Injured Physio Diaries – Part One

What happens when a physiotherapist gets injured? Do we practice what we preach? As luck would have it, I tweaked my back whilst training (during pause deadlifts), so let’s find out.

First, the set up.

Saturday, I trained as normal with one difference – a friend was training with me, and suggested doing some ab wheel exercises. I typically avoid these because it can flare up my elbow tendonitis, and I don’t feel very solid in the bottom position. But I did it anyway, it was difficult and I was quite sore. Job done, all good.

Sunday, I had a lot of deadlifts to do. My core was still very sore and fatigued from the ab wheel the previous day (dun dun..). I didn’t feel any issues when warming up, so I carried on (dun dun dun dunn…). During my working sets, everything felt ‘ok’ – not great, but not bad… usually deadlifts feel quite tight in a good way (insert more Jaws theme here).

I should have listened to this feeling, because on my last working set I felt a twinge in my back kind of like a muscle tearing / fibres on a rope snapping.

So post injury I had some mobility limitations. I could move around in general discomfort but I couldn’t pack up my weights. I had a muscular ache down my left side and towards the back.

I spent the rest of the day (from 4pm onwards) rotating between 20 minutes on my tummy, propped on my elbows, and walking up and down the hallway to get some movement. If I had to sit, it was in a dining chair with a lumbar support behind me. I had a flex-eze heat patch applied to the general area from about 7pm, including while I slept. I also took some nurofen which did not ease symptoms.

To be continued!

Chris Mooney – Physiotherapist