Back Tuck - Mid-lower back pain

[Aushion Chatman]

So I recently got my back tuck down pretty good. It was probably not a good idea but I did probably 40 or so (spread out over an hour) a couple weeks back. I started to notice my vertebrae towards the middle of my back (probably about 8-11 up from my tailbone) started to hurt. A PT saw me and pushed on my back a little and said they were out of place. Is there something with my landing that would cause that...maybe an imbalance.

I notice also that when I under-rotate, only my left ankle gets bent (dorsi-flexed- I think that's the term for your top of your foot bending towards your shin) to where it hurts a little and can swell up (I've under-rotated a lot due to uncommitment or poor execution). Does that have something to do with my back...maybe one side is taking a beating and so my back on impact is getting compressed unevenly?

[Blairbob]

probably. standing back tucks have a lot of force upon landing, especially for a big guy. i generally never had any newbie to standing back tucks do so many the first time, especially when focusing on form and quality of repetition.

[Coach Sommer]

You are not yet ready to be tackling such a high volume of back tuck work. Also as you are currently unable to land cleanly, you may want to consider the following two options to prevent your short landing injuries:

1) Use a qualified spotter to assist your back tucks.

2) In the event, that you have no access to a qualified spotter, you may perform the back tucks off a slightly elevated surface (4"-12" high). Be sure to use an appropriate surface to jump from such as a spring board or padded block. For beginners, I do not recommend using plyo boxes or other "hard edged" objects to jump from as in the case of a technical error your shins may drag down the edge :cry:!

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer