About three months ago, I injured my back while deadlifting, in a really stupid way. I know exactly what I did wrong. While this may still serve as a cautionary tale, this treatise is about my experience with doctors and recovery.
INJURY.
It was my last lift of the day. I was deadlifting 380, with an eye to increase the weight next workout. This was a weight I pulled before, and I was confident. After the first rep, I decided to adjust the grip as it was hurting, but took too long to do it. The pressure ran out, and I couldn’t pull the second time. This pissed me off, and I tried to lift again. I should have waited a few minutes instead, but I let my ego get to me. The bar got about six inches off the ground, when I heard a rather loud “crunch” and felt something similar to a rope tearing on the left side of the lower spine. These big, compound lifts require perfect form, but in my moment of hubris I let the form go to shit and arched my back, a huge no-no for a deadlift. I racked the plates, and that was the end of my workout.
RECOVERY.
Initially, I thought this was nothing more than a torn muscle, and I went to the Starting Strength Facebook page to ask. Before y’all tell me how stupid this was, this page is where Starting Strength coaches hang out, some of whom happen to be medical professionals themselves. One of the doctor coaches recommended I get under the bar with light weight and gradually increase it. Unfortunately, I mistook it for the Starr Rehab Protocol, a method for a recovery from a torn muscle.
This requires working through the pain, which was the wrong thing to do—the pain got worse, and spread down to my leg. The pain got so bad, I didn’t want to walk, for about a week. Imagine a muscle spasm, a Charley horse, but not a regular one, but an extra painful one. Like something is searing your leg from the inside as it spasms. At first you think you can take it, but after several days of these spasms every 10-15 minutes or so, you begin to dread it.
I finally broke down, and went to see a sports medicine doctor. Unfortunately, she turned out to be a chiropractor. She misdiagnosed me with an SI ligament sprain, adjusted my back, which relieved the pain, and sent me on my way. The pain returned in the morning.
Finally, I saw a medical doctor, who diagnosed it as “some form of disc herniation, probably a bulged disc.” He told me that my “core wasn’t strong enough.” I wanted to slap him—I deadlifted 380, squatted 295, and in neither case did I fall on my face. Exactly how much stronger did my core need to be? To further mock my condition, he gave me strengthening exercises which he himself admitted, were usually given to 90-year-old ladies. Then, if it didn’t work, he would discuss surgery. The only good that came out of that interaction was muscle relaxant medicine, which helped and I could again function.
Back to the Starting Strength Facebook group. I asked for coaches in my area, because I needed to see someone in person. The suggested Starting Strength Coach database revealed a coach within a 2-hour drive who was also a physician assistant. She turned out an in-shape early 40s mom of four, whose husband owned the gym. She had four disc hernias of her own. We talked about our experiences with injury and medical malpractice. She corrected my form (something you should do on at least an annual basis due to form creep) and told me to start with low weight and avoid the pain at all costs. Then increase the weight as the pain permits. I’ve been doing exactly that since, letting the pain be the limiting factor.
I have not yet made a full recovery, but I am well on the way to do so. Today my squat was 240 for three sets of five reps. My deadlift was again 315, three plates on each end. The weight keeps going up.
CONCLUSION.
My case is not unique, nor is it the worst case of back injury one made a full recovery from using this method. For example, LtCol Mac Ward described his full recovery from “drop foot”, a nerve damage causing the toes to drag on the ground while walking, a very serious condition. There are more cases of back and other injuries and recoveries using the Starting Strength method. Use the search function on their website.
As an anecdote, my co-worker, who is not a lifter, herniated a disc while swimming. I didn’t know that was even possible. Nearly a year later, he is still struggling, and in pain. Doctors are recommending surgery. By contrast, because I had more and stronger muscle, my pain was gone in a month and three months later I am back to lifting serious weight. I didn’t need to go to a doctor since I saw the coach.
This will definitely take a toll on me, and I will probably develop arthritis later on. I don’t recommend you do this to yourself, or others. But the presence of strong muscles will shield your back and will prevent a more serious injury.
