When scar tissue forms near the nerve root, it's called epidural fibrosis. Epidural fibrosis is a common occurrence after back surgeries. This is so common that it often occurs in patients with both successful surgical outcomes as well as patients that continue to have the leg and back pain they felt before the surgery. Keeping this in mind we can understand why the importance of scar tissue as the potential cause of postoperative pain is controversial. This is commonly referred to as failed back surgery syndrome.
When our body goes into repair mode, scar tissue formation becomes part of the normal healing process after any traumatic injury. Although scar tissue can be the cause of back pain or leg pain, because it does not have any nerve endings, the scar tissue in itself is not painful. The binding or "tethering" of the lumbar nerve root by the fibrous adhesions is the main factor in the back pain or leg pain.
The term pinched nerve refers to the pain or impaired function of a nerve that is under pressure. Nerves that control muscle movements or relay sensations to the brain are usually affected.
Tingling, numbness, burning sensations or shooting pains down the buttocks and leg or in the fingers arms neck and shoulder are the initial symptoms of a pinched nerve.
Sometimes the pains and sensations are distant from the point of pressure. For instance, a pinched nerve in the low back may cause pain in the calf as the only symptom. When there is nerve damage from constant pressure, pain and weakness may increase. There may be a loss of reflexes, movement skills, sensation in the affected area, and withering (atrophy) of the affected muscles can occur.
Other common causes of pain after back surgery
A comprehensive physical examination should be preformed if a patient suffers from continued back pain or leg pain after a laminectomy or discectomy surgery procedure. An appropriate diagnostic imaging technique should often be able to locate the cause of the pain. there are a few things that can be done before and/or after spine surgery that have the potential to limit the formation of scar tissue over the operative disc.
Every year in the United States there are approximately 200,000 lumbar laminectomy and discectomy (microdiscectomy) surgeries performed. In these 200,000 surgeries, ninety percent of them will have a positive outcome. The search for solutions to the other 10% of surgical patients with continued pain begins with an assessment of the cause for the back pain or leg pain.
The clinical profile of epidural fibrosis
Most often the symptoms that are associated with epidural fibrosis will appear about six to twelve weeks after the back surgery process. Usually this is preceded by an initial period of pain relief after the surgery. As time draws on the patient slowly develops recurrent back pain or leg pain. The improvement will sometimes occur immediately after the back surgery, although sometimes the nerve damage from the original pathology has the nerve heal more slowly.
If the patients leg pain continues after the surgery but begins to improve over the next three months, he or she will most likely continue to improve. If there is no improvement made within three months of the initial surgery, it is not likely to have been a successful procedure. The patient will continue to have back pain and leg pain.
Cause For Back Pain
The reason we say this is because, if you are going to spend so much time, money, and energy trying to build the “perfect body", you have to make sure that you not only look good, but also feel good…
We’ve identified what we call “Bodybuilding Sins" that lead to back pain, sciatic pain, and other injuries… read em and take action now if you are serious about bodybuilding and are fed up with your back pain.
Because there is so much information to share with you, we’ve broken it down into a series of 5 articles, each covering a different component of how back pain affects bodybuilders.
Here’s a breakdown of the articles to look for:
1. Article #1 - Choosing The WRONG Exercises (below)
2. Article #2 - Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results
3. Article #3 - Targeted Stretching
4. Article #4 - Targeted Exercises
5. Article #5 - Rest, Recovery, and Injury Prevention
Article #1 - Choosing the WRONG Exercises
Get ready, this is gonna hurt! The exercises most bodybuilders focus on the most, are the ones that cause the most problems… hopefully, you’re different J
But before we share with you what those exercise are, let’s talk real quickly about what bodybuilding is…
The goal of bodybuilding isn’t to get as big as you can, or at least to us it isn’t and shouldn’t be, but to build a balanced body that is as strong as possible in every way. For example, while being freakishly big may get people’s attention, it serves you no purpose at all…
while on the other hand, what if you were not only big, but also extremely strong and powerful, lightning fast, flexible, and agile enough to kick ass if needed?
