Back problems

Well I did it! After a few years of being injury free, I hurt my back and dislocated a few ribs. Well technically re-injured. When I was in college, we were required to take physical education classes like archery, racquetball, weightlifting, etc. I took one semester of racquetball and one semester of judo. I was the professor or sensei’s first female student. Again my military college was primarily boys, and for 18 years, no female had ever taken his judo class. I loved the class! However, because all the guys were bigger than me in regards to weight, I had to fight people 15-20 lbs heavier than me. Well one of the moves went wrong and the guy landed on me, hard. Four dislocated ribs and a fractured rib. I was out for a few weeks.
         When you dislocate a rib, a chiropractor is able to reset them into place. It feels like a heart attack when a rib is out from the pressure. What I didn’t know, until last week was that once you dislocate your ribs, it very easily will happen again. Well it did. I had been doing a few new ab workouts that WOW, were showing amazing progress and burned so bad! I was upping my reps from two sets of 25 to three sets of 25. The problem, according to my doctor, was that I was contracting my muscles in the front (chest, abs, etc) and expanding my muscles on my back allowing for slight tears in my muscle tissue. Because I wasn’t strengthening my back, my ribs popped out of place. This happened early last week. My orthopedic/ chiropractor is the also the doctor for the St. Louis Blues hockey team. He’s a busy guy and I got an appointment on Friday. He put my back and my ribs into place. My headache went away immediately from my spine being out of alignment. E-stem and heat, I was sore but felt better. He gave me a few instructions like 2 back work outs for every ab or chest work out, and rest.
         Well I went to work Friday night, tried to pick up a heavy tray and my back pretty much said “nope.” So I took it easy Friday and Saturday night at work. Sunday, I decided to go to the gym for a light workout. My back is still achy but I wanted to see my personal trainer for a few tips and workout ideas. I did a lot of pilates, stretches, and stationary workouts. I made sure to do back exercises to strengthen those muscles. Back workouts are SO BORING. So for the next few weeks, I have to take things easy and be conscious of my posture, my back, and my muscle tension… Oh boy.