A Few Questions

[fanman.]

It's taken a long time for me to get round to putting this on the forum, but better late than never I guess.
Early October last year I injured a muscle in my back while doing plyometrics . I have been that I have torn an intercostal muscle (I can feel it around about a couple of inches below my left shoulder blade i think). I was also told that it can take 4-6 months to heal . Late January now, it hasn't healed yet. I don't notice much difference in it healing cause its happening very VERY slowly. At least now i can do most of the martial arts training as long as be careful and not overdo it without making it worse. I have cut down on my martial arts and physical training a fair bit. for physical training not doing any upper body just hand/wrist/forearm, legs and abs.

Aside from what I've mentioned, what can I do in order to help it heal faster and/or better?

Is there any danger in doing lots of hand/wrist/forearm exercises but no upper arm?

Are there any ways I can exercise the upper arms or upper body without affecting my injured muscle? (I'm sure of lost a LOT of strength in the upper body from not been able to exercise it for so long).

I hate not been able to train as much as I would like to, and this is definetly the worst injury i have ever got. Answers to my questions and any help in general would be greatly appreciated.

[cakegirl]

I'd be interested in the answers to these questions too... I've got a niggling muscle problem in my back too...

[shirase]

Go To The Doctor!

[fanman.]

Go To The Doctor!

I can't go to da doctor, he tells me i been goin to him too much, he say i'm a young healthy man and stop worrying about my problems!

[binski20]

Then find a new doctor. IF you feel you have a problem significant enough to keep your attention and to warrant thoughts about going to him in the first place, it is for a reason.

[Broadsword2004]

Go to a doctor, and if you are still experiencing pain but the doc says to go away anyhow, then get a new doctor; ALWAYS when you injure a muscle like that, read about it and see a doctor. I say this because what you THINK can be good for the muscle and what is actually good for it can be two different things. Don't be like me when I pulled my hamstring badly; the coach tells me to stretch it and ice it; I think, WHY stretch a pulled hammy, and why ice?? A nice hot bath feels better.

True a nice hot bath felt more relaxing on the hammy, but it does nothing to heal it and if the hamstring is severely torn, it can cause the muscle to actually bleed. Ice is far better. As for the stretching, that is because if you don't stretch, the hamstring lays on layers of tough, inflexible scar tissue where the old muscle tissue used to be. You thus need to stretch very lightly while letting the hammy heal, so that as the scar tissue is layed, it gets stretched, so that when you get back to having a normal hamstring again, you have the normal muscle. Otherwise, you're leg heals, then you start exercising, and after one day, it is injured again.

I dealt with that problem for FOUR YEARS, all because I was stupid and didn't listen to me coach (didn't stretch). As a result, the hammy would heal, I'd train, but it had healed with inflexible scar tissue which would tear upon the first day of training, so then I'd have to wait for it to heal again, etc....BIG PAIN in the butt (literally and figuratively speaking). Once I realized what I was doing wrong, and also got to a sports medicine doctor, I applied the right knowledge and now my hammy is fine.

So I know my story was long, but the moral is, if you injure a muscle that continues to ache and hurt, that should not be aching or hurting, see a doctor and read up about the injury. It can really also help you talk to the doctor about the injury too if you know more about it.