I have a particular muscle running down the right side of the top of my spine, extending to the base of my neck, that is my perpetual weak spot. Three or four times a year I manage to pull it, and I’m subjected to three or four days of ouchies and stiff movement until it heals again. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I’ve been doing awesome at hitting the gym lately, though, and being sure to work my back as well as my front. “Strengthening the core” and all that. And yet, the other night, I was walking down the hall at my house and had a heavy sneeze. Sure enough, silent pop and yowch, it’s pulled again. Crap.
What’s the deal? Is my muscle just defective? Can I order a new one from the dealer?
Not in particular, no - it’s happened while sneezing, reaching into the pantry, or (most often) while I’m sleeping. I do pay close attention to my sleep posture but can’t seem to prevent it from happening.
I work out a lot and I can tell you once you pull your back it’s never gonna be quite the same. And oddly enough I found that you can really wrench again by doing simple movements.
I first pulled my back in 1995 and I let it heal for a week, but I, stupidly, didn’t let it heal enough and started working out again. Bad idea. It feels fine but so far three times I have managed to pull it so it hurts A LOT and it was always doing simple things.
For instance one time I just turned, and that was it. I turned while sitting and my back was like wrench. Another time I did the same movement I swear I’ve always done while doing a curl for my bicep and boom it went out. And these were with light weights.
The key is stretches for your back. I don’t think they help it heal really but they do relieve the pain. Get a book on stretching to heal your back and do those exercises. I was amazed at how much it help. Ice helps too for the pain.
It’s been my experience once you pull a back muscle it’s never quite the same. That doesn’t mean it won’t heal, like right now I could easily do any back exercise, but I think once you wrench it, it makes it much easier to do again
Keep in mind that a weird issue like that, where you have pain from mundane tasks like reaching, could very well be a pinched nerve as opposed to a pulled muscle. They take forever to heal and feel like tension or tightness, much like a pulled muscle. Based on your description of the location that seems more likely than a pulled muscle.
I was having the exact same issue as you- always pulling the same spot in my back, even when babying it with lower weights.
I was lucky enough to find a good chiropractor (referred by a trainer at the gym) who practiced what is called the Graston Technique. Basically, he used this metal instrument to almost squeegee down my back muscles. Supposedly, it helps break up adhesions from old injuries that healed improperly. I went a few days a week for a few weeks, and between Graston, some electrical stimulus, and daily stretching, my back pull went away. I go once every 6 or so weeks now, and haven’t had a pull in over a year.
Now, in my experience, chiropractors’ quality and legitimacy vary widely. I know they get a bad rap with some people, but finding this one saved my butt. I’ve had others that were obvious quacks, but this guy is really good.
Good luck with your back problem- I know what a bummer they can be!
I agree with HongKongFooey. There are two exercises I don’t do: upright rows and behind the neck presses. Both lend themselves too readily to impingements and other funky issues.
It’s inflammation. Something isn’t healed and is inflamed…and chronically.
Do you like hot showers after working out? They make it worse. Feels good, but what you should do is take an anti-inflammatory, ice it and get some advice on the type of exercises that are likely to keep the area inflamed and back off a bit.
“Muscle pulls” sound like a nice diagnosis, but I don’t think that is any kind of diagnosis at all. Get one.
Upright rows are being discarded, certain other types of exercises are being tossed out as issues, and I just think that is fool hardy advice.
Get a diagnosis before you proceed. The fact that you call it a pulled muscle and how everyone is chiming in with exercise tips screams for you to get a diagnosis and make this go 'round an acute case you are going to tackle objectively.
I get this from sneezing too, but not that particular muscle. From what I read sneezing is such a jarring thing that is can really hurt people. Most of the time nothing happens but sometimes we manage to hurt a tendon or muscle.
That said, it can sometimes be a sign of something else like chiari malformation. Probably a good idea to mention this to a doctor next time you get a check up.
There’s also the possibility that your workouts aren’t actually working that muscle, which could make things worse if you’re strengthening nearby muscles instead and making things even more imbalanced.
