This post first appeared on an earlier vesion of this blog which unfortunately went down with all my data.

Earlier this year, on the ides of March, as I was pulling my first rep on the deadlift, I felt a pop in my lower back then a sharp jolt of pain radiating from there. My first thought was ‘Oh snap! There goes all my progress!’ (Expression has been translated from a popular non-PG phrase).

I had recently watched a video on back pain from one of my favorite youtuber’s, Allan Thrall, so I immediately followed his advice. I set down the bar and started stretching my back; child’s pose, cat-cow and toe touches. I then did a couple of painful air squats then stopped the workout. As soon as I got home I repeated the stretches and air squats; they were incredibly difficult. Walking was difficult, tying my shoelaces was excruciating, and twisting in my seat to get a pen was agonising. However, I did not despair. I knew that my back wasn’t that seriously hurt and the pain was just my brain trying its best to protect a pulled muscle so I ignored the pain as much as I could.

All day long I kept getting up and stretching my back as well as doing air squats and toe touches. If I needed to pick something up, I forced myself to bend over and do it rather than compensate with my knees. In the afternoon I went to see a chiropractor and he made some adjustments. At night I slept on the floor and on my side rather than my stomach as is my norm.

The next day my lower back still felt the need to test my resolve but I kept at it. I went to work as usual and did not complain about my back. I kept up with the stretching, squats and toe touches and had a second session with the chiropractor. By evening the tightness was beginning to melt away. I slept on the floor again.

On Friday morning I was back at the gym. I did my chin-ups properly with no issues then squats with the empty bar and progressed to 10 reps of 60kgs with just some soreness. I also did 60kg deadlifts, bench presses, overhead presses and dumbbell rows. I did all my compound lifts with sub-maximal weights to test my back and they all felt fine! As a precaution, I did them all with a belt. As I went about my day I kept up with the stretches and movements.

Monday morning I was in the gym and had resumed my program with no pain or soreness at all! In conclusion; when you injure your lower back it probably won’t be a slipped disk or something serious like that. It’s most likely just a pulled muscle that feels painful and scary but if you face it head-on and don’t let it have a say, it will shrink and go away.

Remember, this is not medical advice, just my experience with a back tweak.