How Long Should I Wait?

Hey, Dr. Ryan Alter here, your Delray
Beach chiropractor. I was just texting
with a uh colleague, another
professional who was asking me a few
questions about their back problem and
about exercise. And I just wanted to
share this because I think it would be
helpful for everybody who deals with
these type of things. And so the text
was about a week or two ago. It was my
back’s giving me trouble and I was
trying to help this person. I don’t take
care of them really. and I was trying to
help them through whatever was going on.
And um now the the text is I’m feeling
better. Can I get back into the gym? And
so without having all the details, I
said, “There’s a lot to this. I don’t
know exactly what was going on. Um I
don’t know exactly what you want to do
in the gym.” And all of these things
play play a role. So he started
explaining to me and was giving him some
basics and saying, “Hey, when you’re
back in the gym, you need to be really
careful picking up weights and putting
weights down. That’s really where people
kind of hurt their back is leaning
forward and letting it go. It’s at the
end of an exercise when you go to put
things down. So he said, “Well, I only
use machines.” So I thought, “Okay, well
that’s a lot safer.” Okay, machines are
safer when you have a low back problem
than lifting heavy dumbbells. Then he
went into some of the specifics. And uh
you know what about this and what about
that? And I gave him a few tips. And
then he said, “What about swimming?” And
I said, “Well, swimming’s great, but one
of the issues with swimming is if you’re
doing the normal freestyle swimming, the
regular swim stroke, the the kicking has
kind of an extension going on, and that
can irritate a back. I said you’d be
better off with kind of this stroke
where you do kind of this frog kick and
there’s not much extension. So anyway,
the the moral of the the video here is
that when you have a back problem, you
need to first try to understand exactly
what’s going on. If you need help with
that, you go and see a professional who
can help you. And then as you’re
recovering and you’re getting back into
your activities, you want to evaluate
each activity and it’s the risk factor
for lower back problems and the safety
and is there any modifications. And with
all of that information, you make smart
decisions about getting yourself back on
track with your normal activities. Okay?
The knowledge is what will keep you
safe. And once you have a good
understanding, then you can make the
best decisions to keep yourself in the
best shape possible.