Injured lower back deadlifting

[greemah]

A week ago my lower back started hurting a bit for no reason (nothing to do with weights I don't think). I skipped deadlifts the day after due to this, and a few days later did squats without problems. Now a week after skipping deadlifts I tried it again today, warmups felt ok just a slight dodgy feeling in my lower back, but on my second rep of my working set I felt a big crack/pop in my lower back. I stopped lifting straight away and now I have this constant pain when sitting still and it hurts a lot of I bend over at all, around my tailbone area.

Any ideas of what I may have done or how to fix this?

Really don't want to go to the doc as I have done that a lot for various injuries and it turns out to be nothing so really can't afford it

EDIT: I think my problem was I have been trying to pull the weight back when deadlifting, instead of straight up. Guess that was a bad idea

[Phedder]

EDIT: I think my problem was I have been trying to pull the weight back when deadlifting, instead of straight up. Guess that was a bad idea

You're supposed to pull back...Helps keep more tension through your hamstrings and glutes. Trying to pull up is all lower back.

Considering this;

but on my second rep of my working set I felt a big crack/pop in my lower back.

I'd definitely see a sports medicine doctor, or a good physio. Your GP won't know shit.

Are you getting any shooting pain or numbness down your legs at all, or is it isolated entirely to your lower back/tailbone?

[greemah]

I'd definitely see a sports medicine doctor, or a good physio. Your GP won't know shit.

Are you getting any shooting pain or numbness down your legs at all, or is it isolated entirely to your lower back/tailbone?

I will see one as a last resort just really can't afford it at the moment, especially if they want follow up appointments or scans etc

No pain or numbness in legs, all tailbone area. I notice if I am sitting and I extend my leg out like I'm doing a leg extension, the pain gets very bad

[maccaz]

I'd definitely see a sports medicine doctor, or a good physio. Your GP won't know shit.

Are you getting any shooting pain or numbness down your legs at all, or is it isolated entirely to your lower back/tailbone?

I will see one as a last resort just really can't afford it at the moment, especially if they want follow up appointments or scans etc

No pain or numbness in legs, all tailbone area. I notice if I am sitting and I extend my leg out like I'm doing a leg extension, the pain gets very bad

acc should cover it just make sure you say it happened all of a sudden, not gradual, which is the case anyway

[greemah]

I went to the doc and they said it was nothing major luckily, just something to do with displaced fluid or something that would start feeling better after around 72 hours. 3 days later and she was right, definitely a lot better.

Was thinking of getting a belt to protect my lower back on deads so this doesn't happen again. Do belts help with back safety?

Also I do 20-rep squats which requires a lot of heavy breathing, would a belt be good for this or would that much breathing be a problem for it?

[bms_muscle]

A week ago my lower back started hurting a bit for no reason (nothing to do with weights I don't think). I skipped deadlifts the day after due to this, and a few days later did squats without problems. Now a week after skipping deadlifts I tried it again today, warmups felt ok just a slight dodgy feeling in my lower back, but on my second rep of my working set I felt a big crack/pop in my lower back. I stopped lifting straight away and now I have this constant pain when sitting still and it hurts a lot of I bend over at all, around my tailbone area.

Any ideas of what I may have done or how to fix this?

Really don't want to go to the doc as I have done that a lot for various injuries and it turns out to be nothing so really can't afford it

EDIT: I think my problem was I have been trying to pull the weight back when deadlifting, instead of straight up. Guess that was a bad idea

Hi

I had exactly the same injury as you. It took to me nearly one year to recover. I would suggest you not to do any ecxercise which puts pressure on your lower back. such as deadlift, squats etc.

Please read this. it might be helpful to you.

My Modified Workout

First if you are in the same position that I'm right now we need to understand that our health is the most important factor in our life. Based on that we can obtain whatever we want just making some adjustments in our daily routine.

Exercises to Avoid

1 - Squat

2 - Deadlift (regular and stiff)

3 - Leg Press

4 - Clean and Jerk

5 - Standing Military Press

6 - Standing Shrugs

7 - Standing Barbell Curl

8 - Bent-Over Barbell Rows

Did I said AVOID? Yes. You have to avoid all the heavy exercises and also every exercise that you perform in standing position with the weight over your head, with the different that few of these exercises you also can do it in a seated position like:

Seated Military Press

Seated Shrugs

Horizontal Leg Press (DO NOT PERFORM 45º LEG PRESS)

From now on STRECHING will be your best friend. You will have to stretch your lower back immediately after get out of bed, before going to bed and before your daily workout.

My Workouts

Workout 1

Chest / Shoulder / Triceps

Flat Bench Press - 3x3, 1x12

Incline Bench Press - 3x3, 1x12

Dumbbell Bench Press - 3x failure

Dumbbell Flyes - 3x10

Seated Military Press - 3x3, 1x12

Front Raises - 3x8

Seated Shrugs - 3x3, 1x10

Triceps Pushdowns - 3x15

Workout 2

Back / Biceps

High Latpulldowns - 3x3, 1x10-12

Dumbbell Rows - 3x3, 1x8-10

Front Latpulldowns - 3x8

Preacher Curl - 3x10

Workout 3

Legs / Abs

Hyperextensions - 3x10 ( on machine )

Horizontal Leg Press - 3x3, 1x12

Leg Extensions - 3x10

Leg Curl - 3x10

Seated Calf Raises - 3x10

Crunches - 3x12-10 ( don't reach your legs with your torso. Just lift your torso 4 inches from the floor)

Workout 4

Arms ( supersets )

Preacher Curl - 3x3, 1x10

Close-Grip Bench Press - 3x3, 1x10

Dumbbells Curls - 3x3, 1x10

Lying Dumbbell Ext - 3x3, 1x10

Incline Dumbbells Curls - 3x3, 1x10

Pushdowns - 3x3, 1x10

Cardiovascular Workout

Running is one of the more beneficial cardiovascular exercises but in the same token is the most dangerous exercise when you have lower back pain or any injury in your lower extremities. When you running every time your legs hit the ground your body weight increase putting more stress no only on your knees but also in your LOWER BACK.

