HI guys, im 40 yrs old, been lifting for 18 months thanks to starting strength , you guys and RIP. , Im a life long low back issues person, and over last 18 months have been feelin the best ive ever felt in my life. , till 8 weeks ago. During squats, at a weight ive done many times before (225 for 5 reps) , I got kicked forward to a good morning at the bottom and felt and burning pain near my SI joint. After seeing a well renowned physio, he advised that weight bearing activity is high risk for my my situation as my injury symptoms, include sciatic pain, and tingling on one side of my foot. and i may have no disc left or fluid inside, and I should NOT squat with load on my back EVER again due to compression and further risking a surgical intervention. Im not lifting for comps, but just for functionality and longevity to be active and physical with my young family. My question is, should i stop squats and just focus on sumo dead lifts ( i do sumo as im 6,2 and conventional plays up with my low back after a while.) and benching? There is a LOT of confusing information out there about back/disc injuries and , I dont ever want a knife near my back if i can help it !!! Your thoughts would be hugely appreciated.
Jade,
Sorry to hear about your back pain (presumably still painful). I think it’s important to note a few things:
- We don’t know if you actually injured your disc during the squats. We would need a pre and post squat MRI showing herniation or injury and from your report, we don’t have one.
- Low back pain is very nuanced and can crop up for lots of non mechanical reasons. That said, your phyiso telling you what he/she did is probably the worst thing someone could say to you.
- It sounds like you have some radicular symptoms, e.g. tingling in one side of the foot. How has this changed over the last few days, if at all? Any other numbness or tingling? How has the pain changed?
Based on your upcoming answer to number 3, I’m probably going to tell you to stay active, squat, deadlift, bench, etc. and ask for your PT’s address so I can send him a box full of feces.
Thanks so much Jordan for the reply, your work in this space with Austin and RIP is really amazing. The radicular symptoms are mild, they are some tingling in left foot sole, not getting worse or better, some slight prickling on outer left quad, kinda feels like a little numb patch, , in terms of sensation, its a 1-10 standing, 2 out of 10 sitting. I lifted today, very light, i tried 135pnd front squats high reps as a test , no pain during movement, did light sumo dead lifts, 3 sets of 10 @ 100kg which is a good workout for me but not too heavy , my sumo max is currently 315-340 ish. and tonight i feel ok, just some occasional l5/s1 area deep and dull pain if I compress, like jump for instance or have too much forward lumbar flexion. My current plan is to keep lifting and gradually build back up with best form i can hope it heals. To be honest , its my lifelong PT i went to see, and he frightened the hell out of me with surgery talk and disc / lifelong damage pain talks…I very nearly just gave it all up I was that worried, hence coming to you guys…thanks so much. Jade.
Glad you trained. I would, however, caution against sets of 10. Intraset fatigue is a predisposing factor to form breakdown and overfatiguing the areas may increase your pain. I would stick with sets of 5, do a few more sets if the weight is painfully light and add weight regularly.
Also, fuck your PT.
Hi Jordan, sorry to bother you on this again, I trained today , and moved to 75 % of my max rack pulls, with a belt , real good form and afterwards , have more l5,s1 pain than before i trained… I dont know if mentioned above clearly, but ive been pain free for 2 years since lifting on the starting strength program before this squat injury. This injury , has been ongoing now for 10 weeks and seems to break down with training, particularly low back strength work. Im totally confused about how to move forward, I wonder if i should just rest for a period say, 8 weeks and let any stuff heel, or just leave low back work for a while? Any further advice / literature would be great, i dont want to get an MRI or go back to the PT. (already know teh answer…disc rupture/bulges likely) …im fukn confused atm…PS, radicular symptoms still there with some foot tingling hip pain ( sciatic i assume) …Thanks so much for your time guys.
So the loading may have been too aggressive or it may be unrelated. I do not think you should take 8 weeks off, you don’t need an MRI or more PT. You need to train, and I would recommend potentially subbing back squat for front squat w/ a belt 2x/wk at first, doing rack pulls above the knee for a few easy sets of 5 2x/wk, no direct ab or low back work, no stretching/foam rolling, and taking care not to move abnormally/compensate for your injury too much.
Will do, Thanks heaps Jordan.