# Injured my back, planning to race CX Nationals on Thursday, Jan 8



## multirider (Nov 5, 2007)

I re-arranged some furniture on Sunday afternoon. By Sunday evening, my lower back was very sore. On Monday, it was still quite sore, but I went for a ride anyway. It seemed to loosen up and feel better, so I did the planned interval training session.

On Tuesday, there was significant pain in the central lower section of my back. The pain was severe enough that I couldn't bend over without sharp, stabbing pains and could not lift anything or do much besides sit, stand, or walk short distances.

Yesterday, the pain was debilitating. I spent most of the day in a recliner with an ice pack every hour or so.

I have signed up for and desperately want to race the CX Nationals one week from today on Thursday, Jan 8. I would like to be executing my training plan between now and then, but can't ride.

The doesn't radiate down my legs or anywhere else, it's just in the center of my lower back. If I stand or sit with good posture, it doesn't hurt. If I bend, it hurts. If I bend and twist or try to lift anything, it is agonizing. I can't put on my own shoes or socks.

I've had this multiple times in the past, though not frequently. Less than once per year. It always resolves on its own, it's just a matter of time.

In this situation, though, I need the most rapid return to normal that is possible.

If I go to a doctor, will they be able to speed healing? I don't want to go and spend a bunch of money only to be told "rest, relax, put ice on it". If they could prescribe something (steroid or something?) that would speed healing, I want to go. But I don't want to waste time/money if there's nothing they can do.

Advice welcome!


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## rockdude (Apr 3, 2008)

multirider said:


> I re-arranged some furniture on Sunday afternoon. By Sunday evening, my lower back was very sore. On Monday, it was still quite sore, but I went for a ride anyway. It seemed to loosen up and feel better, so I did the planned interval training session.
> 
> On Tuesday, there was significant pain in the central lower section of my back. The pain was severe enough that I couldn't bend over without sharp, stabbing pains and could not lift anything or do much besides sit, stand, or walk short distances.
> 
> ...



find a provider for MAT. checkout Mat Journal-The Journal of Muscle Activation Techniques | MAT Journal. Many top athletes use it for similar problems. If it good enough for Peyton Manning to bring him back from a career ending injury it should work for you.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Ice the snot out of it and seek a physiotherapist for proper diagnosis, advice and treatment.


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## scottR3 (Aug 13, 2013)

Don't do it! Take it from a guy who had similar pains, ignored it, and in the middle of my CX race ruptured my disc. One year ago last week I had surgery on it and am starting to finally recover. 
Not saying you have the same issue, but my body gave me warning signs to back off and I ignored it...
Good luck to you, hope it's not serious


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## multirider (Nov 5, 2007)

My condition changed radically during the day yesterday - okay in the morning with moderate pain and some spiking pain, by noon I was in excruciating pain and called for an appointment but the Dr's office was closed for lunch, by the time they re-opened at 1:30 I felt fine and was considering trying to do a short, gentle ride after work to keep the legs moving. At 4pm, I had time to try a ride but had significantly more pain than I had just a couple hours earlier, so I got on the indoor spin bike instead of the intended outdoor ride on my cyclocross bike. Within a minute or so, I was in significant pain. I did less than 2 minutes of no-pressure/no-power spinning and was back on the couch.

About 6:30, I felt okay and went for a walk with my wife. We went about about a city block and my body gave the clear "we're done, go back now" message. Back to the LaZBoy and ice.

The pain subsided fairly quickly and I was experiencing discomfort with some pain all evening. This morning, I'm stiff and sore and experiencing periodic pain. Very few sharp spikes, though, so that seems like progress.

I made an appointment with an MD for 3pm. Am hoping for pain meds (have been taking Tylenol which is not providing the desired relief), a muscle relaxant, and a prescription for PT so I can try to avoid this in the future.

I've given up on doing the tune-up races scheduled for this weekend. Still hoping to pre-ride the Nationals course in Boulder on Tuesday and race on Thursday of next week.


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

Sometimes it's helpful to change your perspective to arrive at a sound decision. What if your wife was in your situation. Would you think it wise for her to even remotely think about competing?

If you decide to race my only advise is to understand your health care plan or lack there of. I did the same thing and was off the bike for close to a year. I did learn about the importance of proper spine stabilization and core so it wasn't a complete loss. Expensive and painful though.


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## multirider (Nov 5, 2007)

woodys737 said:


> Sometimes it's helpful to change your perspective to arrive at a sound decision. What if your wife was in your situation. Would you think it wise for her to even remotely think about competing?


Profoundly insightful advice that had not occurred to me in this situation. I used to race motocross. After we had kids, my wife wanted me to quit -- she said it was stupid to take such risks in the name of fun when I had a family to provide for. I used to think what she really meant was "oh, you're such a macho guy and my hero!" After I quit riding/racing moto, I finally realized she genuinely meant it was *stupid *for me to take such risks. And she was right. 

I will see what the Dr says and how I feel next week. As you can imagine, Nationals was HUGE goal for my season. I'm pretty bummed about how this has turned out. Of course, it could be worse (ruptured disc) and it could still be made worse by racing. Argh.

Thanks.


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## adam_mac84 (Sep 22, 2010)

Stay out of flexed positions (Lazyboy). Check out 'treat your own back' by Robin McKenzie. You are a classic case.


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## pianopiano (Jun 4, 2005)

*A suggestion*

I've suffered from back pain issues, off and on, for many years now. There have been times when I've been in excruciating pain after my lower back completely 'locked up'. I used to use ice to try to treat the issue, but lately I've had great success when using heat instead. Here's a very interesting article on the subject: Why ice doesn't help an injury and could even make it worse


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## Mandeville (Oct 18, 2014)

The cause of a bad back or back pain on an individual to individual ranks second in complexity and the unknown with it being second and only behind the origin or creation of the universe from "nothing."


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## multirider (Nov 5, 2007)

Mandeville said:


> The cause of a bad back or back pain on an individual to individual ranks second in complexity and the unknown with it being second and only behind the origin or creation of the universe from "nothing."


*I raced. *I figured I would just pull out and stop if it seemed like it was doing damage to my back. Not my best race ever, mostly due to being off the bike when I had planned on training. But it was Nationals and, by definition, a really cool experience!

My back was pretty sore for a few days, but no spiking pain. It was back to normal in a week.

There are multiple web sites that indicate *ice helping healing is a myth *and may actually slow healing. I've decided not to ice any more.

The comment about *back pain being almost as mysterious as creation of the universe from nothing *is pretty funny! The first law of thermodynamics, upon which human understanding of the universe depends, says the energy is neither created nor destroyed. That contradicts the Big Bang theory completely and totally. But kind of gets glossed over in scientific discussions on the subject.


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