What's Your Powerlifting Injury History?

Training Powerlifting
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I think it might be helpful to the newbies to describe any injuries or near misses we sustained due to powerlifting, providing details about what caused them, length of rehab, and how to avoid in the future.

I’ll start us off:

1993 - near miss - Lost balance to the rear in the rack while doing overload work (half squats) with 725 when my max was 525 while in single ply gear (crappy marathon suit). Came within one inch of losing a hand. Lesson learned - don’t overload more than 10-15% of anticipted max.

1997 - Grade 2 adductor strain - Doing 45 degree leg presses for sets of 15 dropped weight too fast and the adductor strained when I bottomed out. Wrapped the leg and took ibuprofen Leg was full strength in a few weeks. Lesson learned - negatives are not just for bodybuilders.

2000 - near miss - Using a suicide grip, dropped a 225 warmup from the top onto my lower chest. X-rays showed no damage but it hurt to bench for 3 months. Lesson learned - no mor suicide grip, not worth the extra 10lbs.

2014 - Grade 1 left hamstring strain first felt when doing good mornings, then popped the following week while squatting. Used the Starr rehab protocol, worked well. Full strength back in 3 weeks. Lessons learned - Don’t go too deep on good mornings.

2016 - Sciatica due to a piriformis strain. Hips shifted to the right in the bottom of a squat, straining the piriformis. Felt a tiny stab near the hip joint. Rehab took 3 months - had to start squat at 65 lbs. Lesson learned - Don’t force the body into uncomfortable positions. My feet set up naturally assymetrical and I was trying to make them set up even. This caused a rotation in the bottom due to slight scoliosis.

2017 - Mild quad strain after trying to squat in olympic shoes. Starr rehab protocol to the rescue. Lesson learned - Chucks rule LOL

1 Like
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Weightlifting shoe master race checking in.

Muscle Strains:
Gastrocnemius
Hamstring
Quad Femoris
Sartorius
Rectus Femoris
Abs
Lats
Lower Back Erectors
Pectorals
Biceps
Triceps

Wrist Sprain
De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis
Medial Epicondylitis of the Elbow
Hip Impingement

Lesson Learnt: Be a student physiotherapist and you’ll be alright lel

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@jbackos Would some of these really be considered injuries though? I mean I know they’re like painful and shit, but most of this stuff has happened to me while working haha

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Dat some crazy workplace you have.

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I’ve had the usual strains that require a few weeks of being gentle to them but actual powerlifting injuries:

Tore my left biceps back in 2011, full rupture at the distal end. Had surgery a few days later for the repair, 3 weeks in a cast, 6 weeks in a brace and I became a bitch and gave up lifting. It hurt, everything I did with that arm hurt. Then about 5 months ago I said fuck it, sucked it up and started training with gritted teeth. 3 weeks later there was no more pain and it’s awesome. Lesson learned was to trust the doc when he said it was healed and wouldn’t tear again.

How would I avoid it? Dont’ try and bicep curl 635 with your underhand while mixed grip deadlifting.

I also dislocated a rib and couldn’t breath squatting. Fell forward in the bottom of a deep squat, bounced my rib cage off my legs and literally had to smash my chest into my fist with my elbow braced on a wall to move it back far enough to breath. Saw the chiro, he laughed, popped it back and and I went on my way.

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I’m going to to ignore your attitude and deal with facts. Read my first paragraph again:

“I think it might be helpful to the newbies to describe any injuries or near misses we sustained due to powerlifting, providing details about what caused them, length of rehab, and how to avoid in the future.”

The idea is to provide info fro the newbs to help them avoid situations.

By the way have you ever had piriformis/sciatica for a few months? If you had you wouldn’t be posting juvenile shit like haha.

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I’ve dealt with piriformis syndrome for years, foam rolling keeps it under control, along with stretching. It was mis-diagnosed as sciatica for ages until I read an article here and suddenly my life improved hugely.

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The osteo I went too diagnosed it the same way, but it was priformis. I found a runner’s website which showed specific stretches that actually worked to loosen it up just enough to train. Takes a while to completely heal though.

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For me it’s just an ongoing battle, keeping it loose enough to do the things I need to do. It used to wake me up in the middle of the night all the time and I could barely function, oddly deep squatting helps it.

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When it was bugging me, I would go into a third world squat and sit for a minute and it would improve. Go figure.

