Bad Back, Barbell Hip-Thrust Safe?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
1

Hello, to put it short, my L4 is bulging and my L5 is degenerated, so are the facet joints at it (getting a medial branch block soon), which has been giving me a chronic back pain for over a year.

And because of this i haven’t been able to do any exercise that puts a mentionable amount of pressure on my spine or that causes an anterior pelvic tilt (squats, deads, hypers etc) for over a year, and according to my PT and the spine specialist that i’ve seen i probably never will again, which sucks since i’m only 26 years old.

Anyhow, since this all happened the only exercises that i’ve been able to do for my quads, gluteus and hams are landmine belt squat, bulgarian split squat (12+ RM), leg extension, nordic hamstring (russian leg curl) and unilateral seated leg curl.

These exercises covers it pretty well, but i miss having a bilateral compound exercise for my quads/gluteus that i can go heavy in and that’s easy to progressively overload in, so i’ve been thinking about giving barbell hip-thrust a go, but before i do, i simply wonder if it’s a safe exercise for us with shitty backs?

Thanks!

2

Should be quite safe, of course if done correctly. It may well help the low back pain even. As you mentioned anterior pelvic tilt hurts, hip thrusts actually combat anterior pelvic tilt.

3

[quote]Dr J wrote:
Should be quite safe, of course if done correctly. It may well help the low back pain even. As you mentioned anterior pelvic tilt hurts, hip thrusts actually combat anterior pelvic tilt.[/quote]

Thanks for the answer, btw, do you think that hip-thrusts can give any mentionable hypertrophy in the quads? Sure, there aren’t alot of movement in the knee joint, but when doing them leaning against a bench there’s atleast some knee extension.

4

I wouldn’t think so, but I’ve been wrong before.

5

careful with your technique on hip thrusts. It’s easy to hyperextend at the lumbar spine and hurt yourself. I know, because I’ve done it