Pop in lower back during heavy deadlift. . .

Tophermak

Hey, just wondering if anyone else has experienced this . Today will on third set of 5x5 pulling 220 on DL, my max is 270 but was backing off a bit due to sore back from Sunday's work out. On way down almost to floor I felt a pop in lower left back side and immediate pain, like shortness of breath pain. I've since taken a muscle relaxer and advil and the pain has lessened but not gone away. I'm pretty sure form was good. If anything I push my chest too far out rather then curling my back.

Should I be concerned that it is anything more then a pulled muscle. The "pop" kind of worries me.

Thanks for any input!!

Tophermak

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FP4HSharon

Time will tell. Some people can experience "popping" while working out, that's sort of akin to chiropractic adjustments, & it's no big deal. However, that's usually not associated w/pain. I would definitely NOT do any workouts that involve that area until it's not bothering you at all anymore, or you could aggravate any injury. Most doctors, before anything else, would have you using ice on the area the first 24 hours (20 min on, 10 min off, but make sure there's a cloth layer between the bag of ice & your skin). Then after the first 24 hours, they'd recommend anti-inflammatories (Ibuprophen/Motrin for example), & heat (20 min on, 10 min off). Warm showers if they make it feel better. they'd probably have you do this for about 10 days. Then if that doesn't help, THEN they'll do the x-rays or other imaging. If it's bone related, then it'd show on an x-ray, but if it's soft tissue like a disk in your spine, then you'd need a CT or MRI. I'm not a doctor, just used to work for a neurosurgeon who saw a lot of back injuries. But if you're concerned, it never hurts to see your doctor as soon as you can. One of the hardest things for me to learn when I continued to work out into my 40's was to listen to my body, so I didn't end up reinjuring anything. I don't think you get injured any more often as you get older, but I think it takes longer to recover as you get older. Just my experience.

NoAdditives

You should probably see a doctor.

balfit

Yes, please, see your doctor inmediately. Lower back injuries take time to heal properly and you will need to follow a strict "return to activity" protocol as faithfully as you train daily.
The "pop" might suggest a course of injury, same as pain in the area. If the pain irradiates down the leg or you experience other sensations such as numbness it's already time to see the MD (past due, I mean), particularly one related to sports medicine.
As cited above, please don't delay visiting your doctor, while still keeping ice, no training and pain lessening positions.
Be well

Tophermak

Thanks for all the replies. . .I'll look into making a Dr appt for tomorrow and will keep with the ice and deload for a couple of weeks.

Mrsallypants

Add 10lbs. Pain should go away.

Dr1nkbleachndye

You pretty much are in the realm that anyone who DL's with regularity has reached.

The injury you have, I have had about 3 times before. One of the discs in your lower back shifted during your movement.

Everytime this injury has happened to me, the pain the following morning is 2-3 times as bad as it is the night before. DO NOT USE HEAT AS RELIEF IN THE FIRST 72 HRS OF THE INJURY, ONLY USE ICE.

The pain that comes the next morning is usually the peak, but day 3 can actually be the worst believe it or not.

Tomorrow, or the day after, you could have pain standing up straight, it feels almost as if your body won't let you stand up anywhere near straight initially when you get out of bed. If you try to take a step and have nothing to lean on, or use your arms to support you, the pain can be so severe that you would think you were within a half inch of being incapacitated for life. Every initial footstep can feel crippling. But as you take more steps, that feeling goes away. Once you lay back down though, it slowly builds the stiffness all over again. For me, it goes away, but depending how bad it is, it can take anywhere from 4-20 days.

I see you took everyone's advice and made a Dr's appt. always a smart move regardless of how you feel tomorrow morn.

I'm not saying any of the above will apply to you, but the same sound, and feeling, and shortness of breath has happened to me during DL's before so I'm just trying to warn you what you are in for.

GiddyupTim

Yes. The doctor. I hurt my knee, and waited about six months, figuring it would get better. But, I needed surgery. Derp! Coulda saved myself a lot of pain and grief if I had not been so stupid.

FP4HSharon

So OP, how are you feeling this morning?

65svtfastback

Had the exact same thing happen to me Monday....POP, then extreme pain (thought I exploded a disk). Saw my Dr. Tuesday morning, just extreme muscle strain...he said rest, ice, ice, ice...anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxers were prescribed as well. Also stretch stretch stretch...very important and best to do after every workout. My Dr recommended a week off and then a major deload and take time to work back to where I was on weight.

Tophermak

Feeling much better, just did a good job of pulling the muscle. I took a week off and now into a week or two of deload, still no lifting just some light jogging and yoga for stretching. Using lots of ice and basically just taking it easy until I can get back in the game!!

primal_cupcakes

Get thee to a doctor.

MUZZAMMIL10

Use a weight lifting belt bruh!!!

FP4HSharon

OP...so glad it's not as bad as it could have been. But definitely don't rush back too fast & reinjure it. Hardest lesson for me to learn was to just find other things to do until it felt 100% again. Had to sprain my hamstring twice to finally learn that lesson. There are always other things you can do to stay in shape. All the best.

Escape_Artist

Feeling much better, just did a good job of pulling the muscle. I took a week off and now into a week or two of deload, still no lifting just some light jogging and yoga for stretching. Using lots of ice and basically just taking it easy until I can get back in the game!!

Same exact thing happened to me two weeks ago. I couldn't walk for 2 days :sad:
I took a week off and did a bit of yoga every other day to try and stretch it.

I started going back to the gym Monday and deloading as well for the next 2 week ish.

Make sure you don't push yourself too much, take it slow!

denniskillz

I tend to agree with this, you just need to readjust your back. Use your arms to hand your lower body down. This will stretch your spine out, hold this position for a minute and then lie of the floor with your face flat on the ground and arch your back up. This will help in correcting the position of the disc. Repeat both steps at least 5 times.

You pretty much are in the realm that anyone who DL's with regularity has reached.

The injury you have, I have had about 3 times before. One of the discs in your lower back shifted during your movement.

Everytime this injury has happened to me, the pain the following morning is 2-3 times as bad as it is the night before. DO NOT USE HEAT AS RELIEF IN THE FIRST 72 HRS OF THE INJURY, ONLY USE ICE.

The pain that comes the next morning is usually the peak, but day 3 can actually be the worst believe it or not.

Tomorrow, or the day after, you could have pain standing up straight, it feels almost as if your body won't let you stand up anywhere near straight initially when you get out of bed. If you try to take a step and have nothing to lean on, or use your arms to support you, the pain can be so severe that you would think you were within a half inch of being incapacitated for life. Every initial footstep can feel crippling. But as you take more steps, that feeling goes away. Once you lay back down though, it slowly builds the stiffness all over again. For me, it goes away, but depending how bad it is, it can take anywhere from 4-20 days.

I see you took everyone's advice and made a Dr's appt. always a smart move regardless of how you feel tomorrow morn.

I'm not saying any of the above will apply to you, but the same sound, and feeling, and shortness of breath has happened to me during DL's before so I'm just trying to warn you what you are in for.

JustAnotherGirlSuzanne

My back pops and crackles every time I see a chiropractor... if it doesn't hurt I wouldn't worry about it. If it does... a doctor might be a good person to talk about that to.

bugaha1

I had the same thing happen doing squats in 1991 (age 33). It turned out to be a ruptured disc that really never healed 100% and today I have a compressed disc and arthritis in the same spot.

ErinsAaron

Tophermak wrote: »

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Sabine_Stroehm

OP: it's been a month how's it feeling now?