I have disc degeneration in my lower back confirmed on imaging. Occasionally while deadlifting or squatting heavy singles I will irritate this disc and suffer through days or weeks of spasms. The current iteration (4th of the year) has been 6 weeks after getting too horizontal on a heavyish squat. Many of this year’s issues have been from pressing to get stronger after inconsistent training last year. So the year absolutely corresponds to injuries from asking my body to do things it isn’t used to.
I’m 48 with a desire to continue competing. My primary goal is to stay healthy and active. A close second is to be as strong as possible. Competition is third.
I’ve been seeing an Airrosti practitioner that claims to have powerlifting experience. He cautioned 1) this will get worse over time with recurring injuries, 2) encouraged me to switch to trap bar deadlift, 3) every long term powerlifter he knows has some chronic injuries, whether low back, shoulder, etc.
I am 99% healthy now. My plan has been to: 1) work back slowly and cautiously with limits around RPE 6-7 until I am confidently 100%, 2) work on staying vertical while squatting and deadlfting to minimize shear forces on my back, and 3) be super cautious with heavy singles.
Anything else you’d suggest? Do I have long term risk from continuing to straight bar deadlift? Is it wise to incorporate trap bar deadlift on heavy days during the off season?
I think that disc degeneration is more accurately called age-related changes to the spine, as these types of changes seen on imaging do not appear to be a harbinger of pain, increased risk of injury with exercise, or dysfunction. They are more like wrinkles on an x-ray, a sign of time gone by.
While they are well-intentioned, I would push back against the Airrosti pro on all three points: 1) Yes, injuries often cause pain, but this is not unique to age-related changes the spine seen on imaging. 2) Trap bar deadlifting places significant load on the back and lower body, which is good (if dosed correctly). It does not appear to be safer or less injurious to deadlifting with a barbell, though some people who are currently in pain may find the trap bar more tolerable for a spell. 3) All humans will get injured regardless of exercise and those joints are the most common ones too. Use it or not, that’s likely where you’ll hurt. Still, it’s not exactly profound to point out sports with risks of overuse injuries sometimes cause overuse injuries. Competitive powerlifting has an injury rate of ~ 2-4 injuries/1000 hours. That’s a little bit more than walking/cycling, but about 1/3-1/2 that of running.
If I was advising you, I would be interrogating your programming first, as I think this may be contributory to why you got imaging in the first place (to receive the degenerative disc diagnosis), as well as why you see the Airrosti person.
As a follow up, since this post, I felt my back was completely recovered, and I spent some time out of gym due to summer travel. I returned and took it very easy. Long story short, I jacked up my back again today for what I think is the 5th time this year. [2nd set of deadlifts. First was a triple at RPE 7.5]
I’m dumbfounded for why this keeps happening. In fairness, I’ve felt very minor back strain for weeks as I’ve gotten back after it, but I filed away as doms, in particular because I”m trying to squat more upright to save my lower back.
Clearly I need to take any strain, however mild as a yellow or red light in the future. And near term I need movement, blood flow etc to rehab.
How do I prevent future recurrence? Significant core work? Reverse hypers?
Sorry to hear about this, as I’m sure it’s frustrating (to say the least). Five times in a year is a lot, no doubt!
From the outside, I’m looking at the common thread in your own writeup. Almost every flare has come when you’re returning from inconsistency, a layoff, travel, patchy training, and then (seemingly) loading back up faster than your current tolerance. This looks like a pretty clear cut case of overuse due to a dose of training that’s too high for you right now. While a set of 3 @ RPE 7-7.5 isn’t always a problem, it’s generally not something I would include within the first 1-2 months of a person returning to training.
I think we can conclude that the sensation you had wasn’t DOMS, as it’s usually gone in a few days. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I think this can be helpful in the future. Core work and reverse hypers are fine to include, but they won’t stop the recurrence on their own. The dosing pattern is the problem.
This brings me back to what I had asked about back in June: your current programming. I think this is the crux of the issue, but would want to see it to “know” and then make a recommendation.
For now, you’ve got the right idea: keep moving with light loads, and it’ll calm down.
Given this is round five, the cleanest way out may be to stop self-managing the programming. A strong lifter who keeps re-tweaking around inconsistency is exactly what our coaching is built for.