Rehabilitating the Lower Back

by Bill Starr

The sky was ash-gray with all the signs of an incoming storm straight off the Gu
lf. The air was muggy and still. I found a place on the screened porch that alwa
ys catches a bit of breeze, regardless of the weather, and turned by attention t
o Michelangelo s epic confrontation with Pope Julius as recorded by Irving Stone i
n The Agony and the Ecstasy. I was at the point of the story where the Pope was
trying to convince Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a ta
sk the strong-willed artist was resisting with all his body and soul.
This is one of my favorite times of the day. Indulging myself in that first cup
of coffee and enjoying a well-written novel. Tinker, my worthless black puppy, w
as napping in a chair next to mine so that he could receive an occasional scratc
h, the breeze was flowing gently on my back and all was quiet in the country. Bu
t my solitary relaxation was to be short-lived this day. All four dogs broke int
o a barking frenzy as they spotted the green pickup coming down the lane.
It was Ed, and as I attempted to quiet the mutts, I noticed that he was walking
with a hobbled gait.
Looks like you re hurting, I said as I opened the screen door for him.
Yea, I am. I need to talk to you. Got a minute?
For you, sure. What s up?
I need some help. This back of mine is giving me fits. I just can t seem to get it
well. It s been out of whack for over three months now.
Where is it hurt?
It s my lower back. I did it deadlifting in the Galveston meet. Sometimes I can t eve
n get out of bed in the morning. The pain runs down my left leg and I m barely abl
e to hobble around.
Have you been to a doctor?
Yea, two or three. They give me pain pills, muscle relaxants, and one gave me a c
ortisone-type pill which helps for a while, but then the pain comes back and I k
now the problem is still there. I just came from a chiropractor. He helps the mo
st. I feel good for a few days after he adjusts me, but then it comes back again
.
Have you been exercising it?
Well, I ve been trying to train my upper body so as not to let my shoulder strength
get too far behind, but I m afraid to work my back. I m almost crippled now.
My friend was obviously in great discomfort. He gingerly lowered himself into th
e chair next to me. He had to use both hands to extend his right leg. Blondie ca
me over to coax a few pets from the visitor.
What should I do?
 Ed, the back is one of the most difficult areas of the body to deal with as there
can be so many things out of sync that cannot be discovered though X-rays or su
ch. You tell me that it feels much better after each adjustment and this is a mo
st positive sign. What you need to do is strengthen the muscles that support the
lower back so that when the chiropractor sets you into a proper alignment, the
muscles will be strong enough to keep your vertebrae in the proper line.
Frankly, I m a bit afraid to exercise my lower back at all. What if I blow it out c
ompletely?
I understand your apprehension. I suffered with the same problem for almost three
years. I couldn t break a bar off the floor without pain. That s when I came up wit
h this little program I m going to show you. Think on this. There are two ways for
you to go. You can continue on your present course and hope for the best. A sma
ll miracle maybe. But I can tell you from experience that the muscles of the low
er back, hips and legs will just get progressively weaker if they are not exerci
sed. That is a physical law. And I can almost guarantee you that your back pain
will not only continue, it will get worse.
The other course is for you to start on an exercise program designed to strengthe
n the weakened muscles of the lumbar region. It s that simple.
Ed was busy scratching Blondie s chubby yellow back while he listened intently.
What kind of exercises are you thinking of me doing?
When anyone asks that question, I know I ve got him headed in the right direction.
I have two favorite exercises for the lower back: the good morning and the haltin
g deadlift.
I watched Ed s face lose all of its color.
Deadlifts? I don t think you re listening. I can t stand upright without pain, how am I
going to deadlift:
Very lightly, I replied.
He studied me for a moment to see if I was joking. I wasn t.
He was now busy massaging Blondie s ears.
I have to admit that I don t want to continue like this. I ll try anything. When can
you show me how to do the exercises?
Now. We walked from the porch through the kitchen into the Sugg s Athletic Club. Whi
ch is, in real life, a two-car garage with sufficient equipment to train a world
champion: Olympic bar, bench, power rack, squat stands, dumbells and about a ha
lf-ton of weight. Quaint, and often animated with some two dozen odd cats and ki
ttens coming and going at will, but anyone who really wants to get strong can do
so at the S.A.C.
Before I show you how to do the two movements, let me explain that you are going
to do very high reps and be using a very light weight. The workload will be achi
eved through reps, not the resistance. You will be using this broomstick for res
istance and I want you to do 75 reps, if you can.
Seventy-five reps! I ve never done seventy-five reps of anything.
There was a tattered copy of The Strongest Shall Survive laying on the top of th
e washer. I flipped through it to page 165 and showed Ed the photos of Ed Frasca
demonstrating the good morning. Then I took the broomstick and performed one as
I instructed him.
Place the bar high on your back as you d do on a high-bar or Olympic-style squat. You
r feet should be closer than shoulder width, about 12 apart. Your toes are turned
slightly inward, in a pigeon-toed stance. Bend the knees slightly and then lean
your upper body forward and try to place your chest on your thighs. Eventually,
you will be able to touch your nipples to your knees. Round your lower back and
do not let your hips go lower once you have set your position. Come up slowly,
with the weight on your toes, rather than your heels. Reset for each rep.
Ed followed my instructions perfectly, going slowly into the bottom-most positio
n. For the first dozen reps he was barely bending forward at all, but steadily h
e got lower and lower so as he neared the fiftieth rep he was actually touching
his chest to his thighs. He got to seventy-five, then quickly went to the bench
and laid down. His face assumed the color of chalk and he was breathing like a m
an who had just run wind sprints.
