Originally Posted by
ScottLush
Hello Mark,
I purchased and have read several times both Starting Strength and the Barbell Prescription, and have viewed every YouTube video of yours that I can find.
I've been lifting 2x a week and doing short duration Crossfit workouts 2x a week (I know your feelings about this) for 15 years.
But the very same injury sets me back every 6 - 9 months.
What am I doing wrong that at least once every 6 - 9 months for the past 10 years (yes this is probably 15 - 20 times in total) I pull the very same muscle in my lower back while doing a heavy set of deadlifts or squats?
At the lowest point of the movement (bottom of the squat, start of the deadlift) I will feel a pop in the left lumbar spine followed by immediate pain. It causes me to drop the bar. I limp home. Then I spend the next 2 -4 weeks hobbling in pain. Leaning forward triggers serious pain at the point in the lower left back where my spine connects to the pelvis. Doesn't seem like a disc injury because the pain is localized, no weakness or numbness. Seems like a muscle sprain or tear. Same spot, every time.[B]What about this presentation doesn't seem like a disc injury? That's the first thing I think when I see this. I think I even presented a lecture on this where I described this situation in detail. Then again, I am not one of the original Crossfit coaches, nor am I intelligent enough, clinically, to have ever been able to diagnose someone with ankle flexibility limitations that prevent them from squatting. /B]
My coach (who is one of the original Crossfit coaches who understands strength and proper technique) suggests that in the low bar back squat I am leaning perhaps TOO far forward because I lack ankle flexibility. But really my form has been checked over the years by probably 10 different coaches (including ones who attended Starting Strength seminars) and they all think it looks okay.
Have you seen injuries like this before and what were the adjustments the athletes needed to make? Should I be somehow strengthening the back itself in preparation for the Back Squat and Deadlift? (I think that the Back Squat and Deadlift ARE what strength the back, so I just want to get back to doing them reliably)