Back pain after front lever

[William Gripp]

Hello everyone

 

I've got a problem with the front lever, because when relax the muscles from an advanced tuck position or from a slow negative (or doing FL raises, ecc.)  I feel a lot of pain in my upper back and it's like I can't breathe for a second. This pain lasts just 3-4 seconds but I think it's definitely a sign that something is wrong.

 

I don't lack the strength because I can easily do muscle ups and I even try to retract and depress the scapula but it doesn't look like it's working.

 

So what should I do?

 

 

[Alexander Egebak]

Perhaps weak rotator cuffs? It is hard for us to tell without more information about the pain, and even so you should probably see a professional.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

first order of business is to temporarily drop the movements that are causing you sharp, dangerous feeling pain. i'd even caution to not even do things that leave a dull ache even after a few days recovery.

if you know that you can self-massage to release some of the tension, i'd suggest it but we have to take into account the nature of whatever it is that is causing you grief. self massaging an inflamed bursa for example only will further aggravate it or at least that's what i've noticed from personal experience when trying to alleviate symptoms from being overzealous with weighted dislocates.

definitely get checked out. it may be a lot of things, but we can know for sure and how to create a realistic plan of action of what to do, once a professional puts his hands on you.

there are things you can do to help your health professional do his job of helping you recover but that will be a mystery until you know what is actually going on and that your methods of recovery don't conflict with the recovery.

best of luck and hope you recover soon!

[Mikkel Ravn]

Hello everyone

I've got a problem with the front lever, because when relax the muscles from an advanced tuck position or from a slow negative (or doing FL raises, ecc.) I feel a lot of pain in my upper back and it's like I can't breathe for a second. This pain lasts just 3-4 seconds but I think it's definitely a sign that something is wrong.

I don't lack the strength because I can easily do muscle ups and I even try to retract and depress the scapula but it doesn't look like it's working.

So what should I do?

It's pretty simple: Something IS wrong, and you DO lack the strength. Being able to handle these movements safely requires every link in the chain to be strong, and you have a weak link somewhere. Unfortunately, doing exercises that are too hard will not let you address those weak links.

[Wesley Tan]

Hi William, how long has this been a problem and were you able to perform this exercise before without the pain?

 

Something is definitely wrong and if it is affecting your ability to breath in the upper back, it could be a rib joint (where the ribs attach to the vertebrae) or a spinal joint issue itself. These joints have to move freely when you breath and if something is strained and irritated it will hurt. Do't work through pain as you can make the problem worse. See if you can mobilise that area in other ways without pain. Cat/cow, supine wipers etc.

 

For solid front lever work the scapulae should actually be depressed and protracted so as to engage serratus anterior and the lats, lats are the key as they attach on to the pelvis and give you the ability to lift the pelvis via the arms in front lever.