Post: #1

I've been injured in a hundred different ways, a hundred different times, but never had an ab injury from lifting.

I did dead lifts yesterday, and then switched to RDLs. Into my second set as I went down and just as I'm about to go back up I felt something in my upper left ab side. Scared that it was a hernia I stopped immediately. I didn't see any protrusion [even tried flexing/coughing and saw nothing] so I went back and did pull ups.

Realizing there was still discomfort I stopped and iced the area and thought it would go away. But now it's feeling worse. In fact if I sit around casually hunched over on my laptop for a while, it gets much worse. If I try to go upright and stretch my abs reverse arching my back from the hunched position I feel discomfort in that ab area.

Anyone have any experience with hernias, or ab strains? I wasn't actually using much weight. Was only at 185lbs which is my body weight. I used to do a sport that involved a lot of legs and back effort for years and have a very strong lower body for my body type. [6'3" and lanky]. I don't ever go for max lifts anymore. I have cracked my ribs from sports before which could have been attributed to deficient obliques/side abs for the amount of stress I was putting on my lower body. Don't know if that is relevant. Right now I haven't been doing much except occasional icing and just resting.

Any advice? Is this more serious than I am imagining it to be? Should I get it checked?

Cheers,
SS

Post: #2

Had almost the same exact thing happen a year ago, except I didn't feel it till after the workout. I am very confident it came from poor form combined with pushed my 1RM on deadlift.

I took off a week off from anything that where the core is heavily worked. Then I drop to 50% weight, it still hurt a bit so I focused on bodyweight core stuff. The next week I went back to 50% weight, it felt fine. The week after I went back up to my regular weight but didn't attempt a 1RM for another couple weeks.

So of course, if your seriously concerned, see you a doctor. Hernia's are not normally felt in the upper part of the abs. You probably just strained a part of your abs, probably the some connecting muscle between your ribs and upper abs. Take some time off, then go light on the weights, and then attempt to go back to normal. Use the time to do some cardio and re-hit the basic of making sure your form is solid. I'm no expert though, and I could be wrong.

Post: #3

Assuming it's some kind of tear you'll want to work it as soon as you can while it heals to minimize scar tissue. Look up the Starr rehab protocol.

The exercise you do may not be squats but the idea is to make it hurt somewhat with lighter weights / high volume and increase blood flow to the area.

Post: #4

Likely a minor ab strain. Takes about a week to go away.

If you feel more pain walking around or sitting down, go get it checked out.

Post: #5

Thanks guys. While I still had some discomfort after a day off, I just went for it today and did mostly upper body work. Had a great workout. Won't dare to do legs for another week maybe, but everything seems okay for now. The level of discomfort has not increased.