Lower back injury #1

[Baltix]

Hey,

So here I am thinking that I have all the technique and strength.. then.. bom bom bommmm.. injury.

2 months in I'm around 320 lb deadlifts 3 x 5 and the next day a slightly small ache on my lower left back area.. just above the butt. I had a day rest figuring that I could resume with proper technique on my following training day. So.. I start my following day off with squats and.. ouch.. 1 rep.. ouch even more 2 reps.. OUUUCHHCHCHCHC 3rd rep I stop. Rack it... and the pain ensues. I've been off lifting for about 4-5 days now. I'm assuming due to my dumb form on my deadlifts I started something that my squats finished off. My lower back was in pain and I couldn't move around much at all with it. I just took some Ibuprofen and stretched as much I could and slept that day. Since then it's been less and less over the last days.. today is my first followup workout.

Do you think I should approach my back similar to Starr's rehab for belly muscles? or should I try something else? I don't want to decondition my back by letting it heal without training but I don't want to prolong or worsen an injury. I don't think it's spine/lumbar but maybe a tendon or muscle in that area.

Thoughts or suggestions anyone? We'll find out tonight .. hoping for some advice before I go soon.

(And yes, I went back to the book and will be correcting my faults in form- lack of tense upright chest and back before the pull)

Thanks for any help!

[Carnivroar]

I used to always get a bitch of a pain at the left side above my butt. It went away on it's own after I fixed my form. I suggest you post a video of both squats and deadlifts for evaluation before you lift heavy again.

[ColoWayno]

You might want to stay away from sets across on deadlifts. Just 1 set of 5 per week is recommended in SS.

[JStrong]

Did the exact same thing recently- injured it on heavy squats without a belt and aggravated it doing yardwork and then deadlifting.

Squatting belted has been fine, but it does flare up a little here and there. For me, it started where I'd be borderline paralyzed in the evening and after RICE I'd be just fine in the morning.

RICE and avoiding deads did it for me, as well as some Tiger Balm before lifting.

[Baltix]

So as a follow up..I feel great.I did light squats and deadlifts and my normal press.

I focused mainly on form and higher reps with lower weights..my pain is less and I think my other culprit is not stretching hamstrings well enough.we'll see how things go as I add more weight though.thanks for the suggestions I apologize I'm not as detailed as I'm inputting this on a phone.RICE is something I will definitely look into.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Do you think I should approach my back similar to Starr's rehab for belly muscles?

I did when I injured myself deadlifting, and I got good results.
On the other hand, in the medium term back injuries seem to take care of themselves, so I guees than any gradual and controlled return to exercise will work just as well as the Starr's protocol.

IPB

[Baltix]

You might want to stay away from sets across on deadlifts. Just 1 set of 5 per week is recommended in SS.

You caught me on this .. I only do 5 x 1 .. good catch! I'd really be in a world of pain if so. So the 5 x 3 was incorrect of me to say.

[Baltix]

So as a follow up..I feel great.I did light squats and deadlifts and my normal press.

I focused mainly on form and higher reps with lower weights..my pain is less and I think my other culprit is not stretching hamstrings well enough.we'll see how things go as I add more weight though.thanks for the suggestions I apologize I'm not as detailed as I'm inputting this on a phone.RICE is something I will definitely look into.

More clarification - I did a search for this inquiry or something similar and couldn't find many results, thus my OP.

I did around 25-40% of my weights for the motions I injured (deadlift and squat) and did around 10-15 x 3 of them PERFECT FORM. I made sure to stretch my hamstrings and range of motion of the workouts prior to the weights as well. I think this made for a really effective rehab for myself. My pain went 80% away from where it was with perfect form and low weight with those reps. I would recommend anyone to doing the same after a few days rest after injuries similar to mine. I'm no doctor BTW LOL. I would imagine I'll add 10% of my pre-injury weight back on each workout to recover unless there's a relapse of the same injury signals.

I'll update if anything breaks (literally) or changes.

[USMC.Scot]

I know you said you don't think it's spinal, but check out the new article on Elite FTS about lower back pain and slipped discs. Personally, I've had some lower back tightness and pain for a while now, not when lifting, but when doing stuff like yardwork, shoveling and what not. It's annoying. I'd get yours checked out by someone knowledgeable, even though I'm not following my own advice.

