Can I Workout With A Tweaked Back?

This is going to be a little bit up to you.

The famous Mark Rippetoe recommends you don’t, except for the rehab that we discussed before.

I personally, do.

I like to think about things for how they make sense to me. So while yes your body is dedicating resources to fixing the injury, I don’t believe it makes sense for your body to only be able to repair one area at once.

I could see how it could slow down the repair across the board due to resource constraints. But, if I get a cut in my leg and I get to cut on my arm at the same time they tend to heal at about the same rate, not one than the other.

So in the interest of not losing strength during the healing process, I decide to work out the other portions of my body.

While I’m not a big fan of machines, this might be an ok time to give them a shot.

My real advice here is to find out what works for you and what doesn’t. The key is not causing any aggravation in your back.

I mean zero.

So if you can do seated barbell curls without aggravating your back go for it. If you can do presses (doubt it) go for it. If you can do pull-ups or other types of exercises, go for it.