I hit for the first time an three months since I was sidelined with a compressed disk/pinched nerve in my lower back. I was certainly timid as I expected either my back to hurt or my foot to suddenly go numb. Been seeing the the chiropractor twice a week and using a inversion table (which has, according to my last medical exam increased my height over 1", so I'm officially 6 feet tall) to try and get back to playing. Ohhh that felt so damned good. I even managed to do a couple long lunges - one net shot ai had to dig almost off the floor. Surpisingly I still had some decent pop to my smash given I'm so tight from doing nothing but upper body work outs. No touch whatsoever, but hey what else is new. Even managed to go for (a very slow) run yesterday. I hurt today, but it's all muscle stiffness. I'm a good example of how it's a fine line between pushing through an injury and overdoing it. At 35, you'd think I'd know better. Now to wear off the gut and take out Evylgrynn at the Strathmore Open in 6 weeks.
Actually, something that is becoming apparent these days is that tightness/stiffness in certain joints can improve power output as well as help to prevent injury. Basically, often athletes will try to have too much range of motion in some joints, too little in other, and bringing the balance to the right amount through training can fix many problems. The general recommendation is something like: ankles - mobility knees - stability hips - mobility lumbar spine - stability thoracic spine - mobility scapulae - depends on the sport. for badminton probably stability to counteract the wide range of motion experienced when swinging the racquet anyhow, great to hear you're back on the courts. Good luck with your tournament!
