Painful dilemma (Long)

I would recommend stretching before you play. I suffered for a long time from lower back pain. Stretching my lower back every morning when I wake up and before I play has really made a difference. Hope you can find a way to knock out the pain. Good luck.
 
What this sounds more like is muscle soreness or stiffness rather than serious back trouble similar to mine. Still, I would make an appointment to see a specialist as you may be noticing a problem in its early stages rather than procrastinating and letting grow to something that could be rectified now without surgery verses later with surgery.
 
if you keep it up your pain might get worse and eventually affect your game. pain is your body's way of telling you that there is something wrong maybe abnormal stress being applied to tissues such as tendons and ligaments.

bending your knee at the back leg will help move your center of gravity backwards and even weight distribution. lastly, work out and dont forget to stretch before and after.
 
take a break from the game to reset. when you get back think of it as starting over. you have nothing to lose if you say your game has already declined.
 
now you are getting somewhere . . .

I know I'm kicking a sacred cow but a locked knee is not stable. leaving the knee unlocked or even slightly bent is more stable. You are paying in pain, tissue damage, and loss of concentration for one small gain, a consistent index point.(we are talking tendons, ligaments, and cartilage here, not things you want damaged!)

The solution is to develop new index points that don't start with the locked knee that will get you over the table the same every time. When you go up to the table any old way not only is your height above the cue ball inconsistent but you are also not consistent with your positioning side to side. You still make the easy shots but you are enough out of line that some of the medium hard shots don't fall that should.

Do some reading about other activities or talk to a sports doctor or therapist. I believe you will abandon the locked knee in a hurry.

Hu


Klopek said:
Well, I don't know about bending my knees wearing me out out faster, since I used to play 8-10 hour sets twice a week and felt fine afterwards. With this new stance I'm done like dinner after 3 hours.

I find the opposite is true about weight shift for me, since I'm a heavy guy. When I shift forward, my front leg starts getting tired really fast and my lower back screams. When I shift my weight back some and bend my knees, it takes the weight from my lower back and spreads it out more equally.

The way I look at it, my leg muscles are strong and designed to bear my weight and then some. My lower back is strong when standing straight up, but when I bend over, it's stressing those muscles.

I really want to find a way to center my cue under my chin naturally using my old stance, but I just can't seem to make that happen.:)
Click to expand...
 
glad to hear you got sorted out

I'm glad your game is back and even gladder to hear the pain is gone.

Hu




Klopek said:
So I've been using my old stance with a slight modification the last 3 weeks and I'm back in the swing.

Zero pain, my game and confidence have returned, it's a wonderful thing. The only change I've made is bending my left knee a little more which allows that side of my body to get closer to the table.

I'm stable again, chin resting comfortably on the cue, and miraculously, all that experimentation has my alignment better than ever. I guess when they say, no pain, no gain, they really mean it.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's thoughts and encouragement, I feel it really helped steer me in the right direction. Who says the internet's only good for porn.:D

Best wishes to all.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top