Injury Rehab & Prevention
Strength Training During Rehab &
to prevent injury
At Urban Pump, we believe that one can…and should do a strength training program while rehabbing from an injury.
The strength training program would need to be customized to avoid further injury, and many times strength training can help speed up the recovery from injury. As an example, if someone has a herniated disk, he could still do most of the lifts he could before but he should stay away from the lifts that would impinge the nerve. These would be exercises like dead-lifts, squats, and any overhead exercises such as shoulder presses. Moreover, he could do exercises that re-engage the Transverse abdominus and do traction after the workout (traction is what can get the herniated disk to take pressure off of the sciatic nerve which brings relief).
Another example would be knee surgery, such as acl reconstruction. The trainee can work the whole body, and even the opposite leg to build and maintain strength and muscle mass. Once he has clearance from the physical therapist, he can do light weight/high rep training and isolation work to strengthen the muscles of the injured body part. Before long, his strength will be back up to par with the noon injured limb.
There are many examples but the point is that in most cases, one can…and should do a strength training program while rehabbing from an injury.

Can strength training make an injured joint, ligament or tendon worse?
I injured my knee. Should I avoid leg presses?
Check out our blog posts on injuries and injury prevention
More Than Just A Torn QL
In my post I tore my Quadratus Lumborum, I wrote about how I really jacked up my back from working on my motorcycle and doing a hard workout on the same day. I clearly overdid it because my lower back was very stiff and in a lot...
Read MoreI Tore My Quadratus Lumborum (QL)
I really jacked up my lower back about a month ago. I did a very hard workout, and one of the exercises I did that day was a heavy set of squat rows. I went 30lbs heavier than usual because I normally do a set of pull downs or...
Read MoreOur Run In With A Deer
Sharon and I took a long motorcycle trip this July 4th weekend. The plan was to go to South Dakota and check out Sturgis, Mount Rushmore and the town of Deadwood for a couple of days. Then we would trek through Nebraska to...
Read MoreBad Leg Press Breaks Leg
It had to happen sooner or later. Someone got injured doing a leg press with a load that was way too heavy for him to use. Minor injuries do happen from lifting weights, but this one looked very serious. As near as I can tell,...
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