Training with a messed up back

[FiggJo]

For those of you here who have back problems, how have you adapted your training routine?

For myself, I have to avoid deadlifts, squats, and bent over rows due to degenerative discs, arthritis, and scoliosis. I'm exploring alternative ways to build and maintain strength in my legs without putting excessive strain on my spine.

 

[GreenAmine]

I have a broken bone in my lower back and spondylolisthesis. I'm in constant pain and my left leg is almost always at least partially numb.

I don't deadlift anymore, but I found that I can squat using a box. I just got a Marrs bar a few months ago and it feels great. I also use the Marrs bar for good mornings to pins. Set the pins in the rack to a safe height and try to lower them over time while also increasing weight.

Strengthening the glutes and hamstrings is important. If you're able, do 45° hyperextensions and add weight when you progress to that point. If you flare your feet out slightly (~ 45°) you'll target your glutes more than your hamstrings. Bret Contreras has a video about it on YouTube.

Glute-ham raises are great as well. They're difficult, but you can use bands to scale them. They also don't load the spine.

If your gym has a belt squat, use that.

Try an inversion table. I started using one a year ago and my back feels so much better. The numbness in my left leg is improving and I don't have random back tweaks anymore.

 

[buck]

I have dealt with herniated, bulged, collapsed discs. Spondylothesis, stenosis arthritis, tendonitis and a few other things. As well as spine surgery to alleviate some of those issues. I do what i can but do not baby my spine. From my experience and the orthopedic surgeons i have dealt with show that the stronger the muscles theless pain and issues are dealt with as time goes by. I haven't done deads in a long time but saw them more as a hip movement then a back movement. Rack pulls were more my thing. I still do row more seated ones then any. But still do bent over using a smith machine. If something seems to cause an issue i rotate it in and out to still get the benifits i can from it.Squats ended long ago but more for shoulder reasons then back. Pendulum squats are my go to these days. I find 45 degree leg press can aggravate the back L5-S1 it seems. I have seen a few studies that point to 45 degree leg press being hard on that joint. So tend to do horizonal leg presses with less issues. I find flexing and twisting core movements can cause as much issues as anything. And convincing myself to not do a lot of them is not hard. But may not be in my best interest long term.

 

[GreenAmine]

row more seated ones then any

I forgot to mention these. I built a seal row bench and it has been great for my back. I still do Pendlay rows, but I'm very careful.

45 degree leg press can aggravate the back L5-S1

These kill my back. Even the horizontal ones are out for me.

flexing and twisting core movements can cause as much issues as anything

Same here. I used to do a lot of these for combat sports, but I can't do them anymore. Dragon flags are still okay for me though.

 

[FiggJo]

I forgot to mention these. I built a seal row bench and it has been great for my back. I still do Pendlay rows, but I'm very careful.

These kill my back. Even the horizontal ones are out for me.

Same here. I used to do a lot of these for combat sports, but I can't do them anymore. Dragon flags are still okay for me though.

@GreenAmine + @buck I appreciate both of your insightful answers. Those options hadn't crossed my mind before and I'm glad I asked

 

[TurboKey]

Oh man back problems have been the bane of my lifting career. I got ruptured discs in thoracic, bludged L1-s5, and lumbar problems that no doc could diagnose accurately after it popped and I went to doctor years after for that one.

Between all of those left me not being able to bend over, walk with a back pack without getting shocks down my spine and legs, tie my shoes, sit in a car, or even wake up and turn without pain. Seks was a struggle ngl haha.

Having said that I rehabilitated myself out of majority of symptoms over the years. One thing I'd say rehabilitate slowly. Make sure your hamstrings are not tight, it will alleviate some pain and reduce risk of further injuries.

As to recovery, first, I would drop some exercises that eggreviate it further. For me it was leg presses at 45 *depending on machine larger angle seemed to be okay*, take out bent over rows and seated horizontals for a while, if they hurt.

Personally what I have done was focused on back extensions and my core very slowly and light, as well as more vertical pulling. Weighted hangs and laying with knees to my chest seemed to make things better a little bit.

Once i could do core without cursing out the world, bring it back to strength helped to reduce the pain further. Also if you insist on doing squats, I could do front squats with almost no pain from the beginning vs back. And once you're ready I'd say trap bar deadlifting vs conventional if you wanna go that route.

