Yeah, I think I've had this injury since December '09. There were, if you may, 2 stages to the injury. Initially, I hurt my lower back while attempting a 1RM on deadlifts. I had only started lifting for a couple of months back then, so I was pretty naive. Not only was the weight way too much for me at the time, but my form was horrific as well. Felt a pop or two in my lower back, but I didn't realize how serious it was at the time. It did hurt, but I thought it was just a pulled muscle and didn't do anything about it. Kept training, but inconsistently because of pain that came and went randomly.

Few months later, around April 2010, was the 2nd part of the injury. Was playing football, and as I jumped to take a header, I got knocked off-balance and fell from a significant height and landed flat on my back. This one really hurt, I had pretty bad sciatica and couldn't really walk properly for a couple of days because of it. Only went to see a chiropractor in early August. Don't know why I took so long, though. Did a MRI and found out then that I had 2 slipped discs, so I stopped training and got treatment for it. Started training again in January this year.

Surgery was an option, but my chiropractor stressed it only as an absolute last resort because of my age. (I'm 18 this year, FYI) So, yeah, no surgery. Well first of all, for sure, I make sure my form is perfect for anything I'm doing, even just picking up plates and moving them across the gym to the station I'm at. I do wear a belt. I feel it helps, and it does give me that little bit of mental security.

Oh yeah, height and weight. Can't believe I missed that out. Right now I'm about 172cm and 69kg.

Hey, thanks man. All I'm really hoping for is for my back to really settle so I can finally get some good consistency with my training.