I have a low and middle back injury. I was wondering if I should just take a OTC pain killer like advil and continue training anyways with a belt. Or just take time off. Any thoughts?
Absolutely not the painkiller. It is merely a mask that tricks your CNS into thinking you are OK. Allow yourself time to heal. Be more specific with your injury so people here can give you specific advice on rehab routines. Remember, rehab should leave you sweating and tired … actively fix your problems!
Do back extensions / reverse hypers hurt? How about a simple superman isometric? Those are my suggestions.
Give your self time to heal, but I disagree about not taking the pain killers. Anti inflamatories like advil and motrin will help it heal faster. This is one thing I’ve learned from the injuries I’ve had over the years.
The doc would tell me to take advil 3 times a day and I’d take it just when ever it hurt. Once I followed her advice it got better. If it continues to hurt for very long go see a doctor. Unless someone speaks up with some credentials I’d be leary about taking advice on rehab exercises or you could end up making it worse.
If you are truly injured then yes back off training and let it heal. If you are merely hurt than ibuprofen can help sure.
Thank for your replies everyone.
Decided to take the advil. Laying off the training for a few days to let the back get healthy again. And going to slowly get back into training. No big heavy lifts. Just some isolation exercises and compounds that indirectly stimulate the injury and the healing process. Seems like a sensible approach.