Back injury

JohnMcm1

Hurt my back deadlifting 2 weeks ago, was testing my 1rm to set my training maxes as i hadn't touched a barbell since the beginning of the 1st lockdown and had no idea where my strength was at.

Felt a pop around my sacrum and ended the workout there. In the following days I had serious pain, as well as numb feet. There was also one or two occasions where I found it difficult to control my bladder. I spoke with my friend who is a sports therapist and he recommended I get a sports massage asap which definitely seemed to help.

The pain is not just as bad however the numbness in my feet is still there as well as a numbness around my groin. Can anyone recommend any good stretches or exercises as I feel I may have compressed a nerve.

italodisco

I had a similar situation to yours years ago. Misdiagnosed a zillion times until I went working abroad, I went to a doctor who was a competitive cyclist (turns out its common in that sport) and he called it severe si joint disfunction. Said it was all linked to pelvic muscles, sacrum and other muscles in the vicinity putting pressure on bladder.

I genuinely thought my prostate was messed up as I was peeing 6 or more times a night when it was bad. I also had rectal pain the odd time.

I was sent for physio and also injected with cortisone and also had a guided nerve injection done.

Honestly though, best thing that helped me was doing lots of glute stretches and glute /hip strengthening exercises.

Also, instead of lying flat I would recommend you you lay at a slightly higher angle like 15 to 20 degrees, it made a big difference for me so no harm to try.

My advise is to get it seen ASAP, GP first, my situation was bad as I let it go on for around 1.5 years.

JohnMcm1

italodisco wrote: »

I had a similar situation to yours years ago. Misdiagnosed a zillion times until I went working abroad, I went to a doctor who was a competitive cyclist (turns out its common in that sport) and he called it severe si joint disfunction. Said it was all linked to pelvic muscles, sacrum and other muscles in the vicinity putting pressure on bladder.

I genuinely thought my prostate was messed up as I was peeing 6 or more times a night when it was bad. I also had rectal pain the odd time.

I was sent for physio and also injected with cortisone and also had a guided nerve injection done.

Honestly though, best thing that helped me was doing lots of glute stretches and glute /hip strengthening exercises.

Also, instead of lying flat I would recommend you you lay at a slightly higher angle like 15 to 20 degrees, it made a big difference for me so no harm to try.

My advise is to get it seen ASAP, GP first, my situation was bad as I let it go on for around 1.5 years.

thanks for the advice i'll give some of that a go. Id be tempted to go but my GP is ****e, only refers you on to others which always costs a fortune.

italodisco

JohnMcm1 wrote: »

thanks for the advice i'll give some of that a go. Id be tempted to go but my GP is ****e, only refers you on to others which always costs a fortune.

My GP at the time was the same.

You'll end up getting an mri or ct scan though.

I also got the numbness around my privates. Especially were my leg meets my groin, side of my scrotum. I also got numb around the base of my'wand' when 'excited' but it didn't effect it / cause any dysfunction.

Don't do any heavy lifting for now, it's really easy to upset it when it's healing.

And don't be afraid to go to a different GP.

Cill94

Feelings of numbness and bladder control issues after a back injury need to be seen to by a professional ASAP. Probably doctor or chartered physio.

JohnMcm1

Cill94 wrote: »

Feelings of numbness and bladder control issues after a back injury need to be seen to by a professional ASAP. Probably doctor or chartered physio.

Ah it's happened before it usually resolves itself. I'd need to take a second job if I was seeking a professional for every ache and pain at my age.

Cill94

JohnMcm1 wrote: »

Ah it's happened before it usually resolves itself. I'd need to take a second job if I was seeking a professional for every ache and pain at my age.

It's your call obviously. But I can tell you these aren't normal symptoms to be getting from a deadlift injury and would be serious red flags for any physio assessment.

JohnMcm1

Cill94 wrote: »

It's your call obviously. But I can tell you these aren't normal symptoms to be getting from a deadlift injury and would be serious red flags for any physio assessment.

