Really bad lower back pain… ideas?

Pharma / TRT
1

I’m sure that many of you in here have dealt with lower back pain. With our chosen pastime of lifting heavy shit, it almost seems to come with the territory.

I strained/bulged a disk in mid 2023 attempting to deadlift 685lb. It didn’t come up and stupidly I tried a second time Instead of just backing off. My back hasn’t been the same since and seems to have gotten tighter and tighter on the left side in lower spine over the last few weeks.

I got a steroid shot (after referral and MRI) for about $1500 in October, and that definitely helped for a period. However, I got
Overconfident and managed to re-injure (heard and felt a pop in my back) doing heavy landmine rows (I think 7 plates, but can’t remember, could have been 8). This was maybe 2 months ago. I blame, of all people, Jay Cutler (who isn’t exactly known for choosing power over form) for inspiring me to go so heavy on this movement after I watched a video of him doing 7 or 8 plates on landmines.

Since then I’ve just been avoiding lower back to my best ability and also been careful on leg days, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

I am going skiing in a month, so want to get better mobility back there. Went back to the same place and they are quoting $3000 to do the second back injection, which is just ridiculous. (This is without any other MRIs etc, just to inject under general anasthetic).

So this brings me to my question, is there anything else I can do? Are there any injectables that are available that will be beneficial close to the site of pain (I realize injecting around spine is super sketchy, so that’s definitely a consideration).

Has anyone else successfully calmed lower back pain from a slipped/bulging disk and can you give me any advice? At $3000, I may as well just go get stem cells put in!!

Not that it probably matters, but I do TRT & Sermorelin, I also own a TRT Clinic so can get access to pharma grade of pretty much anything. Let me know what you recommend to help speed up healing process!

2

HGH might help in terms of injections. Stop ego lifting, lower the weights and use proper form.
An MRI and an actual diagnosis by a qualified doctor is probably your best bet.

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In my experience lower back pain can be caused by G.I. distress, which I experienced due to my type two diabetes which causes gastroparesis.

I did get some lower back pain, muscle tightness from excessive vitamin D supplementation. This starts to occur when my vitamin D levels is above 30.

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i damaged my lower back while lifting my son on the playground !!!
i started with yoga exercises for the lowerback and after 6 month with gymnastic exercises for Lowerback and abs like L-sit, planche…
And now i am pain free since 2 years.
Squads i can do with weights but i have to listen to my body. When i am not 100% fresh than i skip the squads. When i feel the back is stiff than i make yoga exercises.
You have to live with it and overthink your training .

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Lightweight Rdls ( 40kg) for very controlled reps with a pause/stretch and deep breaths at the bottom helped alot with mine, plus horse stance , pigeon pose and hip flexor stretches. Keep those hips loose and it’ll help stop the back tightening as much.

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My perspective, with a background in physiotherapy specializing in lifters. Also two discherniations from powerlifting.

  1. You got an MRI what did it say. Without that, we are making very broad oassumptions. Granted, rehab is usually the same for most things. But not always.

  2. You need to move your back and use it. The goal should be gradually getting back to your previous level of movement and lifting. Minus the ego shit.

  3. Basic rules for rehab: Add reps before weight. Start with working up from 3x15 with reps in reserve up to 3x20, then add weight while lowering the reps to 15 and working up from workout to workout to 20. This is to help your tissues and brain (pain response) build up at a given load before adding more load.

  4. Start with RDL’s. If they are painfull try pullthroughs or 45 degreee hypers. This should be done 3 x weekly. If you can’t recover, lower the weight. This isn’t bodybuilding, it is rehab.

  5. Every day start with 2x15-20 mcKenzie pressups, 2x10-20 dead bugs, 1x20 rotating your spine/back (bend forward with straight ish leg with a bend back and rotate to thesideas all the way back so you are arching back to the other side and back to the starting position. 10 rotations each way. Try and relax and move slow and pain free.

  6. Move. Walks really helps many people plus cardio is great for healing when done in moderation.

  7. Sleep enough to heal.

  8. Limit sitting. If you sit 8 hours a day, stand and work 15 minutes out of every hour.

  9. No amount of PED’s are going to heal your back and retrain your brain to not feel pain from a sensitized area. Progressive smart rehab is what is needed.

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Thanks this is great advice. Bulging L5 disk is what the MRI flagged.

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Does megadosing ibuprofen help at all? Sometimes I felt like the muscle was spasming/ inflamed and compressing a nerve root; relieving that helped break the pain cycle where other things could help more. Walking helped a lot, the decompression stuff (even hanging weight from your hips and hanging from a pullup bar) helped a little, cortisone helped until it didn’t.

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i have a diagnosed ‘bulge’ on mri. l5/s1. had pain in the past. don’t want to re-roll my prev posts but in short
a) avoid all steroid shots. they have absolutely no data supporting them, and will make it worse
b) if you are already past the acute stage (max 2-3 months), then:

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I was getting all sorts of lower back issues every few months. It would act up, tighten, and i was left walking with a cane for weeks each time.

Finally got an xray. Revealed I have no disc material between L5S1 vertebrae. Years of box squats wore it away.

Get an xray and stop ego lifting man. It’s NOT worth it. What’s the MOST you’ll get out of it? A trophy?

Side note: box squats should be banned.

11

Just coming out of an exercise induced lower back pain episode myself.
Was doing explosive front squats with lightened weight. Heard a pop in my back as i was coming out the whole.
During my recovery i noticed after that same session and others, I would feel better after lifting. Pain was most active in morning hours.
Lower back injuries for me come almost exclusively from squats and deadlifts.

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I find that a Hammer Strength V Squat feels best on my lower back for leg training. Something about the positioning just feels perfect.

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Check out the reverse hyper Scout by Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell. I had a bulging disk after a motorcycle accident that was bad enough, but it burst while planting trees. Yea, I went the epidurals route for blocking the pain. However, the shots didn’t remove 100% of the pain, only made it tolerable. Therapy training was a very important aspect of recovery. Using chiropractic to keep things in alignment, I also used the reverse hyper to improve the area by decompressing my spine and strengthening the supporting muscles. After a couple months I was pain free. I now use the reverse hyper 1-2 times weekly even when I’m not training. It’s in my basement, so easy access. Louie talks about it somewhere on YouTube. He burst disk with his crazy heavy lifts. Doctors couldn’t help. He didn’t want to stop lifting. He found away to get better.

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