So many bodybuilders build massive amounts of muscle yet are so unbelievably weak and inflexible… for example, we know a guy who can bench press over 350 lbs but can’t do a measly 50 push-ups!
The point is, the exercises you choose and how you perform them not only determine how big, strong, and flexible you are, but also affect how your body functions and whether or not you suffer from aches, pains, and injuries like back pain and sciatic pain.
Ok, here they are… the exercises that create the most problems and are most likely to lead to back pain:
1. Bench Press
2. Leg Extension
So, any of your favorites on this list?
While there are others, these are the two that cause the most damage.
There are several reasons why these exercises made our list of the “worst bodybuilding exercises". First, all of them target areas that already tend to get worked a lot in everyday life and often times are overdeveloped…
and by focusing so much on these exercises you end up creating muscle imbalances, or worsening existing muscle imbalances, which pull your bones and joints out of their normal position…
and this leads to uneven pressure and wear and tear on your muscle, ligaments, tendons, bones, and joints and will sooner or later lead a break down or injury.
For example, chronic overuse of the bench press, coupled with little or no exercises targeting the upper back, leads to an overdevelopment of the chest and a lack of strength and development in the upper back…
This all too common combination leads to what we call “Turtle Back". You know what we’re talking about, when the shoulders are pulled so far forward, lats are as wide as barn, and from behind, their back looks like a giant sea turtle shell!
This “Turtle Back" posture can create neck, upper back, and shoulder pain and injuries faster than you can pop an Advil!
Plus, how many times during your day are you forced to lie on your back and push up a bar loaded with weights? There are so many better exercises for chest development that not only stimulate more muscle, but also build more usable strength.
Now let’s talk about the fabulous thigh builder, the leg extension…
Not only does it place an unbelievable amount of strain on the knee joint, but it also will quickly overdevelop the quads, which are already getting far more work than their counterpart, the hamstrings.
An imbalance between the quadriceps and hamstrings, which is also extremely common in bodybuilders, is a key contributor to back pain. This imbalance is easily identifiable by what people often call “Bubble Butt" or “Ghetto Booty".
So hopefully you can see how important it is to choose your exercises wisely. We strongly recommend you cut out these exercises, or at least cut back on using them and add in targeted exercises for the opposing muscle groups and targeted stretches for those tight, overdeveloped muscles.
The key to eliminating back pain, or any other ache, pain or injury for that matter, is to bring your body closer to balance…
What good is muscle if you can’t use it? How many more workouts are you going to miss because of back, neck, or shoulder pain? How much bigger and stronger could you be if back pain and other injuries weren’t ruining your training?
Just imagine how bad things will be 10, 20, or 30 years from now if you don’t make changes to your training now… but don’t take our word for it, ask some of the older bodybuilders who are paying the price now... you can spot them easily at the gym because they limp around trying to find something they CAN do.
Look for the next article, “Training Variations for Pain Relief and Maximum Results" very soon and in the mean time, if you are suffering from back pain or sciatic pain, here’s what you need to do…
Head on over to our website http://www.losethebackpain.com now to find out exactly what’s causing your back pain and the specific steps you need to take to get relief fast and get back to training at 100%.
Both Robert Langard & Steve Hefferon, Cmt And Jesse Cannone, Cft are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Robert Langard has sinced written about articles on various topics from Medical Condition, Fitness and Backpain. Minimally invasive procedure for . Do you want more information about. Robert Langard's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
Steve Hefferon, Cmt And Jesse Cannone, Cft has sinced written about articles on various topics from Backpain. Article by Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS and Steve Hefferon, CMT, CPRS Find out which back pain (http://www.losethebackpain.com) exercises actually work and you need to be doing… and which ones you must avoid like the plague!. Steve Hefferon, Cmt And Jesse Cannone, Cft's top article generates over 480 views. to your Favourites.
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