Back Problems and Skate Sharpening?

[Joeysallamander 0]

Hello-

I mostly play goalie but love to play out as well.

I play mainly ice as a goalie and play out as a forward for inline.

I do not have lower back issues playing roller or goalie.

I have bulging disc at the L4,L5. I have gone thru physical therapy, do yoga, core strength...blah..blah. I live maintaining my body with all its defects.

Recently I have been playing out on ice as a forward and keep throwing my back out. My back will go into intense spasms and it seems to happen when I catch the rocker of the skate in a weird way on the ice and then I feel the burn in my lower back and get off the ice immediately. My back doctor says its a bad muscle spasm and it goes away in a few days but man it hurts like a Beeatch!

Even when i go to a public skate with friends after a while I start to feel the burn in my back same area. Today I went roller blading and felt nothing.

What gives?

Anyway since this does not happen when I play roller or in my goalie skates I am wondering if I should have these skates profiled with way less of a rocker?

Inline- CCM 8.0 skates

Goalie- Bauer Supreme 7000 (profiled with a slight heel raise to relieve tendonitis)

ICE SKATES- CCM Vector Pro

Does anyone know if this would help?

[DamnLocust 0]

If I properly understand what's happening, I would think that going to a shallower hollow would do more for you than changing the profile.

When you say catch the rocker of the skate, do you mean something like when you get caught in a rut?

I ask because one thing that happens with a too-deep hollow is that with the added bite, your skates will continue in a turn more than you want them to (It's hard to explain what I'm talking about, but it feels like the skates are guiding you as opposed to you guiding the skates).

Going to a shallower hollow will give less bite, and you will no longer get that skates pulling you through a turn effect.

Do you know what hollow your skates are normally sharpened at? How much do you weigh?

[JR97 2]

I suffer from the same thing you do. I was in a snowboarding accident and crushed a couple of vertabrae. They're fused now and there's a section in my back that doesn't "bend" right. For years there was also a huge knot just off of the spine. I lived with a massage therapist for a while and she worked it out over the course of a few months. Damn that hurt. Anywho, I rarely had problems in roller hockey, but in ice hockey I'm in pain quite a bit. I recently went from a size 6 skate to a size 5 and the blade is a lot shorter. I was finally to the point where I wasn't in pain with the 6's, but it's all back now with the 5's.

What helped with the 6's was adjusting my stride and stride stance. Wider and straighter back.

It's not helping much with the 5's so I'm looking for exercises to strengthen the back. Can you tell me about your yoga and core strength exercises?

[Methane 0]

I've had L3-L5 fused and have a torn up disk at L5-S1.

The only issues I've had are related to poor form. Once I got that right the back pain went away.

[Joeysallamander 0]

When I am skating fast I am fine and my knees are bent- All good.

I was in between plays and I was skating in a circle very relaxed and my skate blade rocked back and I caught my balance and for some reason it shot right into my lower back.

The other time it caught me in the back I was just standing on my skates.

Now in goalies skates you have a ton of blade on the ice and my blades are pretty flat. So I was thinking that might be it. The rocker which causes me

to catch my balance in my lower back?

I only weigh 160 and I am 5 foot 6 and wear a junior size 5 skate.

My hollow is pretty deep because I play on mushy ice that has no grip.

I cannot remember what it is but its on file at my sharpener.

[TBLfan 25]

I think it's more the nature of the injury. I have a bulging and a ruptured disc found during the last MRI. Since then I seriously think the bulging disc has ruptured.

Luckily it ruptured vertically instead of horizonally. This bascially kept the ruptured disc pieces from hitting the spine and causing an immediately needed surgery.

...Basically, it just depends on what I do. I can take a crosscheck and feel almost no pain but I can turn my neck and my back spasms and immediate pain. Once I was just sitting down and I reached for something and it felt like someone stabbed me in the back.

[Joeysallamander 0]

TBLFAN- When your back does go into a spasm how long does it last?

This spasm I just had lasted for 4 days.

Then it went away and the only problem I have is sitting in a chair for a long period of time. Sitting has always been bad for my back though.

So you play in a league that checks and you still play?

I am getting lectured right and left on how I need to stop playing hockey- I think it's Bullsh*t! I am 32 years old and I would rather play hockey then rot on a couch watching it on TV.

[TBLfan 25]

Honestly, I don't even notice them anymore. Had the spasms for years. The pain lasts for days... not that I don't even remember a day I wasn't in pain.

I'm in a non-checking league but I also love to park myself in front of the net. I take a lot of abuse there but damned if I don't dish it back out.

BTW, I'm only 23. I'd have to be in a wheelchair before I'd give up and become a couch potato.