What kind of medical professional to see about back pain?

[88Niners]

(tl;dr: Ortho, chiro, etc.?)

Middle of last October, I made a deadlift PR, 1x5 295 lbs. Deadlifting is my favorite lift, and the PR felt great; I walked home feeling nothing more than my normal back fatigue that I get from deadlifting (no real pain). That night, I'd promised to hop on my Xbox for a few hours with a friend like old times, and ended up sitting hunched forward on a sofa with no back support whatsoever about 5 hours.

The next day, I could barely get out of bed. There was a ton of snapped-up feeling pain in my lower back, around L4. There was and to this day has been no pain referral, sciatica, tingling, or numbness anywhere else. This pain was centered right there in the middle of the spine on L4. I've had back injuries before, but it's always felt like pulled muscle-type stuff to the right or left of the spine, and always heals up.

The pain halved each day after that until it was gone in about 4 days, except for the fact that when I wake up early in the morning, it hurts a 4/10 until I'm up and moving, and if I really sleep long hours, I can feel it fatigued throughout the day. I gave it 2 weeks after the initial injury and said "hey, things must be better" and deadlifted again on 11/1. I was almost through my 225 warmup set when I realized I was reaggravating this thing like hell. I abandoned the deadlift, and dealt with bad pain again for the next 3 days. I'm now back in that mode where it hurts in the morning. I'm 6'7" and have to work out at client sites on office furniture not built for me, my lower back has to put up with a lot of unhealthy postures, so there's a bit of pain each day (but that was normal before the injury). I'm still able to squat, but have been avoiding squatting heavy at my normal progression, instead doing some reduced weight. There's no back pain or other issue with squatting, but I'm afraid to go heavy right now.

So long story short, I want to get this checked out. I've heard tons of bad things about chiropractors, and on the other hand, I'm afraid if I hit an orthopedic, it's going to be an hour of getting told why I, at 6'7", am a complete idiot for deadlifting and need to do Zumba for the rest of my life. Who would you guys recommend seeing in this case? (And in case anyone's actually from the area -- I'm in Dallas.)

I know this back injury's different from others -- I've never had one on the actual spine before, and deadlifting reaggravated it very easily (even at light weight with great form in warming up). It's a little confusing since there was no actual snap, crackle, or pop, nor pulled muscle; I almost want to put the injury more on my horrible support-less couch posture for 5 hours after deadlifting with tired muscles than the deadlift itself. But it's very possible that I cheated my way through that 5th rep with dirty form since I wanted that PR. Any advice/help on who to see would be great, or any other input. Sucks to have crapped out right before 300 lbs. I'd been making great gains in deadlifting before that, and have noticed so much the effect on my back, my grip strength/forearms, etc.

[Adam Skillin]

Chiropractor. Find a good one.

[vanslix]

If no neuro symptoms (tingling, numbness, etc) or chronic aspect, then no need to see a doc. Listen to Rip's podcast on back pain.

[MPhelps]

If you definitely feel it right in your L4, I'd seek out a good sports type chiropractor. If anything, he can readjust the disc, or at least tell you what's wrong. I've had a ton of back problems and most of them can be traced back to tight muscles somewhere you might not even realize. For instance, tight lower back might mean tight hamstrings. Middle of back, pulled lat or trap.

[88Niners]

Thanks everyone.

I'm trying to meanwhile figure out how to do a decompression hang at my terrible gym. There's nothing tall enough that I can rig some belts to hang from without needing to bend my knees, which engages my abs, it feels like, preventing a total relaxed hang.

[Mugaaz]

Chiropractor. Find a good one.

How would one go about finding a good one? Im serious.

[Adam Skillin]

How would one go about finding a good one? Im serious.

That's a good question. I would say ask around, and look for a guy or gal who doesn't espouse a lot of pseudoscientific woo, for a start.

[amsgator]

It may be a long shot but if you live in or near a town with college athletics you could see if there are any team doctors who are DOs. A lot of times they can do some chiropractic stuff as well. You could also call and ask if they could recommend any particular chiropractors for sports injuries.

I live in Gainesville so we have the UF team doctors here. If I ever need anything related to a strength training/sports injury I'd probably try to get an appointment with one of them or see if they could point me in the right direction.

[mrflibble]

How would one go about finding a good one? Im serious.

In my experience, all the good chiros I've seen have:

* Performed soft tissue work in addition to spinal adjustments
* Have been active in sports themselves (often to a fairly high level)
* Not prattled on about subluxations being the cause of anything and everything from colic to blindness.
* Not been dangerous anti-vax morons

(Not an exhaustive list)