Exercising with a permanent injured Back

[ensyncdms]

Hi, I am new to this website. I injured my back some time ago while in the military. I am trying to get back in shape..especially my legs. I am trying to do squats but they seem to really aggravate my back. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[DeadStrength]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

If I'm not mistaken high bar (olympic) squats put less strain on the lumbar spine than do low-bar squats (the kind in Stronglifts). Of course high bar squats will still put a compressive load on the spine, especially when the weight gets higher. What type of back injury did you have, and where is the pain when you squat?

[coreJack]

You might want to check out front squats and trap bar deadlifts to decrease spinal loads as compared to back squats (esp low bar back squats, as DeadStrength explains) and conventional deadlifts.

[DeadStrength]

You might want to check out front squats and trap bar deadlifts to decrease spinal loads as compared to back squats (esp low bar back squats, as DeadStrength explains) and conventional deadlifts.

+1
Also potentially barbell hack squats.

[coreJack]

Oh, and how can I forget single leg work - lunges, step ups, Bulgarian split squats, single leg RDLs.