Injuries

I was just about to sign off and it occured to me there was a basic thing I could tell you that would help you in the future with injuries. It's nothing comprehensive and all-explaining but it's a very important part that I doubt most people are aware of.

If you look at the injury you got it would probably be what's known as a "nondisruptive" injury. Without explaining all that let me sum it up by saying it's different than an injury where you pull off a bunch of muslce fibers. There is tissue damage and inflammation but it is basically a kind of injury that is not as good about telling you what's up. The nondisruptive type would be the most common muscle strain we get in the weight room.

Here's the part of that you want to be aware of. You injured one side of your back. With an inury like that it is possible for the muscles to regain the ability to exert 90% or the opposite side or your back in as little as 24 hours! Certainly after a few days you'll have that 90% or more ability. Plus the pain being gone, etc...

BUT, and this is a big but, the acual tensile strength of the muscle may still be diminished quite a bit. Up to around 75 percent of previous depending....

So you can see the problem here, right? You've got a muscle that is basically capable of exerting more force than it can withstand. This is during early initial stages and not later if it becomes chronic.

So you can see how easy and why people re-injur themselves after an initial injury. You've basically got a muscle that is acting like it's OK! These second injuries often end up being much worse than the first one. I don't think that is the case with you now though but it is very likely to be the case most of the time.

The key lies in the "non-disruptive" label. This rapid return of force potential is part of the reason it's called non-disruptive. Unfortunately the body didn't evolve it's injry mechanisms to deal with lifting heavy barbells over and over again .

Just something to be aware of.