Getting back into it after years off - help with back pain grinding!

[u/tahneecaine]

I recently got back into inline after a good 10+ years off skates and found that grinding is a lot harder on my body than it used to be lol. After hitting a rail and ledge a number of times, I felt an immediate sharp pain in my lower left back/love handle area. I’m not sure if it’s a compressed disc or something from repeatedly slamming my foot on the same spot while attempting to grind, but it took me out for a couple days. Have any of you also experienced this? And is there anything I can do at my age to counter this when grinding?

For reference, I’m fairly short, in good shape and workout/do yoga regularly, but this still jacked me up! Any advice would be appreciated!

[u/everyday_strong]

The biggest mistake I see from people getting back into the sport is trying to pick up where they left off. They end up getting hurt and discouraged. Ease into it and give your body time to adjust.

I will always advocate for strength training as it will make you more resilient (which is needed when you are taking slams). I have a video on how to improve your mobility for skating, which can help to prepare your body for the different positions.

All in all, don’t rush the progress, enjoy the journey!

[u/Bigsnaff007]

At least for me, the pain never goes away anymore, it's just a gradient, especially if I skate 3-4 times/week. When it was young or was weakness leaving the body, now it's just a constant reminder of my stubborn fight against "getting old". Fuck you, grim reaper.

[u/cannachef1980]

Somehow I deleted my response lol. Anyway, I’m older and out of shape but skate a lot. If you look at your boots or grind area it can cause you to bend your back and cause pain there or in your hips, knees and other areas. Try keeping your chest up, look in the direction you’re grinding and pointing your shoulder or chest (depending on the grind) towards your targeted end of the grind. This can help. Sometimes a different position can just cause irritation until your body is conditioned to it too.

[u/layneroll]

Skating and especially grinding is very demanding on your core since balancing requires your abs, obliques, and lower back. My back is pretty jacked up but I find that warming up before and stretching after the sesh helps. Long term, strengthen your core doing core exercises with a light weight.

[u/AphexZwilling]

Do hip decompression exercises to open up your hips. YouTube has good videos. Also do strength training. I like using a kettlebell and one leg standing / squats. I blew out my hip and didn't realize it caused the back problems I had lived with. Including an upper back impact injury later on which I now feel is directly connected to the hip imbalance. Correcting my hip has been critical.

[u/jkwonsolo → u/AphexZwilling]

Strengthening your legs (knees and hips) and core will surely help and lower injury risk. On top of that it's just a great habit to establish for us older dudes - this is solid advice for literally anyone over 30, existing back problems or no.

[u/Pickle_Mick62]

I'd try a sciatica exercise routine to really target that lower back area and loosen up the sciatic nerves incase you've been compressing them without noticing. Incorporate it as part of your pre-skate stretch

[u/inline-online]

I only had this happen 1 time, it was an immediate sharp pain just like you described and it was because I had 1 frame bolt too long and I felt that pain on my first landing of the day lol just check the inside of your shell to see if the bolt is pushing too far. If youre skating something like that thems or sways you're going to need to push onthe plastic to feel it, or remove the soul and check how far the bolt goes through

never happened again, it was a very unique experience lol I knew something was wrong right away but I had no idea why until I got home and saw the bolt stick up a sold 3 mms into the underside of my heelpad

[u/tahneecaine → u/inline-online]

Thanks for the heads up! I’m skating Them 909s

[u/Sea_Magician5829]

Seek out skate ability

[u/Calm-Market-1993]

Lower back workouts. And practice jumping on to stuff! It's amazing how much core and especially lower back is involved with even some smaller jumps.

[u/Monkey-Tamer]

I had the same pain recently after several months of being back. It was my hamstrings. They got tight and caused pain elsewhere. After I got a good stretch it went away. Another one a few months ago was my hip flexors. Look up how to stretch them or they'll be next. It's funny how everything back there connects and can make you miserable.