Recurring lower back injury, post-jumping

[SadieRidingHorses]

During a fabulous jump lesson this summer, I felt a twinge in my lower back, and it locked up so badly that I had trouble walking/untacking afterwards. I spent several days (a weekend) on a heat pad, took OTC meds, and got a massage.

After a fabulous jump lesson on Saturday, same thing - back locked up. I travel very frequently for work, so I stupidly got on a flight on Sunday night, spent yesterday in meetings and carrying my heavy work bag. A beloved colleague asked why I was walking funny. I had booked today off to ride and get errands done, but here I am, back on the heating pad. I fully admit that the work trip was dumb.

So, COTHERS, what can I do to prevent this? Pre-ride stretching? And how can I treat it when it does happen? I have an hour drive to and from my barn, which probably doesn’t help.

[Eclectic_Horseman]

Strengthen your core. (Pilates is great). Then make sure that your back is neutral, and not hollow, when you jump.

[Jealoushe]

Chiro saved me…not everyone loves it but my hip was twisted and it was instant relief.

[GraceLikeRain]

Have you videos your rides? It could be helpful to slow things down and understand what phase of the jump is moving your back in an irregular movement and whether it is a desirable movement where you need corresponding strength to stabilize or if you are exaggerating a movement and need to adjust your position.

[ThreeWishes]

Agree with strengthening your core. Start working out with weights and stretching. I’ve been doing it for 5 months and I am riding like I did in my 20’s.

[fanfayre]

Rather than reaching for the heating pad, first reach for an ice pack and use that for 15 to 20 minutes, to reduce the inflammation. Then alternate with the heat pad if you have to.
Ditto strengthening your core after the initial inflammation is gone

[Xanthoria]

My back always did the same because my jump saddle wasn’t ergonomically balanced for me. Having to ever so slightly lean forwards just put my back in a spasm so quickly. Losing the desk job changed everything - I think I’m stronger now. But also a new saddle helped a ton. My back hasn’t spasmed like that since.

(Lie on your heat pad and hold each knee to your chest for a minute at a time, alternating. That was the exercise that helped me)

[Bogey2]

Chiro saves me every time I have an issue! If you have a good one they give great exercises for before and after jumping.

[Bluey]

One caveat about chiros.
I was with a friend that had to run by his chiro for a shoulder problem.
Once there, he insisted his chiro, that had a first treatment free program, adjust my back, that rarely had a problem from years ago a horse bucking me off and me landing on my behind and breaking my tailbone, now long healed.
I didn’t want to, but felt pressure and not wanting to be rude agreed.
Chiro use a thumper on my back and when he hit that one lower back spot, it really hurt, badly.
Rest of the story, that spot has been hurting more since then and no, I didn’t go back!

I am sure Chiro’s have their place.
Chiro work is generally not for blind treatments but for maybe, after having a proper diagnosis of what a problem is, if it fits with what they do, then ok.
Have heard of plenty of both, people that swear by their chiros and those that, like I did, had bad experiences.
I definitely would not recommend chiros as first step, too risky.

[anonevent]

You’ll want to know what the underlying issue is. A pinched nerve? Bulging disk? A doctor might prescribe a round of steroids and muscle relaxers as a one time thing.

[FitToBeTied]

Get diagnosed by a doctor first. Going without a diagnosis may lead you to a treatment that is counter productive.

[outside_leg]

Agree with those that say get imaging and a diagnosis from a good orthopedist first. I had pain and muscle spasms in my lower back and treated them much the way you did until I got to the point where my back would completely go out and I couldn’t move. It was easily the most pain I’ve ever been in. Turned out to be a fracture that crushed one of my discs. No heating pad or ice or strengthening with Pilates was going to relieve that. I tried injections, but had no improvement, so last year I had disc replacement surgery. Total game changer, and now I’m jumping 1.20m with no pain, taking care of our farm, working out, etc.

[Libby2563]

I think with back pain you get a lot of different recommendations because there are so many different root causes, from an actual spine injury to a strained back muscle to muscular compensation for other injuries or asymmetries, etc etc. My husband injured his QL muscle a few years ago so when he has severe back pain it’s always a re-aggravation of that. Knock on wood, I haven’t had a full-blown spasmy lock-up in ages, but my current low-back symptoms tend to be related to my hip flexors and asymmetry in the way I use my body. Lots of sitting (ahem, long plane rides) is really your enemy. I would start with a good PT to see if they can tell what might be driving your issues and suggest some exercises and stretches.

I used to have chronic low back pain that periodically flared up to the level of debilitating, and I tried:

• acupuncture (some relief)
• two different chiros (initially helpful but leveled off and ultimately couldn’t prevent the severe flares, plus one of them creeped me out a little)
• orthopedists (“it’s just muscles, take some Advil”–during the flare that was so bad I couldn’t work for a month and could barely even walk, at the grand old age of 25)
• MRI (one slight bulging disc but didn’t really explain the severity of the symptoms)
• traditional PT (I do like the TENS and keep thinking I might buy a home unit)
• trigger point injection (amazing for counteracting short-term muscular spasms, if you can handle how much it hurts; personally I freakin love it and get it pretty regularly)
• session with a practitioner of the Gokhale method (love some of the stretches and the little back pillow for driving, but otherwise it wasn’t earth shattering)
• manual PT (getting closer now because my first manual PT is the one who said that my symptoms really weren’t aligning with what he found physically, so there might be a systemic issue; I still do manual PT with two different practitioners for my jaw, neck, and back)
• treatment for chronic Lyme disease (ding ding ding–this is what actually resolved my symptoms, though it took a long time, two different specialist practices, and a lot of expensive out-of-pocket treatment because insurance companies don’t believe in chronic Lyme)
• one year of being gluten-free

The gluten thing was interesting. It was part of the Lyme treatment and I was extremely resistant because I love bread and hate fad diets. I had just gotten back into jumping and thought it was normal to have lower back soreness after every jump lesson. Then I went off gluten and that stopped happening. I also stopped having all that low-grade lower back soreness that I thought was just part of life and had barely even noticed at all until it was gone. I did cheat a bit and as the year went on cheating caused fewer symptoms, which is how I knew it was okay to eat it again. And thank god because I still love bread!