Push-ups and low back pain page

[astronmr20]

This is a tough one. And very discouraging for me.

Started my primal journey a few months ago. been slowly making progress.

I have a history of back problems- extruded disc at L5S1. managed to stay out of surgery with a variety of methods, and recently got with a chiropractor and been making good strides.

Of course, when it comes to LHT, I have to be very careful.

Recently, I came across the 100 push-ups challenge method (linked from this board). Never been a huge fan of push-ups, but suddenly I'm making huge increases in my max. Could never break the 30 threshold- now I'm cranking out close to 50 and I'm only 3 weeks into the program. Chest is more chiseled, core getting stronger, etc.

However, my back pain recently came back with a vengeance this week. And I noticed it's hurting more on my heavy push-up days. Getting stabbing and soreness in low back, stabbing pain in periformis muscles on each side, etc.

My back is laser-straight for push-ups, my form is army-perfect... but I'm starting to suspect this is from the push-ups. Not 100% sure, but that's the only major change I've made recently-- performing a ton of push-ups.

):

Was really looking forward to reaching 100.

Anyone else dealt with this?

[pacificBeef]

are you doing any other exercises?

[diploid]

Sounds like you need to look at some exercises to strengthen your core and back.

As a suggestion, consider looking at youtube for 'Convict Conditioning' and look at the progressions for core exercises.

[astronmr20]

are you doing any other exercises?

Yes, I'm doing sprints and a lot of sledgehammer work with LHT, and occasionally a bulgarian training bag. However, I've been substituting mostly push-ups "only" on my LHT days the past few weeks to reach to 100 goal.

[KatyNC]

I had the same issue after doing push ups the other day, but I think it was related to my form. I am interested to see what others say though. I hope you get it figured out soon!

[Timothy]

Astronmr20, I know how you feel. Seems like half the people I know have some problem with the L5-S1 disc. I did too and at one point it was so bad that my right leg started going weak. Pain was excruciating to the point that I could barely move sometimes. It's pretty much all better now, though.

There was a recent thread on a similar topic where I posted what worked for me. Other people had some very good recommendations too. Hope this helps:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum...tml#post575611

Diploid has a good point that your core could probably use some strengthening. You might do well to replace the pushups with planks for now.

And good for you on the sledgehammer workouts. Best recovery exercise evar.

[jfreaksho]

Back problems are strange- they often start with one thing, but don't actually hurt until something else triggers it.

Personally, I would be more likely to hurt myself doing sledgehammer workouts or sandbag than pushups, because of the twisting and unevenness of the exercises.

I would recommend rest for your back, then basic core work like planks. In the future I would also recommend Convict Conditioning, though there are other books like Foundation that are recommended for fixing back problems.

[rayout]

DoAFounder's Channel - YouTube

Back strengthening exercises

[pacificBeef]

Dependingon your footfall, sprinting could also be causing your back pain

[jswanz1]

Do you stretch your hip flexors out much? Nasty hip flexors will inhibit glute max contraction placing increased load on the SI joint. So if this is the case I'd say take a rest on the push-ups for a couple days, stretch out the hip flexors as much as possible with the Mobility WOD couch stretch, then try the push ups again. See what happens.