Pop in low back while deadlifting

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

Hello. I have no history of back pain, and have been lifting for about 2 years. In early November, I felt pain in my lower back on a working set of deficit deadlifts. I was able to finish the rep, but that was it for the day. I don’t recall hearing anything. The pain, however, was intense. I backed off and for a couple weeks was laid up, icing/heating, and working my way back into lifting but finding a pain-free entry point. It got better.

Earlier this week, on my first pull of my first working set of pause deadlifts, I heard a pop and felt a sharp pain before the bar left the ground. That was it. While I was able to complete a few other things, deadlifting was out of the question. Even unloading the bar was tough. Today the pain is also intense.

I’ve watched a few videos, including Alan Thrall’s video with Austin. Good stuff. But it doesn’t answer all of my questions, so here goes:

  1. Based on the sensation I described, any guess as to what happened? Trying to determine if it was a tweak/strain versus something like a herniated disc. I wouldn’t say I have generalized, chronic lower back pain but rather two injuries. Maybe my description is inaccurate (or irrelevant). But from the standpoint of considering the low back rehab template, is it more for chronic pain or acute injury?

  2. Now that I’ve had two injuries in the last few months, am I more susceptible to these type of injuries going forward?

  3. Any good rehab/warmup stretches/exercises you can suggest? Thinking about adding good mornings and jefferson curls to my arsenal to strengthen my lower back.

Thank you

2

  1. While I understand it can be tempting, I wouldn’t spend much time worrying about the “root cause” of your low back pain. It’s unlikely that a diagnostic label will alter the management of your low back pain experience.

  2. You are not more susceptible to injury because of your history of 2 occurrences of low back pain. I would focus your energy on moving forward from your pain experience and returning to physical activity.

  3. We don’t have one special exercise that we recommend for folks with low back pain. Rather, we advocate for progressive return to training within a tolerable range of motion, intensity, etc in the context of individual goals and desired activities. I do think that for some individuals there is value in jefferson curls and good mornings in order to reduce decrease sensitivity and fear to spinal flexion.

The low back pain template is appropriate for both acute and chronic low back pain, and seems to be appropriate for you based on the symptoms that you are describing. The template will also provide you with some “rehab” exercises for your low back. Hope this helps!

Hannah