Getting Back In The Gym After Injuries

Hey, Dr. Ryan Alter here, your Delray Beach chiropractor. I was just texting with a uh, colleague, another professional who was asking me a few questions about their back problem and about exercise, and I just wanted to share this ’cause I think it would be helpful for everybody who deals with these type of things.

And so the text was. A about a week or two ago, it was my back’s giving me trouble and I was trying to help this person. I don’t take care of them really. And I was trying to help them through whatever was going on. And um, now that the text is, I’m feeling better, can I get back into the gym? And so without having all the details, I said, there’s a lot to this.

I don’t know exactly what was going on. Um, I don’t know exactly what you want to do in the gym and all of these things play, play a role. So he started explaining to me and was giving him some basics and saying, Hey, when you’re back in the gym, you need to be really careful picking up weights and putting weights down.

That’s really where people kind of hurt their back, is leaning forward and letting it go. It’s at the end of an exercise when you go to put things down. So he said, well, I only use machines. So I thought, okay, well that’s a lot safer. Okay. Machines are safer when you have a low back problem than lifting heavy dumbbells.

Then he went into some of the specifics and, uh, you know, what about this and what about that? And I gave him a few tips. And then he said, what about swimming? And I said, well, swimming’s great. But one of the issues with swimming is if you’re doing the normal freestyle swimming, the regular swim stroke.

The, the kicking has kind of an extension going on, and that can irritate a back. I said you’d be better off with kind of this stroke where you do kind of this frog kick and there’s not much extension. So anyway, the, the more of the, the video here is that when you have a back problem. You need to first try to understand exactly what’s going on.

If you need help with that, you go and see a professional who can help you. And then as you’re recovering and you’re getting back into your activities, you want to evaluate each activity. And it’s the risk factor for lower back problems and the safety and is there any modifications? And with all of that information, you make smart decisions about getting yourself back on track with your normal activities.

Okay? The knowledge. Is what will keep you safe, and once you have a good understanding, then you can make the best decisions to keep yourself in the best shape possible.