Please excuse the long post, but I don’t want to risk not giving sufficient information for people to give advice.
I’m a 27 year old male who has been working out for about 9 years. Starting in my third year of lifting, I’ve had serious back problems 3 times. The first time was when I was doing a moderate weight on the inverted leg press: I think I had three or four plates on each side and was on my 10th or 11th rep, going really deep, when I felt my back give out. I got out of the machine and couldn’t even take the plates off the machine. I could barely walk, had extreme difficulty tying my shoes, and also had intense tingling going down my left leg. Being 21 (or so), I didn’t bother going to the doctor but took a month or so off from exercise and thought nothing more of it.
Until a couple years later. I had been doing lots of stiff-legged deadlifts and hadn’t been stretching at all, and while I could touch my toes when properly warmed up, I could only get as far as my knees otherwise (pathetic and inexcuseable I know, but at the time all I cared about was lifting weight). Well, one day I was playing squash, and when I twisted my torso to hit the ball, my back went out again, much worse than the first time (I fell to the ground and screamed in agony, as a matter of fact), This time I went to a physiotherapist, who told me my hamstrings were so tight that they caused my spine to misalign, resulting in a disc being popped. He also told me the tingling down my leg was a disc pressing up against nerves. Anyway, after lots of stretching and months of patience, I was able to return to the gym.
Fast forward 4 years (last year). I had worked up to a fairly respectable deadlift and squat (405 lbs and 240 lbs, respectively). A week after setting these personal bests, I was washing dishes when I felt an electrical-like surge in my back, and the whole area tightened up. It only hurt for a few days, but I went to the doctor for X-rays anyway. He showed me the results and said I had compressed several vertebrae, and advised me not to deadlift or squat anymore. FYI, I was always very strict about form, even filming myself sometimes to make sure I had a neutral spine at all times.
As much as I miss the lifts, I haven’t deadlifted or squatted in almost a year and am reasonably flexible, yet I still get back pain sometimes. It never quite seizes up, but it occasionally tightens up and I feel like it’s about to. This happens when I’m exercising (pullups a few weeks ago, for example) and otherwise (today while walking at a normal pace to work).
I know that no one can give specific medical advice over the Internet, but I’d really appreciate some anyway. As much as I’d love to return to deadlifts and squats (I really would), what I want most of all is to not feel back pain, especially at such a young age. There’s a chiropractor near where I live; is that the answer? Or should I see a physiotherapist? Or… ???