Lifting with these back injuries/problems

[mr55]

**Disclaimer if necessary - I am not looking for medical advice. Just wondering if anyone has experience training themselves/others in similar situations.**

So I recently saw a sports medicine/rehab MD for lower back pain that has been bothering me for around 1 month in its current form. It is usually a very mild soreness that starts after I get up in the morning and is really only acutely painful if I hyperextend my lower back. Occasionally I feel radiation into the glutes, particularly the left side. Anyway, the doctor advised me to take a 6-8 week break from lifting and do some physical therapy. He ordered an x-ray to rule out spondylolisthesis. His comments were that the images "look good overall. No fracture of the back part of the spine identified. There are mild (very mild) degnerative changes at the lowest level of the spine. Not ideal at your age [26], but I think the Physical Therapy will help keep you stabilized and take the stress off that lowest level." The actual finding from the radiologist was "There is mild disc space narrowing and facet joint hypertrophy at L5-S1. Remaining intervertebral disc heights are relatively well-preserved".

So, any thoughts on safely lifting here? If it matters, I'm pretty weak; probably a typical case of linear progress falling off early due to not eating enough (before I backed off due to the pain I was squatting ~195 and DLing ~290, but the last few months of progress had been painfully slow). I plan on following his advice re: time off even though I know some people around here consider that sort of thing overly cautious. I can also provide vids of these lifts if anyone would care to look for technique flows.

Thanks for reading.

[Agilic]

Age, height, weight, starting and current bodyweight? Yes to the form checks. Does your back feel better or worse when you lift?

Because you didn't make your opinion on it clear, I would recommend against PT with the hopes of keeping you stabilized and taking stress off that lowest level.

My initial hypothesis based on info provided would be that it is technique related, and if you fix that and get stronger, your pain will be relieved.

[mr55]

Age, height, weight, starting and current bodyweight? Yes to the form checks. Does your back feel better or worse when you lift?

Because you didn't make your opinion on it clear, I would recommend against PT with the hopes of keeping you stabilized and taking stress off that lowest level.

My initial hypothesis based on info provided would be that it is technique related, and if you fix that and get stronger, your pain will be relieved.

26, 6'2", starting weight ~150 lb, current weight 174 lb. Back usually feels worse after squatting but not deadlifting. I have also felt pain while benching because of the arched position.
190x5 on Vimeo Here is a set of squats that I felt pretty good about, this was the 3rd set and first time getting all 3 at this weight (190 lb). I feel as though I may be going a little too low and I know there is some lumbar flexion in my bottom position, but it's hard for me to reverse my momentum without basically going all the way down.

These deadlifts felt much shoddier to me; when I recorded these I was sort of feeling them out after not having done them regularly for a while. 245 here looks okay to me other than some upper back rounding, although I have done it with much more speed in the past. The 275 I think is uglier and I'm not sure if my lower back is staying neutral. It looks like I may have a decent setup 4 seconds in, but the position I start pulling from at around 0:12 is bad. I have never really felt comfortable with my deadlift start position, particularly hip height. I feel like the position where my pull is strongest looks pretty hunched over. Also, I have a habit of setting them down slowly/gingerly which may be bad.

245
275

Anyway, thanks for taking a look. I wonder if the pain is partially from trying to grind out these weights for months without really eating enough for my body to adapt.

[Adam Skillin]

Your squats exhibit a lack of understanding of the concept of hip drive, and your knees travel for too long, and end up too far forward. You need to re-read the squat chapter.

Your deadlift is also in need of a complete do-over. Despite very little help from the video angle, we can see that the bar starts way ahead of mid-foot, and that you're not following the steps laid out for pulls from the floor on the boards or in the book. You also put it down too far forward (because you bend your knees too early on the descent) and aren't lifting your chest sufficiently before the pull.

But none of these issues is likely the cause of your pain, if I had to guess. The underweight thing almost certainly is. You need to gain 87 pounds, and you need to do it by last Thursday.

[mr55]

Thanks for the pointers, I really appreciate the coach's eye. I do try to lead with my hips in the squat but I guess it doesn't show. If my knees shouldn't go forward so far, does that mean my torso should go more horizontal to compensate?

As far as training goes, would you basically recommend just doing what I should have been doing before (ie following the program with proper technique and nutrition), without taking time off from lifting?

[Adam Skillin]

Thanks for the pointers, I really appreciate the coach's eye. I do try to lead with my hips in the squat but I guess it doesn't show.

You may think you're trying to lead with your hips, but you're definitely not.

If my knees shouldn't go forward so far, does that mean my torso should go more horizontal to compensate?

Yes. Stop the knees' forward motion by the time you're 1/3-1/2 of the way down, and finish reaching depth by sitting back/leaning over.

As far as training goes, would you basically recommend just doing what I should have been doing before (ie following the program with proper technique and nutrition), without taking time off from lifting?

Have you been doing the program? Are you actually injured?