Bobbie’s Low Back rehab program, an injury but more so a lesson.

Many of you know that I have a little history of back trouble, in 2003 I herniated two discs my last year playing soccer at the U.  I healed it, and quickly got into running marathons.  I did no type of cross training so I quickly started to feel chronic back pain set in.  You could say I was obsessed with running…bad…

Tommy and I moved to Oregon from 2005-2008. In 2006, I re-injured it after a few years of chronic pain, from then I tried just about every type of rehab, acupuncture, PT, decompression thereapy, pilates, swimming, yoga, drinking beer…none of it really helped.  I didn’t do a lot of unloading the dish washer or shaving of the legs, both not good for Tommy

I was a personal training while I lived in Oregon.  I studied my training through the NSCA and got a CSCS certificate for strength training knowledge.  And I worked for an amazing coach, Jeff Kardy at Strength Solution in Bend OR.  He taught me so much.  I learned a lot about  healing backs and proper movement in trianing from him and his teachings of Paul Chek, from the Chek Institute .

But even with more knowledge, I still could not run, or move equipment with out pain when I was simply coaching our clients. Luckily,  I found CrossFit by mistake.   I started to use CrossFit as a rehab practice, rather than get “super fit and strong program” at that time.

It worked.

I did EVERY movement for form and safety.  I only did movements and workouts that would help me heal my back.  I was picky and very patient.

There were a group of movements that I did not go near for at least a year of being into CrossFit, that was because they caused pain.  I slowly worked into movements, and was able to do them safely and get what I was supposed to out of them.

From that point to now I managed to have two amazing kids.  When I had Boden who is now in his 3′s, I was not CrossFitting and not eating Paleoish.  I had major back pain with him.  But once I recovered from my C-section with him is when I started to Re-hab with CrossFit. Then,  boom-bam we were having another baby just 15 months after having Boden, okay I am lying 14 months apart.  I did CrossFit my entire pregnancy with Penelope and ate Paleo/Zone Style with her.

I had ZERO back pain and was back to my pre-pregancy weight just 2 weeks after I had her….I know crazy and freaky…but I ate as much Tommy and that still happened!  So I then became a worshiper of CrossFit and Paleo style eating because, for me, they worked.

Through 2009 and 2010 I had very little trouble with my back.  I began to think..hey maybe I can try this competing stuff in CrossFit, after all my husband was at that time the 2nd Fittest man in the world!!  So after surprising myself with a 3rd place finish in last years Fitness Elevated and a little confidence boost from Tommy,   I decided to not look back and I started training more advanced movements and loads so I could compete on our Ute CrossFit affiliate team.  I got through the Open with a few set backs, but chose to ignore them and continue training.  I ran in a bunch of small races, Dirty Dashes, 5k’s, Antelope Island trail race, I won the Spartan race!  I was on a high, and very happy that I could move and workout how I wanted.

I took part in Regionals for our Affiliate team we placed 2nd!  Also I was lucky enough to be on our team that went to the CrossFit Games, we placed 9th in the world!!  (Booyeah, who is your daddy..JK..no really though)

Through out my entire “fun time the last 2 years, I have had multiple set backs with my back, I need four hands to actually count all of the times I was really hurting or doing a treatment because my back was acting up.  But, I was still able to lift loads and do things I NEVER could have, so I was happy to continue ignoring the fact that I have 2 discs that are old hags and don’t do any work for my spine and body.

This past October is when I started questioning my training plan and my volume of training because I was constantly hurting and not able to move how I wanted.  I started to cut back on a lot of movements and loads to see if that would solve the problem.  I started to see a good friend to get help with her knowledge of Pilates and “core”.  It was not getting better.  I saw a Dr and was put on a high dose of Prednizone to aid in getting inflamation down, it worked a little but was a bit of a band-aid.

So at that point I was torn.  Do I go back to the basics and use CrossFit as Rehab for a while to get back to painfree movements, or do I keep trying to work through pain and be involved on our Affiliate team and be able to keep up with our top athletes here at Ute.   I decided to back off on training a bit and see how I felt.  I was not doing anything structered other than, I stopped lifting heavy.

I was sparce in my training, diet and sleep.  And it caught me.  I re herniated 2 discs, how did I do it?  I bent over to pick a shirt off the ground.  But that movement was not what caused it.  It was the months prior to that that caused it and the fact that I kept choosing to ignore my problem, for a little bit of fun and competition.

So that brings me to today.

Currently, I am on a very good plan for 6 weeks.  I am already pain free, and sticking to my plan.  After staying on track I will reaccess and build on the safe program I am on.  I need to be mindful, that even though I do love CrossFit and running I need to keep my volume and type of training that will be healthy for me and not anyone else that I am surrounded by.

That means, I go back to being picky about my movements, about how heavy of wieght I use and about my volume.  I needed to be honest with my self that at my point of life and condition of my back I cannot risk having another serious set back our possible surgery.  My main priorty everyday is being able to take care of my two wild nuts and to be pain free and being able to be active until my last day comes.

A lot of my problem was my ego and telling myself that I needed to STOP and back off!

What I am excited about is I can still do CrossFit, and I can still run in the hills around here.  I know there is a level of training that I can handle and that will be good for me.  I know that there is a level of training that is out of my range.  So I hope that I can help people find what is good for them and also I hope I can help people to be honest. You have to be honest with goals and what your lifestyle costs you.

Posted on the picture, is  a week of my trianing program and I will do this for 6 weeks.  Tommy and I have a great friendship with Rob Macdonald who is one of the most knowledgeable coaches we know, he set me up with this guide to a pain free back.  I am in my 2nd week of it and loving it.  My lesson, is know your goals.  Be realistic when setting them, get them.  No matter your limitations, they are not permanent and there is always a way to do what you want, but you have to be willing to to the work to get there.  Eventually, I will be moving and training with no hesitation…but always being mindful of what I am training for.

Enjoy your day, thank you for reading my blurb.

Bobbie Jo Hack