In the end, we all heal. You must take an active part in it. Good luck and Godspeed.
INJURY.
It was my last lift of the day. I was deadlifting 380, with an eye to increase the weight next workout. This was a weight I pulled before, and I was confident. After the first rep, I decided to adjust the grip as it was hurting, but took too long to do it. The pressure ran out, and I couldn’t pull the second time. This pissed me off, and I tried to lift again. I should have waited a few minutes instead, but I let my ego get to me. The bar got about six inches off the ground, when I heard a rather loud “crunch” and felt something similar to a rope tearing on the left side of the lower spine. These big, compound lifts require perfect form, but in my moment of hubris I let the form go to shit and arched my back, a huge no-no for a deadlift. I racked the plates, and that was the end of my workout.
RECOVERY.
Initially, I thought this was nothing more than a torn muscle, and I went to the Starting Strength Facebook page to ask. Before y’all tell me how stupid this was, this page is where Starting Strength coaches hang out, some of whom happen to be medical professionals themselves. One of the doctor coaches recommended I get under the bar with light weight and gradually increase it. Unfortunately, I mistook it for the Starr Rehab Protocol, a method for a recovery from a torn muscle.
This requires working through the pain, which was the wrong thing to do—the pain got worse, and spread down to my leg. The pain got so bad, I didn’t want to walk, for about a week. Imagine a muscle spasm, a Charley horse, but not a regular one, but an extra painful one. Like something is searing your leg from the inside as it spasms. At first you think you can take it, but after several days of these spasms every 10-15 minutes or so, you begin to dread it.
I finally broke down, and went to see a sports medicine doctor. Unfortunately, she turned out to be a chiropractor. She misdiagnosed me with an SI ligament sprain, adjusted my back, which relieved the pain, and sent me on my way. The pain returned in the morning.
Finally, I saw a medical doctor, who diagnosed it as “some form of disc herniation, probably a bulged disc.” He told me that my “core wasn’t strong enough.” I wanted to slap him—I deadlifted 380, squatted 295, and in neither case did I fall on my face. Exactly how much stronger did my core need to be? To further mock my condition, he gave me strengthening exercises which he himself admitted, were usually given to 90-year-old ladies. Then, if it didn’t work, he would discuss surgery. The only good that came out of that interaction was muscle relaxant medicine, which helped and I could again function.
Back to the Starting Strength Facebook group. I asked for coaches in my area, because I needed to see someone in person. The suggested Starting Strength Coach database revealed a coach within a 2-hour drive who was also a physician assistant. She turned out an in-shape early 40s mom of four, whose husband owned the gym. She had four disc hernias of her own. We talked about our experiences with injury and medical malpractice. She corrected my form (something you should do on at least an annual basis due to form creep) and told me to start with low weight and avoid the pain at all costs. Then increase the weight as the pain permits. I’ve been doing exactly that since, letting the pain be the limiting factor.
I have not yet made a full recovery, but I am well on the way to do so. Today my squat was 240 for three sets of five reps. My deadlift was again 315, three plates on each end. The weight keeps going up.
CONCLUSION.
My case is not unique, nor is it the worst case of back injury one made a full recovery from using this method. For example, LtCol Mac Ward described his full recovery from “drop foot”, a nerve damage causing the toes to drag on the ground while walking, a very serious condition. There are more cases of back and other injuries and recoveries using the Starting Strength method. Use the search function on their website.
As an anecdote, my co-worker, who is not a lifter, herniated a disc while swimming. I didn’t know that was even possible. Nearly a year later, he is still struggling, and in pain. Doctors are recommending surgery. By contrast, because I had more and stronger muscle, my pain was gone in a month and three months later I am back to lifting serious weight. I didn’t need to go to a doctor since I saw the coach.
This will definitely take a toll on me, and I will probably develop arthritis later on. I don’t recommend you do this to yourself, or others. But the presence of strong muscles will shield your back and will prevent a more serious injury.
In the end, we all heal. You must take an active part in it. Good luck and Godspeed.
I am afraid that women appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters all the same. They love being dominated.
--Oscar Wilde
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