Low Back Injury (?) during RDLs

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
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Hi BBM team,

First, thanks for all the content you’ve provided over the years. I must admit I’m making this post because an injury in the gym is a new experience for me, and I’m not 100% on how to proceed or if I should seek further medical guidance. I have been relatively ‘injury’ free ever since I started lifting and I credit this to learning RPE early and starting with your beginner training and other templates. I’ve had some fatigue, aches and pains along the way but never experienced something acute like I did during a session last night.

I was doing my usual set of RDLs to start a lower body day (first set around RPE 6 for 6 reps). I noticed my belt was feeling a little tight for whatever reason; I am currently in a gaining phase, so I think I was experiencing a little bloating during the day and didn’t think much of it. On my second rep, when I came up for the concentric part of the lift, I felt a distinct ‘crack’ or ‘pop’ sensation on my lower spine as my belt squeezed into my lower abdomen. I immediately experienced moderately pain, terminated the set, and left the gym as I was having pain just walking. I didn’t feel I could move on to any other movements.

Normally, I try not to overreact when I experience pain, thanks to what I’ve learned from you guys, but the distinct cracking sensation has me a little worried. I have been mostly resting in bed since the incident and taking ibuprofen to help with pain and what I suspect to be inflammation. The pain at this point seems pretty generalized to my lower back but is interfering with daily functioning; there’s no bulge, swelling, discoloration, or numbness/tingling in my extremities.

How should I proceed? Sorry for the long post. This is new to me and I am mostly worried about having popped a disc or something due to the cracking sensation. I am planning to rest for a few days then reassess, but am really worried it could be something more serious and derail me for a period of time.

Thanks in advance.

-Brian

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Hey Brian,

Thanks for the post. Sorry to hear about your experience. I can understand that would be concerning, to say the least.

To your exact question, a pop/crack doesn’t really heighten my concern for anything that needs to be urgently evaluated. We would generally not recommend complete rest. This post is a few days old I think so…how’s it feeling today and have you tried to do any sort of activity?

-Jordan

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Hey Jordan,

Thanks for the reply. I definitely wrote this post in a bit of a panic because the pop/crack seemed so dramatic and was new for me. Glad to say I was able to do some conditioning the day after and am pretty much pain free about a week later. Did my first three sessions of the week (including a lower body day) with no issues as well. This was a good experience for me as the sensation didn’t prove to be catastrophic as I was telling myself immediately after…I was definitely spiraling a bit.

I have the RDL session again tomorrow. I don’t really expect issues considering how I feel right now, but I will definitely adjust based on feel!

Thanks again.

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Great to hear it! Have an awesome session today.

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