Scared I really hurt my back

Emtabo01

I did workout 3 Stage 7 yesterday morning. 4 sets of 15-20 reps, I think it was the barbell Romanian deadlifts that did it. I think it was a combo of using almost the same weight as I did in previous stages but on the 6-8 rep exercises, and the fact that it was so many reps, I probably should have lowered the weight for the more reps. I didn't notice any pain (other than the usual) while doing them or any pain yesterday. But in the middle of the night, any time I turned over, I knew something was not good with my lower back. It's been painful all day today. It hurts when I push on my lower spine and on the muscles next to the spine. I don't know if it's just extra sore muscles, or a pinched nerve, or something worse. I'm really worried I did something bad. I've never had back pain before. I feel like a dummy, like I must have had done something wrong, bad form, etc. I've been using icy hot at work today, but am home now and am planning to lay on the couch with a heating pad tonight. Any thoughts? Anyone have anything similar happen?

MyOwnSunshine

I've tweaked my back several times since starting NROL. The first time was in Stage 1, before I understood the importance of perfect form for deadlifts. I took a break from lifting for a week, decreased my weight and learned to use scrupulous form for deadlifts. I recovered nicely and have great form now.

Yesterday, I tweaked my back doing Romanian DLs with rows. I hadn't done them for a while, and started a bit too heavy, and instead of taking the plates off the bar and putting lighter plates on, I continued with sloppy form from the too-heavy weights and developed back pain on about the 4th rep. I immediately stopped and moved on to other exercises. The pain is mild, but still there. I'm going to run this weekend instead of lift, and then go back to my NROL workouts.

The best thing to do when you develop pain (not just soreness) from any exercise, is to rest and let your body heal, and then drop your weights and work on your form when you attempt the exercise again.

Rest and ice in the first few days after an injury, heat as necessary if it makes your muscles feel better after that. If the pain worsens or doesn't start feeling better in a few days, see a doctor.

Emtabo01

Thanks for the response, you calmed me down a bit after reading that.

Well, when I woke up this morning, I would say I was about 90% better. I was surprised. I didn't do any exercise this morning and now this evening - I would say I am 100% pain free and back to normal. I think it's weird it improved throughout the day with normal activity (including lifting little ones), but I am glad it did. I think I'm still going to take tomorrow completely off, just to make sure. But back at it Monday - I have to say, I think I'm going to watch some more videos on dead lift form, just for a refresher. I'm a little scared of them now.