Low Back Spasm with Jefferson Curl

So, I'm on week 5 with MN Pe2...thusfar, although Jefferson Curls are really tough for me, I've had no issues.  
I've really been working my flexibility lately and pushed--I think--too hard.  While nothing happened during the workout, I found myself in a much deeper range of motion than usual with the curl. I'm using a 15 lb bar.  

I was trying to get really deep in the bottom of the movement.  It felt very good (this was Tuesday, btw).

Wednesday am I woke up very stiff in my lower back.  Decreased range of motion--while bending at the hips, I can only get my hands to mid thighs.  Anything in the pike position is unbelievably painful. 

Sitting is fine.  But, walking...as each foot extends, I get a sharp pain in the lower back (SI joint area--mid spine).  

I've suffered from back issues in the past, and I'm not too concerned.  My question is, what is the best way to treat this type of spasm?  jsut rest?  light stretching/mobility with rest?  heat?  etc.  

I plan to rest to fully recovered but I woul like to accelerate this...  Heat or ice?  

Secondly, how do I prevent this from happening in the future?  Really, there was no acute pain while doing the movement--it only came the next morning after sleeping all night... The only thing I have to go on is a "gut" feeling that I was going too far in my range of motion... Damn.  Should have listened...Is there any other indicator I should have looked for? 

Lastly, should I continue training the other movements that don't irritate the back?  Or, should this be full rest?  

I'm not sure if a visit to the dr.. is warranted because my ability to move around is fine...it's just terrible when I attempt to bend over...

Thanks!  

you're probably -very- sore, i've felt this in three occassions, jefferson curls, max effort ABH pushing for dear life and the day following a psoas release. my right psoas is(was) incredibly tight compared to my left psoas. (so this begs to question, were you pulling yourself into the position? if so, maybe the combined forces of hip flexion + the stretch on the spine made the psoas work real hard. this is more speculation than hard fact, take it with a grain of salt.) 

a few days of rest did it for me, especially the psoas release. I was sore on mostly one side of my back.(my right side, all the way upto T-12.) 

my quiro put heat on both sides of my trunk to assist the release, so consult with your practitioner on what would be best for you in this situation, hopefully he has experience with athletics and won't tell you that Jefferson Curls are horrible for you. (unless you're biting off too much too soon and 15lbs doesn't sound like too much for you.)

on how to prevent this from happening in the future, i don't know how to give you a figure because i haven't done them in a while(especially since im focusing on Windmills) and only know anecdotal references  to hard stretching(which does make you sore, if done right.) and usually is a dialed in skill. the other day, I finally gave my quads some tough(-er) love than usual and the next day, I was actually sore. so I found my "go-to" parameter to make my Quads sore. perhaps, this is your "go-to" parameter to make your lower back sore. so remember what you did and adjust accordingly.(so that when you do decide to go hard on a mobility session, you know where too much is too much.) 

hope this helps and hope you recover soon!

hmmm, not sure.  To be honest, I'm not even sure what psoas is/means!  I've heard it referred to on movements like GHD situps, so I always thought it was around the hip.  My pain is definitely right above the tail bone, centered, not splaying out to either SI joint, but it's in that general area.  

Yesterday, I warmed up and did some back limbers.  My range of motion was hands to kneecaps in the pike on the downward motion, but as I continued to work, my mobility slowly came back and I felt the spasm release a bit...  So I kept moving through the back limbers until I had regained my full rage of motion.  

So, point is, working through the movement versus resting seemed to work best for me.  Appreciate the feedback. 

Not sure if this is/was muscular soreness or an indication of a spasm/disc issue.  I don't like the fact that it feels like it's "in" my spine...  At least it's getting better.  

if you dont like feeling it in the spine, maybe as a warm up, you can do spinal undulations and spinal waves to get it loose. FL/PE1-iM is an excellent example of an undulation and so is jefferson curls, but they're loaded.

Psoas is a particular muscle group that originates along the spine and insert into your femur. it's one of the muscles that makes HLL look so nice.

Gottcha.  Thanks!  I will bring these into the warm up for sure. 

bombadil said:

Gottcha.  Thanks!  I will bring these into the warm up for sure. 

let us know how it goes for you, as well!

There has been a few threads on the Jefferson Curl. Try doing a search. The same thing happened to me so I had to drop to 2.5kg and add weight slowly. I am now up to 40kg with no problems. The quick answer is that you stretched the fascia in the back like never before and your body couldn't cope with such a quick change.

KeilaniG said:

let us know how it goes for you, as well!

So, after two days of using spinal undulation via cat cow (flpem1), the pain is much better...  I'm going to keep these in the warm up.  I also am finding that periodically doing them throughout the day helps, too.  

Mark Collins said:

There has been a few threads on the Jefferson Curl. Try doing a search. The same thing happened to me so I had to drop to 2.5kg and add weight slowly. I am now up to 40kg with no problems. The quick answer is that you stretched the fascia in the back like never before and your body couldn't cope with such a quick change.

Yeah, when I get back to the Jefferson curl, which I hope will be this Tuesday, I'm going to drop the wight to 2.5kg.  I was using 7...  

I've had a similiar back spasm a couple of times from max effort deadlifting and squatting. For the last two times I was able to fully release my back with a hard small ball they use in ice-bandy, by rolling the sides of glutes and lower back just next to my tailbone.

Doing Jeffersons for a couple of weeks has hugely increased my pike flexibility. I can now pull my stomach to my thighs without using my hands, something that some time go just created an extremely hard tension in my lower back faschia.