Severe Abdominal Injury

I injured my abdomimal muscles at the gym 5 weeks ago by using too much weight on an ab crunch machine (the one with a seatbelt). After the exercise, I didn’t feel any pain, but something did feel “wrong”. For two weeks after that, whenever I tightened my abs I felt a tightness and slight burning 4 inches to the side of my navel. I didn’t give it much thought, but attributed it to normal muscle soreness. Also during this time, I would occasionally feel a strange “stretchy, bulgy” feeling in my abdomen or I would feel a little bloated or full.

Then I further injured my abs at the gym by doing cable bicep curls. For one week after that, I was in severe pain. There was a dull ache over my entire ab muscle and sharp stabbing pain along both sides of my muscle (the appendix area and the opposite side). I also experienced bloating and distention, which did not make sense to me or my doctors. I would experience frequent mini-spasms throughout my muscle and occasional excruciating spasms over my entire muscle. The spasms would occur whenever I would slightly tighten my abs, even if accidentally. The mini-spasms would occur even when resting in bed. The spasms would often be accompanied with gurgling sounds in my abdomen which I could clearly hear and feel. I assume the gurgling had something to do with the bloating.

My first doctor said it would take 6 weeks to heal. He did not prescribe anything. So I spent about 3 weeks in bed, trying to allow my abs to heal. There was a lot of pain during this time. I could not be up for more than two hours at a time before the pain and discomfort required me to return to bed. I figured out that if I wrapped my midsection with ace bandages for support, I could sit or stand without having to use my abs. Even then, 2 hours was my limit. I would wear the bandages to bed as they would reduce my pain. I would have good days and bad days. Usually, the bad days would result from pushing my limits the previous day. A bad day meant constant pain and not being able to move at all. The more time I spent in bed, the better I would feel.

After 3 weeks of this and still being in pain, I went to see another doctor who performed a bunch of tests. After ruling out everything else, he concluded that I had pulled a muscle. I could not understand why I was not getting better. He prescribed muscle relaxant and anti-inflammatory medicine.

Finally, I can now say that I am improving. It has been about 2 days since I have seen the second doctor. The bloating and spasms have subsided. When I get up now, I take off my bandages for 20-30 minutes. I put them back on or return to bed when the tightness starts to ache. I no longer wear them to bed. At this point in my healing, they seem to cause more harm/discomfort than good. I am still getting a lot of bed rest and trying to pay attention to my body’s limits so that I don’t have any further setbacks.

I have found two things that have helped. Massaging my abs reduces my spasms. I press down firmly into my abs with my fingers and make small circular motions. This seems to relax the muscle and does not hurt at all. The spasms occur when the muscle tightens up. Whenever I feel a tight spot, I massage the spot and that seems to help. Secondly, I found a stretch that helps my abs. Lying on my stomach, I prop my shoulders up on my elbows and allow my back to arch backwards. This stretches my abs and relaxes the muscle. For a further stretch, one could push up with one’s hands and straighten the arms. I suggest getting used to the elbow version first.

I hope this info proves helpful to the readers out there.