[quote]kiwiinmn wrote:
[quote]achilles007 wrote:
This was my first time deadlifting, so I had no clue about form and the Powerlifting coach I was with put me on Trap-Bar Deadlifts and told me not to overanalyze it or worry about form, just do the lift.
He slapped on 255 lbs. and told me to lift it. He made me lift 5 sets of 8, and then slapped on 50 more lbs. (305 lbs.) and tried to get me to do one set of 5. I got to two reps, and on the third, my back shifted and I felt a numbness travel down my left leg, like someone had kicked the left side of the mat really hard, making me lose my composure. I couldn’t walk, kneel, lay down flat on my back or stand up straight for 15 minutes without pain. When i finally did stand up I was dizzy, and when I sat down my arms kept contracting and my fingers would extend and I would have to flex them to get them to stop. Next day, I had a hard time extending the left leg when walking/kicking as well as slight tingling in my left toes.
Went in to urgent care today and the X-rays showed that there was no spinal compression or fractures, and that it was more than likely a lumbo-sacral muscle sprain or strain, does that sound right to you guys?[/quote]
Given the information that you have supplied then you have lumbo-sacral trauma for sure but more importantly you have sciatic nerve interference. Hence the issues with your foot and leg and hardly being able to move when this first happened. The Sciatic nerve originates between the L4 L5 vertebrae and passes thru the gluteals and all the way down to the toes. It is the biggest nerve plexus in the body hence the excruciating pain experienced when you injure yourself or simply suffer the affliction of Sciatica. The hand issues are most likely from your traps being over worked and so tense that they too were impeding the nerves to your hand/s.
There are a few questions that need to be asked…
Is this coach certified and insured?
What advice did this guy give you once you went down with this issue?
Have you heard from him since?
Did you pay this guy for all the pain he has inflicted?
Have you spoken to the manager of the facility that this buffoon is working from?
Idiots like this that apparently are driven by ego should be banished from the industry.
As someone that has suffered the affliction of Sciatica for almost 30 years and actually just getting over an attack that has lasted 3 weeks my advice to you is to make sure that you give yourself time to recover from this properly before doing any leg and low back work. One episode of this type is enough for anyone, you certainly do not want this type of injury to be recurring. Seriously, this is not something that you would wish upon your worst enemy.
Two last suggestions… don’t EVER go near this guy again and if you have paid him then get your money back…[/quote]
Thank you so much for the reply. And your advice definitely will be followed.
I don’t know why I didn’t bother to look for certification. Very dumb of me.
I found his gym at a site called Powerlifting Watch.
He was cheaper than everybody else and seemed like he was eager in wanting to get me in-- he had called me multiple times after my initial talking to him about one day, at a future date, coming to see him at his gym and maybe joining.
There were only 2 other powerlifting gyms that specialized in the olympic lifts and the powerlifting ones like deadlift, but they were much twice his price. So, I stupidly slapped down the money for a full-week of private sessions.
When I told him throughout the first couple of deadlift sets that I wasn’t feeling anything at all in my glutes, or legs when doing it and that it was all concentrated on my lower back-- he said that that was just a “weak point” in my body that, with more and much heavier lifting, would solve itself and eventually go away.
When I couldn’t get up to walk he did actually help me in stretching out my body so that I could, though.
Concerning sciatic nerve interference… does it ever go away?
And what is puzzling me is what could possibly be causing interference with it if the spine isn’t compressing anything? Isn’t that or a herniated disk usually the cause of that? It’s hard to imagine a simple muscle sprain or strain causing this.