If it doesn't ease up I'll book the gp you're probably right.

Black Sheep

JohnMcm1 wrote: »

Hurt my back deadlifting 2 weeks ago, was testing my 1rm to set my training maxes as i hadn't touched a barbell since the beginning of the 1st lockdown and had no idea where my strength was at.

Felt a pop around my sacrum and ended the workout there. In the following days I had serious pain, as well as numb feet. There was also one or two occasions where I found it difficult to control my bladder. I spoke with my friend who is a sports therapist and he recommended I get a sports massage asap which definitely seemed to help.

The pain is not just as bad however the numbness in my feet is still there as well as a numbness around my groin. Can anyone recommend any good stretches or exercises as I feel I may have compressed a nerve.

Honestly, this sounds like a legitimate lower back disc injury. I would be reasonably concerned about the bladder issue and numbness, you’re not going to die but I think you’re wrong to equate it with the normal aches and pains of training as you age.

So yeah, I would echo the suggestion to see a doctor, get referred for an MRI and go from there.

A low back injury might get some passing relief from stretching or massaging but fundamentally further mobilisation of that area is not going to address the underlying issue.

wally101

JohnMcm1 wrote: »

Hurt my back deadlifting 2 weeks ago, was testing my 1rm to set my training maxes as i hadn't touched a barbell since the beginning of the 1st lockdown and had no idea where my strength was at.

Felt a pop around my sacrum and ended the workout there. In the following days I had serious pain, as well as numb feet. There was also one or two occasions where I found it difficult to control my bladder. I spoke with my friend who is a sports therapist and he recommended I get a sports massage asap which definitely seemed to help.

The pain is not just as bad however the numbness in my feet is still there as well as a numbness around my groin. Can anyone recommend any good stretches or exercises as I feel I may have compressed a nerve.

Hi, I wouldn't normally comment on such forums but I would advise you not to ignore your symptoms any longer.
I believe you should go to the Emergency dept particularly if your loss of bladder control worsens along with ongoing decreased sensation in feet. Massage or stretches is not the thing to do right now.

JustAThought

OP - stop talking to therapists and get to a doctor IMMEDIATELY. I (my boss) injured my back badly a few years ago and had similar problems with my leg and foot - the one thing ALL the doctors were really worried about was bladder control and repeatedly told me that if I had any issues or changes that lead to this to got to A&E IMMEDIATELY. It’s a really serious side complication and if you let it go it will get worse and may not be able to be fixed.

Don’t do any streatches or exercises or lifting - seriously - go to your doctor IMMEDIATELY.

Four years later I still have numbness in my foot and if I lift or try to run my leg looses feeling - in my case its a lifting ‘injury’ which has compressed and pushed out a disc and this has permanently in my case ( so far) damaged the nerve endings for my leg & foot - as well as causing back problems which are sort of undercontrol.

When I went (via the hospital/MRI scans) to physio to defer surgery some of the exercises I did made the injury worse and my physio totally flipped out & really made it clear the consequences of damaging it more. Again - bladder issues were a huge concern for him.

Seriously - you need to go to your doctor and get a referral to the hospital.

If you go as a urgent accident referral through your doctor and don’t (say you) have insurance you won’t have to pay for any of the treatment or scans or physio or anything else that is needed. The only cost will be the first doctors visit - because I took this route and went in to my doctor as a medical accident/urgent case as soon as I could walk to get there - and was referred on I never had to put my hand in my pocket for a single thing since. Consultants, MRI’s, other scans, physio, proposed surgery - everything was dealt with FOC which is remarkable really. Made me feel a lot better about all the tax I paid.

Seriously - they can’t fix nerve damage properly at all - you are probably already in more trouble than you realise - seriously - make an urgent appointment today and whatever you do don’t lift or do any exercises/yoga/streatches.

coffee_cake

Op, closing this - please go to a doc. Thanks