help with injury recovery

[kimura]

I apologize in advance for the lengthy post (and my first one at that...way to make friends . However, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Here's my situation:
I have this recuring tightness/muscle spasm deep inside my hips/lower back area. It's not on the surface, it's deep inside. It usually flares up after doing some light bending/twisting type stuff. My chiropractor says it's in the area of the psoas or iliospoas. Most times it's bad enough that I can't stand up straight. When I get the muscle spasms I am pulled forward and to the right at the waist. Sometimes there is a burning sensation down the left thigh. This came on about 2 years ago after a particularly intense kick boxing workout. Tai kicks at thigh level to a heavy bag to be exact. I didn't fall, get kicked, or any other trauma like that- it must have been that twisting motion.

I've had the following tests/treatments:
MRI: (shows slight buldge at L4-L5)
X-Rays: (no bone structure problems)
Facet Block: (no help)
3 Cortizone shots: (2 in the back, 1 in the hip with no relief)
Various drugs like muscle relaxers, prednezone,... (no help)
Physical therapy: (no help)
Chiropractor: temporary relief

I've been to many doctors (PC, physical therapist, pain management specialist, chiropractor, ortho surgeon) and none can find a solution. With the exception of my chiropractor they basically say "I can't help you, go see this guy, maybe they can help". I have been full circle with these doctors. The best news in all of this is that the surgeon says the disc bulge very mild and is not surgical (all of the above tests indicate that as well). The physical therapy was a complete wash because my therapist never fully understood my problem and seemed to be more concerned with my insurance company than me (but that's another story). After a year of jumping from one doc to the next they started using words like "chronic" and saying things like "you'll have this for the rest of your life". I got the hell out of there. That's a self-fulfilling prophecy if I ever heard one. It just isn't in my nature to accept a statement like that. My chiropractor (whom I still see) says I have an imbalance from left to right in my core, hip area. I did start to notice in the last few months leading up to the injury a definite strength/size imbalance in my legs. Now I can notice the imbalance in my abs/obliques/core as well. My right side is stronger which might explain why I'm pulled to the right during spasm.

I've been trying to rehab this for 2 years. For the last year I have been working with just my chiropractor. Currently we're focusing on evening out the imbalance but generally increasing strength in the core region. I am making progress but it is terribly slow. The pattern has been that about every 2-3 months I start to feel better but then re-injure myself and have to start all over. To be fair I have made some mistakes by overdoing it on occasion but this is a learning process and have become very diligent and dedicated to my rehab. I feel that I should be further along than I am. Being an active person, depression has been a problem with this injury since about the 6-8 month mark but is starting to set in pretty hard now which may be hindering progress as well.

My stats: 38 yrs old, 5'7", 160lbs approx 20% bf (and getting worse all the
time). Very active (until 2yrs ago). My primary activities for the last couple
years leading up to the injury was MMA (non competition), gym workouts, and
road cycling (150-200miles/wk during the season)

I have been lurking here and in a couple other forums for a few months and I've been wondering if artificially boosting testosterone levels will help. I just think that if I had this problem when was 18 I would have breezed by it and recovered pretty quickly. I have never done a cycle before but I don't know what else to do. What do you think? Any other possibilities? I have exhausted all traditional methods to solve this problem. I'm ready to snap...sitting on the couch is no way to live.

If you got this far in my post I thank you. I look forward to any responses.

[van-man]

I had very similar symptoms to an injury caused by a crash during a race. When it was bad I could not do anthying besides lay face down on the couch! I tried to rehab it the same way you have basically; chiropractor, getting back into the training, but none of that took. What finally did it for me was strength training. You see for me the problem was not only the initial injury but the weakness of the erector muscles in the spine that could not secure that area to prevent exaserbation of the injury. I would go to the chiropractor, he would put everything in place, but the first time I would move wrong... here we'd go again!
What worked for me was strength training. I started slow with hyperextension and then added weight to various exercises. It took a while before I could handle very much at one time but once I got it whipped into shape I never looked back...

[bhandsome562]

Im having the same problem.... i back got jacked up from motorcyle racing.. crashed pretty hard on my right hip... now what kind of exercise did you do?

[Ironhorse]

Believe it or not, I have the same problem. I got the run around form everyone. Finally after a year and a half, they said the same thing to me. Youll ALWAYS have this problem. Still happens a couple times a year. Not as frequent as it use to be. NEVER happens when I lift anything heavy, but if I bend a or twist a certain way, boom! On my back for a week. As the years go on, and the more I train the less it happens, so I agree with van-man. Strength training is the way to go!

[van-man]

Do it all.
Start with simple hyper extensions
move up to straight leg dead lifts when you get stronger.
always focus on reps never on weight.
good clean squats and t bar rows really add strength once you get a solid base.

[Thickneck]

I think van-man had some good advice. I've had problems with my left leg(outter qaud) being alot tighter than my rt quad. And today I stretched good than squatted and tweeked my left thigh. I think alot of Dr. work is elimination process. Like van said start out slow with getting the area stronger. My gym has a t-bar row that you kinda lay on the pad and pull the lb's without the lower back or hip area getting involved. I think a test cycle would help you out to recover faster. Good luck

[kimura]

Ok, Thanks for the input. It's embarassing to say that I'm not even ready for hyperextensions. Currently I'm doing some donkey kick excercises focusing on keeping the core and lower abs tight. It looks stupid but it seems to be working. As I get stronger I'll add in the hyperextensions and keep building slowly. In the mean time I'll keep educating myself. This is a great board btw. Lots of good info.