Doc Is In. Any Questions?

Back for more training/injury/rehab/ etc. questions…

Hey, I dont know if I slept funny or did it during a dead or a squat (highly unlikely with the weight I pulled) But my back hurts kinda of in the middle from top to bottum and laterally. Almost where my external oblique is. Any ideas on why or how and what i should do or not do for the next few weeks?

With all of your formal education and busy practice, how did you find time to become an expert in Photoshop?

Love the new avatar Doc!

I am 40 years old and have been lifing for over 25 years. Stopped the bodybuilding splits and hit full body 2x a week. Now my knees are giving me fits. Stiffness and soreness right above the knee area. The weather in NY has been really damp, so I think that that may play a part. Any suggestions? I love to do front and back squats and would hate to give those up. If it is just age catching up, I will just work around it. Thanks for any advice.

Oldschool musclehead.

[quote]David Barr wrote:
With all of your formal education and busy practice, how did you find time to become an expert in Photoshop?

Love the new avatar Doc![/quote]

Photoshop, LOL. Good to hear from you. Actually, I owe quite a bit to you. There must be some magical anabolic property to Pop-Tarts. I think the scientific research shows that 2 frosted strawberry tarts in the morning along with a Grow! shake is more effective than a D-bol/Test stack:) I’m not sure if the same is true for the S’mores flavor you prefer, you might want to try changing your stack and dosing protocol.

[quote]David Barr wrote:
With all of your formal education and busy practice, how did you find time to become an expert in Photoshop?

Love the new avatar Doc![/quote]

Maybe he is on the pop tart diet!

Hey Doc - I seemed to have strained the left shoulder or lat insertion. Bench does not bother it, nor does squat, but heavy deadlifts - now that is another story. Range of motion is still good, but if I drop the shoulder down, I fell it at the top and back of the shoulder. Any ideas?

How can you tell if you have an abdominal hernia? I have been recently feeling pain and burning in my lower abdominal. Thanks for any insight, Thad

I started taking Carbolin 19 last week and at about day 3 I started getting some pretty nasty headaches during my training sessions, and they persist after I finish. I’m also taking Spike. I’ve read where it might not be a good idea to take them together, but I’ve also read on here people doing it and not having a problem. What’s your take? (I’ve since stopped the Carbolin 19 but still using Spike with no problems)

Also, what is the logic behind taking Carbolin 19 in the morning and 6 hours later. wouldn’t I want to take it every twelve hours so I can keep the blood level constant?

Thanks!

hey doc, my question is regarding a torn lambrum which is what i did in the middle of last summer. i am back to lifting heavy with out pain or discomfort, but am i rolling the dice as far as worsening the injured area or is what is done done? ive been told that the lambrum serves little function, but wanted to find out more info. thanks.

I have constant tightness in my lower back an if I bend over without arching my back like a romanian dead it is really sore. I don’t want to take time off because I am on a great roll right now with my training. I do all olympic lifting. I stretch every night for about 30 min, any suggestions?

Hey Doc,

A few months ago I strained my delt doing dips too fast and too low. It was only moderately bad and I worked around it with other exercises, everything seemed fine.

About three weeks back I was doing some heavy eccentrics on incline bench.
I strained it again. It isn’t any of my rotators. The strain is really on the anterior delt, really close to the medial. I feel it when I abduct at about fifty degrees away from body, through to about 130 degrees. I feel it way more when I get to the stretch when moving my arm straight back.

I felt it would be wise to start by getting range of motion, then add light resistance in that stretch position and make it stronger there first before moving on to other movements. Also, I’m using massage and self ART. It seems to have the range of motion back, and ten pound dumbbell raises laying on a decline bench seems okay (it is getting better, I was going to wait until it feels fine then add some weight).

What are your thoughts? Should I do anything different?

Thanks,
Rolo.

Dr. Ryan! What’s up big dog?

Hey, something weird happened on Saturday. I was playing some tackle football and after the first few plays, I noticed that my left ankle was tight, stiff and felt “locked up.”