Good grief, he gasped. I can t believe that made me so tired.
How does it feel, your back I mean?
He was lying on his back with one arm across his face. He flexed his lower back
on the bench.
I can feel the pump, that s for sure. I can t believe working with a broomstick could
do that to me.
OK, rest a minute or two and do another set.
He looked up at me from under his forearm and said weakly, I m not sure that I can.
Yes, you can. One thing that you must learn is that you re going to have to handle
pain. There is simply no other way to rebuild a damaged bodypart without some de
gree of discomfort. What you need to be able to do is to differentiate between a
sharp stabbing-type pain and a dull aching-type of pain. The sharp pain indicat
es that there is something amiss and you should stop whatever you are doing. The
dull ache is a positive pain. It means that you are feeding blood and healing n
utrients to the damaged area.
Ed got up slowly.
OK, I ll try another set.
I coaxed him through fifty reps before his skin took on the tone of milk. He flo
pped on the bench again.
Phew, I didn t know my lower back had gotten so pitifully weak. I m embarrassed. I wa
s deadlifting 550 before I got hurt.
Your strength will come back quickly once you get over these first few weeks of r
ehabbing. And if you go about it sensibly, your lower back will be stronger than
it was before you got hurt. Now get up, I want to show you one more exercise. I
call it the halting deadlift. You only pull the bar to just below the knees. Yo
u never come fully erect.
A bit of color had returned to Ed s face, but he was still a tad pale.
I don t think I can deadlift anything.
 I don t expect you to. You re going to use the broomstick again.
Oh no. And high reps?
You got it.
Ed growled and grumbled, rolled off the bench and took the broomstick from me.
Do this movement just as you would the regular deadlift except I want you to lowe
r the broomstick to the tops of your shoes and only bring it up to the top of yo
ur knees.
He performed seventy-five reps in fine form and was once again totally spent.
Boy, am I puny.
There s no question about that. Your lower back strength really fell off. How is yo
ur back feeling now?
He stood up, twisted and turned in a variety of positions.
Hey, pretty good. It s not hurting now. That s the first time in over a month it hasn t
hurt without pain pills.
Well, don t be fooled. The lower back is still hurt and you should continue to assu
me that it s damaged for some time yet. But you can be happy in the fact that if i
t feels better after a session such as this, you re on the right course.
You should do three sets of both of these exercises at least once every day. Twi
ce a day is even better if you can work it into your schedule. Stay with the bro
omstick for the next five days and try to run the reps up to 100 for all three s
ets on both movements. Then start using the Olympic bar, 45 pounds, drop your re
ps back to 75 and steadily work back up to 100 reps. When you get to that point,
you re well on your way. Start adding plates, and drop the reps back to fifty a s
et. When you are able to put on the 25-pound plates, giving you 95 pounds, begin
doing three sets of 25 reps. Stay with this formula for at least four weeks, 3
sets of 25, and move the weight up whenever you feel able.
Ed was busy writing all this information on a note pad.
Anything else?
You will also need to pay attention to your nutritional supplementation during th
is rehab period. Start drinking a protein milkshake daily, and increase your B-C
omplex vitamins as well as your C.
I take a multi-vitamin that has all that in it.
Your multiple is a good start, but when you are helping your body repair itself,
you need to make sure that you are providing it with ample material to do the jo
b. The additional protein will insure that you have a sufficient supply to rebui
ld the damaged muscles, the extra B-vitamins will assist in the assimilation of
the protein, and the C is most valuable for building the strong connective tissu
e.
Ed now had two pages filled in his pad.
OK, I can handle that. How much C?
 Take ten grams a day for a week, and then drop back to six.
Is that it?
Not really. I want you to continue to see your chiropractor until all pain is gon
e. Also, there are inversion boots at the gym in town. Use these after every exe
rcise session. Hang for 5-6 minutes each time. Call me if you have any questions
or problems.
As he walked to his pickup he was no longer limping, although he did appear wear
y. Ed had consumed my reading hour. I would have to wait to find out how Michela
ngelo faired with the Pope. It was time to do some typing.
It was almost a month before I saw Ed again. I bumped into him as I was leaving
the Safeway.
So, how s the back?
Hey, better than OK. I m using 95 pounds for all three sets in the good morning and
225 for my last set of haltings. The hanging really seems to help and I think t
he extra C, B s and protein have given me more energy. I feel good. I stopped goin
g to the chiropractor last week.
That s terrific. Just be cautious. Stay with that 95 for another month in the good
morning and you can start doing them just three days a week. The same with the h
alting, but you can creep the poundage up on that. Just be aware that your lower
back is still not at full strength just yet. You no longer need to baby it, but
don t be doing any limit lifts, not even any heavy fives or threes.\
Do this program for a month, then drop the reps to 10 on both exercises and start
doing five total sets of each, three times each week. After another month, you
can ahead and do your regular power program, your back will be stronger than it
has ever been. It s also time for you to start working your abdomen. Remember that
your midsection is a girdle and all parts must be kept in proportional strength
. Do some leg lifts or bent-knee sit-ups each workout.
I started doing frog-kicks last week.
Fine, they re even better. I m glad to see that you re improving.
I appreciate your advice. Ah . . . could you give me some tips on how I can get m
y bench to move? I ve been at 320 for months.
Later, Ed. Later.