I deadlifted 505 lbs in September 2023.
7 years back I was worried I might end up losing motor control of my whole left leg.
It all started in spring of 2017. Being an active individual I always had mild aches and pains in my low back but I never took it seriously enough to address it. That March I was having just another workout with my gym bro. We planned on doing some deadlifts and squats that day.
I was in my last set of deadlifts when it happened. I still remember the sound and the sensation. As I performed second repetition of the set and lifted up the weight, I heard a faint pop and my muscles just gave up on me. I ended the session there and went home. What happened going forward has turned me into a better physical therapist than I could have been.
Initially my back just seized up and I couldn't move much in any direction. My symptoms started from a stiff low back and gradually progressed to a burning left leg. I was unable to sit or drive for more than 15 minutes without feeling like my leg was being crushed under a lot of weight. The only position that offered any comfort was lying down on my back but eventually that also started hurting. My left calf and big toe went completely numb and I thought I will eventually lose sensation in my whole leg.
Having such severe symptoms I was recommended by multiple neurosurgeons to get an MRI done. The MRI report showed multiple disc involvement, arthritis of spinal joints and a narrowed spinal canal. Almost every doctor and PT told me to forget about running or lifting heavy weights and be grateful that I can walk even after having such a "bad" MRI. I was prescribed complete bed rest for a few months while using traction table and NSAIDs.
I tried resting, stretching, heat, ice, chiropractic care, physical therapy, NSAIDs, foam rolling, ultrasound, e-stim, traction tables and any kind of non invasive treatment I could find to get me to an active lifestyle again but nothing worked. All it did was provide me enough relief that I had almost no pain while resting.
After trying for 2 years, I eventually gave up and accepted my fate. I did very light weights and didn't run as I was told impact activities are going to crush the discs even further. I would have mild to moderate flareups now and then but I had accepted that to be a normal part of my life going forward. I would watch videos of my lifts from earlier years and feel helpless on being reduced to a shadow of my former self.
In 2019, I stumbled upon an instagram post from a PT who was talking about pain science, load management and resilience of human body. I kept scrolling on the page and discovered a lot of interesting theories about injury and pain that offered me hope. I immediately set to work on myself.
After years of not deadlifting or doing a back squat, I was absolutely terrified of even deadlifting just an empty bar for a few sets. So I started with doing deadlifts without any weights. From there, I went to dumbbells as even a 45 lbs bar seemed too heavy to use. I also started working on my hip mobility and strength of low back muscles. I progressed the weights and intensity very slow so it took me a year to go from 0 to 135 lbs. Once I hit the 135 mark I started feeling a bit more safe and gradually increased the intensity a bit faster than what I was doing before. Another year passed by and I was at 275 lbs. From that point onwards I had 3 flareups in the next 2 years that I was able to manage very effectively in a way that I could still progress and come back stronger every time.
All of my progress and being able to lift and run again was made possible by just one thing; education. The right kind of education from someone who understood the human body, human movement, biomechanics, pain and injury. The same doctors and PTs who told me to be almost sedentary my whole life also told me that spinal discs heal eventually as long as they are treated right but they didn't have the education to explain how to go from where I was at the point to the point where I could deadlift 5 plates. So the only advice they could give me was to not move a lot and just survive through the rest of my life.
This experience has shaped my life in many ways, taught me a lot and has sparked an ever growing curiosity in me to learn about human movement. This is one of the biggest foundation of why I started Beyond Physical Therapy & Performance. It is my way of giving back to those who are in the same spot as I once was. If you are suffering from something similar, you are not alone. You can always come back stronger and better than before. As long as you are alive, your body has the ability to adapt. All it needs is the right stimulus to adapt positively. If you have lost all hope I would also highly recommend reading Gift of Injury by Stuart McGill and Brian Carroll.
Good Luck !
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