I did a few small hops (similar to jumping rope) and then my ankle (on the inside ankle of my left foot) popped/cracked. It started to hurt at that point.

I continued to play football and mostly ran on the outside of my foot because it hurt to walk/run/stand with my foot completely flat. The pain never went away and I could barely walk the rest of the day and ever since.

It swelled up slightly on Sunday, but I never had any bruising or anymore swelling. Just constant pain and the inability to walk on it competely. Same with today.

So, did my ankle popping/cracking cause serious damage? Do you think I fractured something? Like I said, it just felt tight and stiff until it cracked. Then it hurt. It never happened as a result of being it or running or anything.

Any ideas?

What the best stretches/exercises to work on a severely tight hip flexor on my left side. The right is 3-4 times more flexible.

Doc, I have been doing the Supersquats program. Friday and today I got a very intense headache about half way through my work set of 20. The pain is in the back of my head at about eye level. Friday wasn’t so bad, but today the pain lasted for about twenty minutes.

Is this caused by over exertion? I am very concerned because I have never experienced such intense pain from lifting. I have been supplementing with a caffeine and L tyrosine product for about a month now, and it is the only supp other than the regulars that I am on. The new avatar makes you a lot more credible ;)Thanks for your time.

hey doc, i PM’d you last week, about chiro school, just wondering if you got it?

Hey Doc,
Just wondering what your current workout routine and nutrition plan are like, and what are you physique/performance goals for 2006?
-Greg

Hi Doc,
I had some pain in my right shoulder, tried to train around it and that seemed to work at first. But finally, things got worse instead of better so I went to see a doctor.

It hurt most when I moved my arm inside over my back. The doctor told me to get an echo and this revealed irritation on the tendon on my right supraspinatus and also swelling on the bursa.

Now I have to rest my shoulder for 4-6 weeks, so no chest or shoulder exercises and no overhead movements (pull ups and such).

Can I do something to speed up recovey?
My doc says icing won’t do much, since the muscle is internal. He warned against massaging it, especially while the tendon is still irritated.

Is there anything I can do to recover a bit faster.

How do I start again after these six weeks? Just benchpresses with low weight and grudually increase the weight?

Any help would be appreciated.

Doc,
I am training purley for body composition goals. I am 6 feet, 198 lbs with between 8-10% bodyfat. My goal is to continue to train for aesthetics but not put on any more muscle or weight. I would like to continue to decrease my body fat though. I have been training using 3x3 with heavy weights and eating maintenance calories.

Usually I do four excersizes per workout, an upper body push, an upper body pull, and a low body push (example Squat) and lower body pull (romanian dead lift). I never know how much assistance work to do though for my arms or if I should incorporate excersizes for my traps. I am trying to build as symetrical a body as possible. Am I going about this all wrong? If I am, what ahould I be doing instead?
-Andrew

Doc- Talk to me about the dorsal Sacral Ligament alittle. Do you see it injured often? Is that the pain where people touch their sacrum and say “my back hurts right here”? Any correlation between DSL injury and SI joint pain?
-Jimmy

[quote]rassy wrote:
Hey, I dont know if I slept funny or did it during a dead or a squat (highly unlikely with the weight I pulled) But my back hurts kinda of in the middle from top to bottum and laterally. Almost where my external oblique is. Any ideas on why or how and what i should do or not do for the next few weeks?[/quote]

Sorry, but with that information there isn’t a whole lot I can suggest. If it just started, then ice the area for 15-20 minutes every few hours for the next three days. That should help control any inflammation that is occurring. Then it is just a matter of avoiding activities and movements that recreate the pain. Usually it is better to try to maintain normal daily activities as best as possible and try to modify them to decrease strain on the painful region. As far as exercising, it would depend on what movements increase your symptoms. If you can do an activity that is pain-free and does not put the injured region under significant stress, then it is probably not going to aggravate your condition.

If it is still painful and doesn’t seem to improve with the ice and active rest, then I would suggest that you find a good sports med chiro or PT in your area that could assess you and provide some treatment.

Take care,

Ryan