T Nation

Injury and Recovery

Bodybuilding
#1

I’m trying to get a generally concensus here. Do you stop working out a certain body part if you suffer a minor injury to it???

I did deadlifts a couple of days ago and I was maxing out. Now I feel sudden pains in my lower back and hip. They are not constant and not very severe, it’s just if I move a certain way I get a sudden little jolt.
I’ve hurt my back before real bad, strained one of the stabilizer muscles in my lower back while doing cleans.

This isn’t as sever but in the same spot. Part of me says to soldier on and keep working it. But on the other hand I don’t want to make it worst. The problem with waiting is last time I hurt my back it took like a month before the pain went away. I love deadlifts and deadlift around 3 days a week. I’m on the BB next frontier plan. I begin phase 5 next week which calls for me to workout twice a day with deadlifts as one of the main exercises.

So when you guys are injured do you keep lifting but take it light or do you take it off or what??? The really hard part is I cannot efficiently stretch the muscle in my back because as I said it’s one of the stabilizer muscles deep in my pelvis connecting to my lower spine.

#2

In my over 20 years experience in training and with back problems take a few days off to rest then go back and train around the lower back issue. Avoid dead lift type movements for a week or two and when you decide to go back to pulling go light and see how it feels. Lower back injuries or soreness is not something to take lightly, if you go back to soon you can cause even more damage. I did it just a couple of weeks ago and really messed up my back, couldn’t walk had to crawl to my bed last weekend because of pain. I use a chiropractor and it helps. I haven’t pulled or squatted in almost 2 weeks, but i have been training nonetheless. good luck.

#3

[quote]michaelmr wrote:
In my over 20 years experience in training and with back problems take a few days off to rest then go back and train around the lower back issue. Avoid dead lift type movements for a week or two and when you decide to go back to pulling go light and see how it feels. Lower back injuries or soreness is not something to take lightly, if you go back to soon you can cause even more damage. I did it just a couple of weeks ago and really messed up my back, couldn’t walk had to crawl to my bed last weekend because of pain. I use a chiropractor and it helps. I haven’t pulled or squatted in almost 2 weeks, but i have been training nonetheless. good luck.[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. It’s gunna be hard to give up deads for 2 weeks, my favorite lift. I wonder if I can get the air force to pay for a chiropractor for me? I appreciate the help.

#4

I"m sure your insurance is under uncle sam, a lot of insurance companies cover chiropractic care. mine does, And i know what you mean about the DL, it’s my favorite lift also, I should be able to squat, going to try light ones tomorrow, at least i’ll have that!!!