Last injury I thought I was out for good ngl, but really pushed the rehabilitation, dropped my ego and desire to lift heavy ass shit and moved up to higher reps while listening to my body. If anything would get aggravated, I took it as if I was not ready for that yet and should not be doing it with weight or a lot of it. Back extensions really helped, hurt a little at first, but made sure to take it slow, no weight etc. And like I said once I was able to do leg raises again and strengthen my core and obliques on top I felt tons better. This last rehab took me 6 months to get back to shape in my pic and hitting prs. Having said that, I still do have some pain if I don't stretch my hamstrings or do leg press. I hope this will go away to be more negligible in the next year or two.

 

[FiggJo]

Oh man back problems have been the bane of my lifting career. I got ruptured discs in thoracic, bludged L1-s5, and lumbar problems that no doc could diagnose accurately after it popped and I went to doctor years after for that one.

Between all of those left me not being able to bend over, walk with a back pack without getting shocks down my spine and legs, tie my shoes, sit in a car, or even wake up and turn without pain. Seks was a struggle ngl haha.

Having said that I rehabilitated myself out of majority of symptoms over the years. One thing I'd say rehabilitate slowly. Make sure your hamstrings are not tight, it will alleviate some pain and reduce risk of further injuries.

As to recovery, first, I would drop some exercises that eggreviate it further. For me it was leg presses at 45 *depending on machine larger angle seemed to be okay*, take out bent over rows and seated horizontals for a while, if they hurt.

Personally what I have done was focused on back extensions and my core very slowly and light, as well as more vertical pulling. Weighted hangs and laying with knees to my chest seemed to make things better a little bit.

Once i could do core without cursing out the world, bring it back to strength helped to reduce the pain further. Also if you insist on doing squats, I could do front squats with almost no pain from the beginning vs back. And once you're ready I'd say trap bar deadlifting vs conventional if you wanna go that route.

Last injury I thought I was out for good ngl, but really pushed the rehabilitation, dropped my ego and desire to lift heavy ass shit and moved up to higher reps while listening to my body. If anything would get aggravated, I took it as if I was not ready for that yet and should not be doing it with weight or a lot of it. Back extensions really helped, hurt a little at first, but made sure to take it slow, no weight etc. And like I said once I was able to do leg raises again and strengthen my core and obliques on top I felt tons better. This last rehab took me 6 months to get back to shape in my pic and hitting prs. Having said that, I still do have some pain if I don't stretch my hamstrings or do leg press. I hope this will go away to be more negligible in the next year or two.

Ouch! Your symptoms closely mirror mine except I'm still able to do upper body without much trouble as long as I keep the weights moderate. No picking up heavy dumbbells. My lower back and hamstrings are very tight. I know you touched on the subject a little but, if you don't mind sharing the specifics, what did your rehabilitation routine consist of? Mainly to address the tight hamstrings and core work.

 

[TurboKey]

Ouch! Your symptoms closely mirror mine except I'm still able to do upper body without much trouble as long as I keep the weights moderate. No picking up heavy dumbbells. My lower back and hamstrings are very tight. I know you touched on the subject a little but, if you don't mind sharing the specifics, what did your rehabilitation routine consist of? Mainly to address the tight hamstrings and core work.

eyo my b for late response got slammed with work.
So I was able to do upper body too but very light, because loading my spine would aggravate it a lot, feeling like I would make backwards progress.

I didn't have a full on "rehab routine" per se, but I did adjust my entire workouts as much as I could with anything that wouldn't compress my spine w/ load. That one was trial and error, and definitely individual depending which disks are involved.

Personally like I mentioned, I couldn't do backsquats, but actually felt pretty great. I would do lots of exercises which would stretch my spine more than compress it like laying leg curls (sitting leg curs and leg extensions hurt like a bitch). I would do a lot of variations of db lunges, adductors, abductor work. Also a lot of weighted pull ups and back extensions which I think definitely helped a lot. With the latter, it hurt a first, and I would use no weight, focusing strictly on the form of crunching and extending same way. Then I added twists. The entire time I had to remind myself that I am in rehab and not to up weights too much. I know you mentioned legs, I think from what I remember I used to do a lot of negatives of rdls once I could, which was few months in. The machine I had att hat gym atm was also pretty good on wide angle for me, but most were not. Hack squats were another good one that were after some time okay. Both barbell and machine.

I think progression of normal stretches for hamstrings many times a day helped a lot as well. IT was incredibly hard at first but got better. Just keep it slow. When your back hurts laying on your bac kand bringing your knees to the chest, sometimes with one leg over worked well.


But it's a process. I hope you recover. Just don't take it too fast for few months. Once I could strengthen my core again, pain started drastically increasing, but only when my hamstrings were good too.