ve been placing such an immense amount of stress on my low back for the past 6 months. Had I known about this tilt, I could have focused on it during my squats and prevented this from happening. But how am I supposed to know any better…that’s how I’ve been for as long as I can remember. So now I feel like I’m starting over. I can’t squat or deadlift as heavy until my form is absolutely perfect and my hips are corrected more. I have to say, it’s quite the blow to my ego, and I’ve been pissed off for weeks. I’d be lying if I didn’t get down on myself and a little depressed about the whole thing.
But one day, I was venting to a friend and something they said made me realize that I’ve been acting like an idiot. My scoliosis is not the end of the world. Sure, it’s a chronic condition that I will always have to deal with, but I’m not paralyzed or anything. There are people who’ve lost limbs, who have serious diseases and who are even on their death bed. I’m lucky and fortunate enough to not be one of them. In addition to all of that, I’m able to do more and lift heavier weight than a lot of people in the gym who are perfectly healthy. & the fact that I have this hindrance and I’ve still been able to do what I’ve been doing, isn’t all that bad.
If any of you have or are currently suffering any injuries, the best advice I can give you is to rest and take it easy. Listen to your body. Don't push yourself further than you're capable of going and surely don't sacrifice form for weight.
So, I’m setting my ego and my emotions to the side, and focusing on getting myself back together. If I have to squat and dead lift much lighter weight until my hips can support it, so be it. In the long run, it’s the smartest move possible.
But let’s be honest…scoliosis….you sure are one huge bitch.
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