Low back pain

[GiannisKa]

Hello everyone. Before letting you know about my injury, I need to give you some information about my body. In 2015 (15 years old at the time – not ever been to the gym), I had been experiencing for some time a lot of numbness in my feet, especially under the arch. So, I went to a PT who told me that my feet were too tense and tried for 1 month to loosen them, but it didn’t solve the problem. The next thing I tried was a neurologist, who examined me and told me that everything was ok. Lastly, I went to and orthopedic-sports medicine, who told me to get an MRI. I did as he said, I went back and he told me that I had some small disk herniations ( that was basically the cause of feet numbness, he said ). Because that’s all he said, I’m going to tell you what the paper of the MRI says. It is in Greek, so I’ll do my best to translate:

1) Presence of small Schmorl’s nodes in all intervertebral disk spaces except from L5-S1.
2) T10 - T11 : Mild, mostly paracentral to the right annular bulging causes mild pressure on the spinal sac.
3) T11 - T12 : Mild, mostly paracentral annular bulging causes mild pressure on the spinal sac.
4) L2 – L3 : Widening of the annulus fibrosus, coming in contact with the Dural sac.
5) L3 – L4 and L4 – L5 : dispersed disc bulge causes mild pressure on the spinal sac.

No other significant findings from the other intervertebral disc spaces.
No clear image of disc herniation.
Normal range of the spinal canal.
Normal signal strength appears on the last part of the spinal cord and on the roοts of the cauda equina.
Normal signal strength appears on the lumbar verterbrae.

Now about the injury. 9 days ago I went to the gym ( I’ve been going for over a year, emphasizing on the compound lifts ). While I was doing military presses, on the last rep I hyperextended my back a lot and I felt a sudden pain on my low back. I stopped, did some back extensions, stretched, foam – roalled my back and went home. Next day, I felt pain when hyperextending by back ( It was and it is a tightness-like pain, not muscular I think ) and, because of fear, I didn’t train for 4 or 5 days I think. When I eventually went to train, I did squats cause I didn’t feel anything when my spine was in neutral position ( still I don’t ), bench press, barbell rows and back extensions ( maybe the last 2 were a bad decision considering my situation ). The following day, the pain got a little worse, still when hyperextending. Also, I found that when I bend forward I feel also a little discomfort. Since then, I could say that the situation hasn’t got any better. So, after a lot of research, I got really interested about the work of Mark Rippetoe, so I decided to reach his page for help.
Any advice would be appreciated !
Thank you !

[Will Morris]

Hello everyone. Before letting you know about my injury, I need to give you some information about my body. In 2015 (15 years old at the time – not ever been to the gym), I had been experiencing for some time a lot of numbness in my feet, especially under the arch. So, I went to a PT who told me that my feet were too tense and tried for 1 month to loosen them, but it didn’t solve the problem. The next thing I tried was a neurologist, who examined me and told me that everything was ok. Lastly, I went to and orthopedic-sports medicine, who told me to get an MRI. I did as he said, I went back and he told me that I had some small disk herniations ( that was basically the cause of feet numbness, he said ). Because that’s all he said, I’m going to tell you what the paper of the MRI says. It is in Greek, so I’ll do my best to translate:

1) Presence of small Schmorl’s nodes in all intervertebral disk spaces except from L5-S1.
2) T10 - T11 : Mild, mostly paracentral to the right annular bulging causes mild pressure on the spinal sac.
3) T11 - T12 : Mild, mostly paracentral annular bulging causes mild pressure on the spinal sac.
4) L2 – L3 : Widening of the annulus fibrosus, coming in contact with the Dural sac.
5) L3 – L4 and L4 – L5 : dispersed disc bulge causes mild pressure on the spinal sac.

No other significant findings from the other intervertebral disc spaces.
No clear image of disc herniation.
Normal range of the spinal canal.
Normal signal strength appears on the last part of the spinal cord and on the roοts of the cauda equina.
Normal signal strength appears on the lumbar verterbrae.

