Mark, What do you think is causing this injury ?

[justadude]

Hi Mark & Forum,

Over the years of training, I keep getting this recurring lower back muscle spasm ( I think ?). With out any warning, mostly when deadlifting(sometimes squats) my lower back will spasm and quickly tighten up, It's happened about 8-10 times over the years, but last night's deadlift session was by far the worst in a long time.

After warming up as per usual and progressing to my work set (im on 5/3/1) which was to be 172.5kg for a target of 7-10 reps, about a 1/3 of the way up on my 1st rep of the set my lower back went in to spasm.

I've posted the video of the set (really "attempted" set) to see if you and the forum could see anything wrong with my form or set up. For the life of me, I cant workout what is causing this to happen a couple of times a year !. Funny thing is, when the spasm breaks/unlocks in about 24-48 hours, the next deadlift session I've been able to PB the weight that i went in to spasm with. WTF !!!

When I deadlift I do my best to stay in lumbar extension and never bounce my reps or try to yank/explode the bar off the floor. Any ideas and THANKYOU, Sorry for the long post. Here's the vid:

[Mark Rippetoe]

What has your chiropractor said about this? I don't see anything wrong with your form, so something is wrong with your back.

[hopsluvr]

Is there any chance you are doing something outside of the gym that could be contributing to your back spasms? In the past, when I've had this occur I could usually trace it back to golf, prolonged driving of 5 hrs (or more) on the day prior to training, or most often poor sleeping positions. I always slept on my back, without support under my kness, and/or with my legs all over like fucking Gumby. Had a Chiro tell me to try sleeping on my stomach or on my side with a pillow between my knees. Believe it or not, after tweaking my sleep positions I've rarely had back spasms over the last 6 or 7 yrs.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Do you do situps or back extensions?

[justadude]

Thanks Mark for checking out my video,

Have not seen a chiro yet, just had an appointment with a physio near where i work(apparently deals with a lot of sports injuiries). It was a very interesting session ! . First warning bell went off about two minutes in to the session, when she did not know what powerlifting and a deadlift was, I had to show her the movement (WTF !).

She could not give me a definite answer on what is causing this spasm/lock up of the lower/lumbar back, she worked on me and loosened up my lower back(I did felt a bit better) and noted that I was extremely inflexible in the lumbar region and that my lumbar would not articulate well and basically moved as a locked unit( she did not think it was disc related due to how quickly I recover from it ).

She tested this by having me stand up straight and tuck in my chin and slowly unlock and roll down each vertebrae in to flexion with my knees straight , I did all right in the upper/thoracic region but as soon as I got to the lumbar region I could not do that and I would start to bend at the hips and knees to keep going down. She gave me a few exercises/drills to do daily to work on increasing my lumbar flexibility and stretches for the glutes and hip flexors.

Mark, do you think I should scrap the next visit(a week's time) and find a chiro or better physio to go to, I'm not sure in what direction to go with this ? Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[Mark Rippetoe]

http://startingstrength.com/resource...209#post270209

[justadude]

Hi Mark and forum,

I generally am a side and stomach sleeper (hate sleeping on my back). Yes, over the last 3 months or so I've been adding back extensions (2x15-20) as part of my warm up for all workouts and 2x8-10 weighted at the end of most workouts(motivated by a bill star article on bringing up the lower back).

And till this back spasm or what ever the hell it is, I was feeling good and getting stronger. Have not done sit ups in years, as they tend to irritate my lower back. Been focusing on core exercises like the plank, cable anti-rotational stuff (parloff press), leg/knee raises and ab wheel roll outs.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Stop doing the back extensions, knee raises, and ab wheel stuff for 3 months and see what happens to your back spasms.

[justadude]

Thanks Mark,

Ok, will do. Do think that those movements in my situation have been doing more harm than good ?. So basically let the main lifts take care of any core/stabilizing
work that I might need ?

[Frankie]

Had a similar sounding thing, naturally I blamed it on deadlifts - and after months of reading, doctors, multiple chiros, supplementary exercises and Magnificent Mobility nothing helped.
Eventually after some experimentation I found it had nothing to do with training, it was my fucking computer chair posture of all things. The morning after deadlifts I'm fine, but if I spend any amount of time in my chair not maintaining a neutral spinal position my back is fucked for a few days.
It sounds retarded even writing this, but it's my little story, and following from what hopsluvr says it might be something worth ruling out.