[Carnivroar]

I don't want to start a new thread, but as I'm also having lower back pains, I have quick question. Yesterday when doing squats, I swear I heard something tear on my lower back, and it's been hurting ever since. It's not that bad, though. Any idea?

[Baltix]

Good article heads up! I'm pretty certain nothing is coming from the spine. I do know a few things to watch for after re-reading on forms..that is applicable to me and most desk sitters for jobs-

1- STRETCH THE FREAKING HAMSTRINGS OFTEN :)

2- Check the KNEES positioning to engage the hamstrings load more



Something I myself found I needed is a tighter squat grip and chest posture.

I think flexibility seems to be my no. 1 culprit with the hams. It sounds gay but I think I'm going to do Yoga with the wife for flexibility.. and maybe that joint venture may lead to more.. flexibility after ;D

[Baltix]

I don't want to start a new thread, but as I'm also having lower back pains, I have quick question. Yesterday when doing squats, I swear I heard something tear on my lower back, and it's been hurting ever since. It's not that bad, though. Any idea?

When I did my research.. hearing anything = bad.. I'd get that checked out early to avoid a growing problem when it deconditions something or puts an unnecessary load onto something else.

When I had my injury it only took a few days rest and a few light rehab range of motions to start feeling better. It seemed bad the first day.. and I have a higher tolerance for pain. My suggestion is to check it out if it's been a few days+ of the same pain. When I looked into that it seemed like the stuff I was seeing was torn muscles (lumbar? or spinae?) or a tendon issue. I'm no Doc though..

[Carnivroar]

When I did my research.. hearing anything = bad.. I'd get that checked out early to avoid a growing problem when it deconditions something or puts an unnecessary load onto something else.

When I had my injury it only took a few days rest and a few light rehab range of motions to start feeling better. It seemed bad the first day.. and I have a higher tolerance for pain. My suggestion is to check it out if it's been a few days+ of the same pain. When I looked into that it seemed like the stuff I was seeing was torn muscles (lumbar? or spinae?) or a tendon issue. I'm no Doc though..

I'll take tomorrow off and wait till next week. Hopefully it will be gone by then. =\ This is like my lower back injury #3 lol.

[LimieJosh]

This is like my lower back injury #3 lol.

Which suggests that maybe you need to be a bit more proactive on the rehab front than simply waiting a few days for it to get better. Read the injury rehab stick on Rips forum and take the advice.

[misspelledgeoff]

+1000

Starr rehab FTW. You won't regret it.


Which suggests that maybe you need to be a bit more proactive on the rehab front than simply waiting a few days for it to get better. Read the injury rehab stick on Rips forum and take the advice.

[Carnivroar]

+1000

Starr rehab FTW. You won't regret it.

Fuck that. I'm going for a PR today, come what may... :(

[ColoWayno]

I know you said you don't think it's spinal, but check out the new article on Elite FTS about lower back pain and slipped discs. Personally, I've had some lower back tightness and pain for a while now, not when lifting, but when doing stuff like yardwork, shoveling and what not. It's annoying. I'd get yours checked out by someone knowledgeable, even though I'm not following my own advice.
I'm more in denial than you, I won't even read it if it has to do with slipped discs, herniated discs, parasitic worms eating your spine, etc.
Screw it, it hurts a little and doesn't get worse if I use good form.

[Baltix]

Just a final follow-up for those who find this in a search-

Returning with 100% better form and lower weights with progressively adding back to where was the last weight level worked great! It was a Starr-type approach at first and then I did my own finagling to bump the weights up with no sacrificing of form or injury/pain. I'm already back to what I was last at and feel stronger from this. It was such a satisfied addiction to be able to put up good weights again, a few days off was depressing. Glad to be lifting again. I'm pretty sure it was a pulled muscle or something rather than bone as I don't feel anything now from those range of motions.

[Baltix]

Clarifying don't add all at once.. spread out over the course of recovery needed. I was lucky with about 1 1/2 weeks.