Now about the injury. 9 days ago I went to the gym ( I’ve been going for over a year, emphasizing on the compound lifts ). While I was doing military presses, on the last rep I hyperextended my back a lot and I felt a sudden pain on my low back. I stopped, did some back extensions, stretched, foam – roalled my back and went home. Next day, I felt pain when hyperextending by back ( It was and it is a tightness-like pain, not muscular I think ) and, because of fear, I didn’t train for 4 or 5 days I think. When I eventually went to train, I did squats cause I didn’t feel anything when my spine was in neutral position ( still I don’t ), bench press, barbell rows and back extensions ( maybe the last 2 were a bad decision considering my situation ). The following day, the pain got a little worse, still when hyperextending. Also, I found that when I bend forward I feel also a little discomfort. Since then, I could say that the situation hasn’t got any better. So, after a lot of research, I got really interested about the work of Mark Rippetoe, so I decided to reach his page for help.
Any advice would be appreciated !
Thank you !

The MRI results you posted were taken four years ago, so they have very little, if anything to do with your issue today, in all likelihood. Further, the MRI findings don't seem to support your symptoms in the arch of your feet. In fact, I probably see more people with "numbness and tingling" on the plantar surface of the feet arising from plantar fasciitis-type pain than from spinal pathology. At 15 years old, unless you were a competitive gymnast, suffered trauma, been in some type of high energy motor vehicle accident, etc, it MOST LIKELY wasn't your back.

Now, some pain with movement is not typically indicative of something that should prevent you from training. Of course, I can only speak to the symptoms you post about and cannot opine on symptoms that you may not have indicated on your post. Hyperextension is not going to cause injury, if it is relatively low energy. There is nothing overtly dangerous about hyperextension that is done at relatively low energy, although, if you have a belief that hyperextension is bad or dangerous, it is only natural that this motion produced a pain response. Taking time off from training, poor programming of your training, and failing to appropriately train yourself according to the physical adaptations you have made to training are all far more dangerous than what you are feeling right now.

[GiannisKa]

The MRI results you posted were taken four years ago, so they have very little, if anything to do with your issue today, in all likelihood. Further, the MRI findings don't seem to support your symptoms in the arch of your feet. In fact, I probably see more people with "numbness and tingling" on the plantar surface of the feet arising from plantar fasciitis-type pain than from spinal pathology. At 15 years old, unless you were a competitive gymnast, suffered trauma, been in some type of high energy motor vehicle accident, etc, it MOST LIKELY wasn't your back.

Now, some pain with movement is not typically indicative of something that should prevent you from training. Of course, I can only speak to the symptoms you post about and cannot opine on symptoms that you may not have indicated on your post. Hyperextension is not going to cause injury, if it is relatively low energy. There is nothing overtly dangerous about hyperextension that is done at relatively low energy, although, if you have a belief that hyperextension is bad or dangerous, it is only natural that this motion produced a pain response. Taking time off from training, poor programming of your training, and failing to appropriately train yourself according to the physical adaptations you have made to training are all far more dangerous than what you are feeling right now.

I see.
Thanks for the useful information !
By the way, I forgot to mention that the back issues of the MRI were, according to the orthopedic-sports medicine, hereditary ( my father and also my grandpa have been doing heavy-duty jobs since they were kids - farmer, plumber -, so i guess a lot of poor lifting was involved ).

[GiannisKa]

The MRI results you posted were taken four years ago, so they have very little, if anything to do with your issue today, in all likelihood. Further, the MRI findings don't seem to support your symptoms in the arch of your feet. In fact, I probably see more people with "numbness and tingling" on the plantar surface of the feet arising from plantar fasciitis-type pain than from spinal pathology. At 15 years old, unless you were a competitive gymnast, suffered trauma, been in some type of high energy motor vehicle accident, etc, it MOST LIKELY wasn't your back.

