Hi All, I am a current powerlifter who has used this organization for coaching in the past and my wife is someone who casually lifts for her health. I wanted to ask a question on behalf of my wife because I don’t know how to help her.
My wife has had a recurring back pain over the last 2 years while lifting. She went to the Dr. and the diagnosis was she has a compressed disc that pushes (not sure if this is a correct description) into a nerve. When this is causing her pain it really affects her. She has pain getting up or sitting down and is very uncomfortable. The pain is always the same and is generally brought on by squat or deadlifts.
She is very careful with her lifting. I’ve seen her lift before and she is by no means lifting at a high RPE or doing an insane amount of volume. Recently she started lifting again and while shooting for RPE 6-7 and doing volume of 3x8 she hurt her back. She didn’t say anything felt different about that rep just that her back started hurting. Out of frustration she went to a personal trainer for about 6 months to focus on rehabbing this issue. The trainer seemed to spent most of the time focusing on stretching, body weight movements and occasionally would do some more compound stuff extremely lightly and without any progression. Since she left the trainer and started doing more compound movements again she hurt herself.
She doesn’t know what to do and I have no idea how to help her. Has anyone dealt with a similar compressed disc issue? Is there a long term path to more stable lifting? I’ve listened to Dr. Baraki speak about pain and rehab and those ideas have always worked with me when I have an issue. I keep moving, manage my RPE and volume and I am better in a week or two with pretty much no recidivism. But the same concepts seem to apply differently to her and her condition. It seems so random.