Here are some exercises that you can perform without risking your health and in the same time you are improving your cardiovascular endurance, for example:

* Stationary Bike

* Cross trainer

* Elliptical Trainer

* Swimming

Final Note

Avoid high impact exercises, excessive bending, and twisting. Is better to continue performing your daily workout with some changes or risking your health and not be able to perform any type of physical activities. Good Luck, TRAIN HARD and be SAFE!!!

[greemah]

Thanks for that bms_muscle, that is very good info for training with a lower back injury!

Though as the doc said it was nothing serious, I am not sure whether the injury you have and my one are the same thing - how did you feel a few days after you injured yourself, could you walk or bend over etc?

[mrgeeky]

I'd definitely see a sports medicine doctor, or a good physio. Your GP won't know shit.

Are you getting any shooting pain or numbness down your legs at all, or is it isolated entirely to your lower back/tailbone?

I will see one as a last resort just really can't afford it at the moment, especially if they want follow up appointments or scans etc

No pain or numbness in legs, all tailbone area. I notice if I am sitting and I extend my leg out like I'm doing a leg extension, the pain gets very bad

You dont have to afford it, thats what ACC is for...

[Monarchking]

You could try pre-hab also. Stretching and foam rolling of hips and legs, lats etc. Some deep tissues massage is always good, just to release some tension.

[bms_muscle]

Thanks for that bms_muscle, that is very good info for training with a lower back injury!

Though as the doc said it was nothing serious, I am not sure whether the injury you have and my one are the same thing - how did you feel a few days after you injured yourself, could you walk or bend over etc?

Hi,

I could walk, but i was not able to bend and also after sitting i could not stand up easily. I still get lower back pain some times. But i am working on my core muscles now.

Your GP wont know anything.

find out whos good phiysio in your city. I could suggest you one if you live in Hamilton?

I was so carzy about training i just kept training with my injury and made it worse. TAKE COUPLE OF WEEKS OFF. rather than training with your injury and taking 2 year off.

stat working on your core muscle. mostly back injuries happen due to the imblance.

do alot of stretching

use wheat bags to heat your back.

how long have you been training? and do you train LEGS?

I hope this will help you to recover faster.

[mrgeeky]

I know some one, a big strong guy who always lifted heavily, who broke his neck the other day while doing squats..

True story.

He said he mustnt have had the bar sitting across his shoulders properly..

Bar must have been on his neck.. He's now walking around in a neck brace.

Hard to believe eh guys.. But true story..

[jimmybro1]

I had the same problem with extending your leg and hurting in your lower back, you might have extremely tight glutes. Do so glute stretches and see how you feel after that. The physio is not expensive around 20$ a visit on ACC. I ended up getting dry needling done did wonders at relieving the tension.

[severe]

Yeah, physio was cheap under ACC.

I did the same with dead lifts, and killed my lower back, by persevering. It got to the point I couldn't squat at all.

Going through the physio stretches, and not slouching on the sofa (damn, I never realised I had such a shit couch posture) helped a ton.

Though I felt the 45 degree Leg press was great at the lowest point, as it stretched my lower back and glutes. Felt amazing after it. Real slow motion once the ass was starting to lift. That hold was gold.

It was great to get back to the 100kg squat mark (which I couldn't with the injury (Way above that now, but 100kg is always a nice benchmark), but I am still reluctant to do deadlifts.

[greemah]

I had the same problem with extending your leg and hurting in your lower back, you might have extremely tight glutes. Do so glute stretches and see how you feel after that. The physio is not expensive around 20$ a visit on ACC. I ended up getting dry needling done did wonders at relieving the tension.

I think tight glutes may be part of the problem, I will give stretching a try and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for your input

Yeah, physio was cheap under ACC.

I did the same with dead lifts, and killed my lower back, by persevering. It got to the point I couldn't squat at all.

Going through the physio stretches, and not slouching on the sofa (damn, I never realised I had such a shit couch posture) helped a ton.

Though I felt the 45 degree Leg press was great at the lowest point, as it stretched my lower back and glutes. Felt amazing after it. Real slow motion once the ass was starting to lift. That hold was gold.

It was great to get back to the 100kg squat mark (which I couldn't with the injury (Way above that now, but 100kg is always a nice benchmark), but I am still reluctant to do deadlifts.

What do you do now you don't deadlift? Was your initial problem with your deadlift form?

[mrgeeky]

a cool idea for a safe way to deadlift if you have back problems is to grab a seated cable row machine and do your dead lifts on that..

You of course are limited by the amount of weights on the stack but its a very safe way of being able to control the deadlift..

Unfortunately its how I have to deadlift.. It gets frustrating thats all the weight im limited too but it doesnt hurt my back which is the main thing..

Just grab the bar and lean back.. Thats all there is to it.

[severe]

What do you do now you don't deadlift? Was your initial problem with your deadlift form?

Form, yes.

Too heavy, too soon. (ego :roll: )

I now do Rack Pulls with my Barbell Shrugs. I do a few reps before the shrugs, then hold and do set of shrugs, then repeat a few more pulls. I do this every set of shrugs. Only 110kg, but as the back is stronger than the traps, it is nearly time to DL again.

[greemah]

Hmm I wonder if doing half squats may have caused a ham/quad imbalance which contributed to this injury