Frequent deadlift tweaks - low back pain for 9 years - don’t want to quit

Male 28 years old 200 pounds 5 foot 10

I started lifting when I was 19 years old with starting strength and in a few months was able to pull in the low 400s.
One day I stupidly tried an Amrap set about a year until lifting on the dead left and felt a pop in my back and I was in trouble for a few weeks. I just kind of slowly recovered and got back into lifting but every time I slowly have tried to build myself back up I seen that I can’t make any progress because I either deal with adult aches that radiate into my buttocks or I “pop” my back again. This has happened probably 3 to 5 times over the last nine years.

I am not sure if the back tweaks or herniated discs (never had MRI) created the following issue or they are caused by the following issue but it appears I have an extremely mild form of scoliosis (also not diagnosed but I can observe it A little I think) or a leg length discrepancy when standing. My right foot wants to turn out much farther to the right and my left and my right hip wants to be forward my right hip also is higher up and I think the rotations are to compensate for possibly a longer right leg. However when attempting to measure my legs I can’t seem to find a discrepancy which makes me think I have a functional issue that I can’t seem to wrap my head around and a few other resources I’ve tried to look into have not been able to find the source of the problem.

I am getting worried that I am doing permanent damage and destroying my body through weightlifting and I am currently reeling from popping my back again after pulling a very submaximal load of 315. As far as I can tell my form is strong enough that no one has been able to identify an issue with it. But I also sometimes notice I need my right foot turned way out in order to have a neutral pelvis.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. I’ve read the material on the subject here but not sure it’s working out for me. I can’t seem to know I can lift heavy safely and don’t want to quit.

This certainly sounds like something that would benefit more from a consultation than a forum response as it is often beneficial to work through prior training history and attempts to return to prior levels. If you are interested, you can fill out an intake form HERE.

What you are experiencing is rather typical in terms of trying to return to prior levels and is much more likely influenced by the means with which you are trying to return than an anatomical abnormality. There is no evidence that individuals presenting with a small (<30 deg) scoliosis experience any more issues than individuals without and there also is no good evidence attributing leg length discrepancy to symptoms. More often than not it is more a conversation of how you are trying to return to lifting. If you are not familiar with Austin’s article on the topic I would recommend starting with Pain in Training What Do.

Typical progression tends to be an attempt at linear where athletes will slowly creep back up to prior numbers. Unfortunately, this often comes with a ceiling effect where symptoms return. This is where patience is key as it is often beneficial to back off from where symptoms occur and accumulate more volume there before seeking to increase numbers. Often it comes down to an honest conversation of could vs should for weight selection. We know that we definitely could add weight to the bar but often if we ask if should, it elicits a different answer. It is a very common occurrence for athletes to be technically sound but still have issues more because they are trying to force progress. This is also where some guidance can help in the above mentioned consultation.

Right now it sounds like the primary problem may be with the way in which you are trying to return to heavier lifts than anything anatomically problematic. There are a couple of recommendations on that front that I would offer:

  1. Be honest with your RPE- Often there is a tendency for an 8 to become a 9 or a 7 to become an 8 when training. All this does is increase the probability that an issue will occur. There is no point in trying to grind out reps for the sake of it if you are sidelined as a result. In the initial phase of coming back from this I would also recommend anchoring RPE to should in that it should be @8 should I do two more reps. Consistency beats intensity almost every time.

  2. Wait a little longer than you think you should prior to starting to push intensity again- The 3-5 setbacks are pretty common as most athletes start progressing, stick to the plan, and feel better then have a session where things are rolling and experience a setback. Just like pain does not equal tissue damage, sometimes feeling good does not mean you are ready to push closer to max effort yet. Once symptoms are feeling better, as this has been going on for 9 years, I would take a two month accumulation block of just working on being consistent, feeling good, and accumulating a large base of training at submaximal loads.

  3. At this point I am sure you are familiar with the phenomenon where things feel good up until a certain weight and it sounds like you expressed this at 315 for deadlift. You can use a different set/rep/intensity scheme here to build some confidence such as working up to a single at 7, dropping 5-8% and working sets to 2 reps in reserve. Using the @7 gives you a larger margin of error and if you are hitting a single at 315 and pulling sets of 7-8 at 295, all the sudden 315 doesn’t seem quite so scary anymore. I would not employ this strategy until after you are back consistent in the gym with minimal issues.

I hope this helps.

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Thanks for another solid explanation!

Anecdotally, I’ve personally found writing out my workout beforehand including planned weights, sets etc and actually sticking to it has been the most consistent course of improvement. Usually when I think “eh I’m fine to add a few more”, I run into issues. There are occasions when something feels way too easy, but the more I try to “keep going” to “feel it more”, issues arise. If I stick to a predetermined workout plan checked/written right before lifting (including RIR/RPE), it seems to go better, even if it ends up being on the more conservative end of things.

Thank you I appreciate the detailed and thoughtful response.

I will only add that the issue that causes me such concern is that there is no way for me to know when the issue will present itself. I feel great and then POP - I hurt myself. On top of this this is happening WHILE training at like RPE 5-6. So it’s very difficult to know what I can and can’t do without injury bc pain before hand doesn’t give me a signal to stop.

I also did fill out a form for a consult first but i am not seeming to get any response.

I will look into the consult issue.

That is part of the issue when it comes to things that would fall into the “muscle injury” bucket (I’m defining this here as getting the “pop” sensation). There tends to be a disconnect between feeling good and being good. Kinda the opposite of what we talk about with chronic pain. This is an instance where some isolation work can also come in handy in the form of some GHD back extensions or barbell good mornings. So long as the movement is slow and controlled (re: tempo) the odds of bringing on symptoms are typically pretty low. As we can’t really compare side to side for a back injury my normal advice is to get to the point where things are feeling good, hammer the specific training for 4-6 weeks, then start taking intensity back up slowly.

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