Now, some pain with movement is not typically indicative of something that should prevent you from training. Of course, I can only speak to the symptoms you post about and cannot opine on symptoms that you may not have indicated on your post. Hyperextension is not going to cause injury, if it is relatively low energy. There is nothing overtly dangerous about hyperextension that is done at relatively low energy, although, if you have a belief that hyperextension is bad or dangerous, it is only natural that this motion produced a pain response. Taking time off from training, poor programming of your training, and failing to appropriately train yourself according to the physical adaptations you have made to training are all far more dangerous than what you are feeling right now.

Also, the truth is that I hadn't done military presses for months due to some knee issues (had stopped gym entirely), and I tried to military press weights that haven't been lifted for those months ( in squats, deadlifts and bench press I spend some weeks building up my strength again ).
I think that I got excited about gaining my strength back in the basic lifts and did what I did in military press...
But, based on your words and common sense, that was a very careless decision to make.

[GiannisKa]

The MRI results you posted were taken four years ago, so they have very little, if anything to do with your issue today, in all likelihood. Further, the MRI findings don't seem to support your symptoms in the arch of your feet. In fact, I probably see more people with "numbness and tingling" on the plantar surface of the feet arising from plantar fasciitis-type pain than from spinal pathology. At 15 years old, unless you were a competitive gymnast, suffered trauma, been in some type of high energy motor vehicle accident, etc, it MOST LIKELY wasn't your back.

Now, some pain with movement is not typically indicative of something that should prevent you from training. Of course, I can only speak to the symptoms you post about and cannot opine on symptoms that you may not have indicated on your post. Hyperextension is not going to cause injury, if it is relatively low energy. There is nothing overtly dangerous about hyperextension that is done at relatively low energy, although, if you have a belief that hyperextension is bad or dangerous, it is only natural that this motion produced a pain response. Taking time off from training, poor programming of your training, and failing to appropriately train yourself according to the physical adaptations you have made to training are all far more dangerous than what you are feeling right now.

Today's update : I tried deadlifts for the first time after the injury. I wasn't feeling anything in my low back until I tried to do my first working set. It felt like a pinch in my low back at the start of every rep. So, I lowered the weight and did some high rep sets ( no discomfort with low weight ).
What should I do from now on ?

[Will Morris]

Today's update : I tried deadlifts for the first time after the injury. I wasn't feeling anything in my low back until I tried to do my first working set. It felt like a pinch in my low back at the start of every rep. So, I lowered the weight and did some high rep sets ( no discomfort with low weight ).
What should I do from now on ?

I hope this doesn't come across as being trite, but I really think from now on you should have a competent coach.

[GiannisKa]

I hope this doesn't come across as being trite, but I really think from now on you should have a competent coach.

Right.
I'll consider it.
But the truth is that my question was about the rehabilitation. I'm still not over with the injury.
I'm a bit anxious.
I hope you can give me an answer.
My three last posts presents all the symptoms.
Thank you again for your time ;

[Will Morris]

Right.
I'll consider it.
But the truth is that my question was about the rehabilitation. I'm still not over with the injury.
I'm a bit anxious.
I hope you can give me an answer.
My three last posts presents all the symptoms.
Thank you again for your time ;

When something elevates to the point of someone wanting a professional consultation, I do not provide that information for free. You are asking me to provide you with my specialization in my profession for free. If you want me to practice my profession, you will have to compensate me for my time.

[GiannisKa]

When something elevates to the point of someone wanting a professional consultation, I do not provide that information for free. You are asking me to provide you with my specialization in my profession for free. If you want me to practice my profession, you will have to compensate me for my time.

Oh, you are a PT.
I understand.
Thanks anyways for all the help !

[jfsully]

Today's update : I tried deadlifts for the first time after the injury. I wasn't feeling anything in my low back until I tried to do my first working set. It felt like a pinch in my low back at the start of every rep. So, I lowered the weight and did some high rep sets ( no discomfort with low weight ).
What should I do from now on ?

Well, since you’ve found a weight you can lift without pain, you could start there and work your way back up. Focus on consistent and good form and for that, maybe, like Will said, get a coach.