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Yeah, I’ll do the same thing with a plate or two on the bar, just hang out at the bottom of the squat and it helps a lot prior to training. Other than that foam rolling regularly helps keep it in check.

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Only had common tendinitis so far but when I started I got some cool bruises from blood vessels bursting from pressure under my skin.
Waiting for one of my elbow’s to explode so I can have fun with that.

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I tried to do some Olympic style lifting after doing my squats, but that meant doing the weight lifting with a tired lower back. I pulled several of the lower back muscles and for a week it took me 10 minutes just to get out of bed. The second week all I could do was a little yoga, the third week I managed tai chi… anyway, if I do Olympic lifts in a work out I do them first and fresh.

I also have a recurring issue with the inside of my left elbow. Since I don’t drop the weights after a clean and press or power snatch and instead try to actually put it back down, that has put strain on those muscles.

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Didn’t have an attitude? Just stating “facts.”

If you powerlift, eventually you will get hurt. It’s the nature of the game because you do the same exact movement patterns day in and day out for decades, pushing your body beyond limits.

Had sciatica for about 8 months, could barely walk. I’ve had discs slip with a pinched nerve and couldn’t train my legs for about a year due to the pain. Had a tear in my rotator cuff from not pressing right and couldn’t overhead press shit for about 6 months. Tore a tendon in my left wrist in December of last year floor pressing and bailed, it didn’t heal until the end of May/beginning of June.

To me an actual “injury” in lifting is something you either need surgery for, or cannot perform correctly for 6 months+ without rehab work. I was pointing out that most of the ones you stated are common issues and can happen from things such as a labor job.

EDIT: I’m not trying to start shit. Just engaging in conversation. No need to get upset over internet boards

1 Like
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Not necessarily. Again, most of the issues stated in the original post are common injuries from doing similar movement patterns day after day. I pulled my adductor the other day at work picking up buckets that weigh ~100 pounds. It happens.

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Dat some crazy buckets you have

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*Lower back fascia sprain, that i am still struggling with back in 2015. Chiropractic work every odd months, no longer can pull heavy conventional…only light stuff.

*Torn meniscus from a diving incident way before i ever started training, but lifting has agitated it sometimes. had to wear a stupid knee cast thing for a bit.

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Post a video for form check.

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The only serious injury I have ever had is a back injury, which had all the symptoms of a herniated disc but was never actually diagnosed. All that doctors here can do is give you pills and it’s at least several months or even over a year to get an MRI. I used to deadlift conventional with a slightly rounded back, I was aware of the injury risk but I thought I could get away with it. I had pulled an easy 230kg in a meet at that point. One day while deadlifting it felt like something exploded in my lower back, I dropped the bar and fell over backwards. I couldn’t get up for about ten minutes, I was in constant pain for the next week. Getting in and out of my car was torture and every time I hit a bump on the road it felt like I was getting stabbed in my back. After about a week it got significantly better, I started back with light weights (50-60%) and switched to sumo.

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So sciatica isn’t funny then. You were just being “funny” like haha funny, like i amuse you.

oldbeancam
September 29 |

jbackos:
I’m going to to ignore your attitude and deal with facts

Didn’t have an attitude? Just stating “facts.”

jbackos:
The idea is to provide info fro the newbs to help them avoid situations.

If you powerlift, eventually you will get hurt. It’s the nature of the game because you do the same exact movement patterns day in and day out for decades, pushing your body beyond limits.

jbackos:
By the way have you ever had piriformis/sciatica for a few months? If you had you wouldn’t be posting juvenile shit like haha.

Had sciatica for about 8 months, could barely walk. I’ve had discs slip with a pinched nerve and couldn’t train my legs for about a year due to the pain. Had a tear in my rotator cuff from not pressing right and couldn’t overhead press shit for about 6 months. Tore a tendon in my left wrist in December of last year floor pressing and bailed, it didn’t heal until the end of May/beginning of June.

To me an actual “injury” in lifting is something you either need surgery for, or cannot perform correctly for 6 months+ without rehab work. I was pointing out that most of the ones you stated are common issues and can happen from things such as a labor job.

EDIT: I’m not trying to start shit. Just engaging in conversation. No need to get upset over internet boards

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In Reply To

jbackos
September 29 |

I’m going to to ignore your attitude and deal with facts. Read my first paragraph again: “I think it might be helpful to the newbies to describe any injuries or near misses we sustained due to powerlifting, providing details about what caused them, length of rehab, and how to avoid in the future.” …
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