I’m back! Abdominal muscle strain is no bueno…

     Hello readers! After a brief hiatus I am finally returning to writing and updating the website! Make sure to check out the new photo sets here. Where did I go you may ask? Well, although I wish I could say I was traveling abroad saving baby penguins, the truth of the matter is not so exciting. Somehow I managed to tear my abdominal muscles in 2 places. Grade III tears, clean through. Not so fun! Theories abound about how this happened. My own personal theory is that I was overextended from over 9 days of surfing and skating and my body simply gave out while trying to move a 350+ pound ramp.
     As a side note for any of you who ever tear or strain your abdominal muscles, you will be in doubt as to how bad this injury sucks and how painful it can be. So, I’ll give you some tips to help your healing time.

• First: go to a doctor! It is important to get evaluated by a medical professional immediately with cases of abdominal pain. You want to rule out any serious things such as a ruptured appendix, a mass of some kind, internal bleeding, stomach problems, etc. Once you have ruled those out you will want to make sure your injury does not require surgery. Usually this is accomplished through either an MRI or CT scan (the method which was used on me).
• Second: no heat! Use ice or cold compresses only. You will want to stop the bleeding and inflammation. This goes for the entire healing process. I only started using heat once I started to rehab the muscles and was well into the healing process.
• Third: get an abdominal or lower back ace support that will support your entire trunk. I wish I had used one of these in the first few weeks, I think I would have healed much faster. Wear this while driving and at night. Make sure not to wear it all of the time though as your muscles will atrophy even more.
• Fourth: rest, rest, and more rest. Don’t try to push it with this injury! Guaranteed you will be injured again only worse. As difficult as it may be you really need to lay off all physical activities. Think about this injury in the long term sense. Core muscles take a very long time to heal since they are constantly moving. Patience and determination is key. My injury took well over 3 months to heal because I pushed it too early too soon. I think if I could of stuck to a recovery plan I would have been healed in 6-8 weeks, not 12.
• Fifth: take anti-inflammatory medication. This will help reduce the swelling and allow your muscles to heal.
• Sixth: diet. Eat meals high in protein. Layoff sugars, starches and any other low value food. Stick to vegetables and fruits. Be healthy!
• Seventh: get to a physical therapist. If you don’t start a physical rehabilitation plan and baby the muscles for too long scar tissue can develop in the muscles and the injury can become a chronic one which will end up taking longer to heal. Each case is different and needs to be evaluated by a professional. Do not underestimate this step or the importance of physical therapy. Not only will you heal faster, but you will be able to heal to your pre-injury strength level. In my case I didn’t start physical therapy until about 6 weeks into the injury and started slooooooow.

     This is a painful and slow healing injury. Be prepared for 4 to 12 weeks of healing time. I think it’s good to write out a plan and stick to it. You may start to get cabin fever and, on a good day, decide to try to do some physical activity only to re-injure the area and start over on square one. I’ve found these types of injuries don’t heal in a consistent increasing curve. Rather, you will have some good days and some bad days. Don’t think because you’re having a good day that you’re healed (I foolishly made that mistake and paid dearly!). Instead, track your healing progress by time and stick to your recovery plan!