speakeasy said:
After injuring my back early this year, I still can't safely do deadlifts without a bunch of back pain the next few days.
I experienced the same thing a couple years ago.
What happens is you tear a ligament(or badly strain a muscle) and your back protects itself by contracting/tightening all the muscle fiber in the area of the injury. When this happens the contracted muscle pulls on your spine and causes pain.
You have to loosen those tightened muscles, and the only way to do that is to slowly and gradually increase your workload. As dude above said, start with just the bar on squats/deads. Start going on long walks or doing cardio BEFORE weight sessions just to get your back muscles loosened up and warm.
Other good rehab exercises are: hyperextensions, good mornings, glute ham raises, etc. As you can see, all these exercises focus on actually using your back again in a controlled and safe manner, which is the only way to rehab it well.
Trust me man, my life went into a downward ****ing spiral when I tore a ligament in my back. Know why? Because I thought it would be a smart idea to AVOID using my back. Sure a few weeks of rest is good, but after that you're actually doing more harm than good. It took me WAY longer to recover because I got sedentary and avoided using my back for almost a year(for fear of the pain).
So, whatever the doc says about resting your back, if it's been a month or two since the injury, you have to fight to get that movement and health back. You can either avoid rehab and live with the knotted muscle in your back for the rest of your life, or you can deal with it now.
Please man, don't do what I did!!! :cuss: