Keep Doing What You Love.

During my second year of chiropractic school, we learned how to take lumbar (lower back) X-rays.

I volunteered to be the guinea pig because I’d been dealing with some lower back pain—nothing excruciating, but enough discomfort that I was starting to get concerned.

When the X-rays came back, I saw something unexpected: degeneration in my lower back (at just 25 years old) and a grade 1 anterolisthesis of my L5 vertebra on the sacrum.

In simple terms, the bottom vertebra of my spine had slipped forward over my sacrum.

One of my instructors reviewed the X-ray and told me to stop lifting weights completely—no more squats, no more deadlifts—or as he explained, “It’s going to just keep getting worse.”

Time to Quit?

Just an example, not my spine. 

As someone who’d been lifting weights since I was 13—not just for fitness, but for mental health—I felt terrified. What was I going to do?

The question of, “What am I going to do?” is one that many of us face when we receive imaging results that seem scary and disheartening. It’s an understandable reaction, especially when we’re told by trusted professionals to avoid the activities we love.

While well-intentioned, this advice often reinforces the belief that movement is harmful. That belief can lead to avoidance, deconditioning, and—ironically—a greater risk of pain and injury in the future.

Luckily, I sought a second opinion from another one of my professors. He reviewed the X-ray and asked me a few key questions:

• “How long have you been in pain?”

• “How long do you think it took for that vertebra to move forward?”

• “What can you do lifting-wise that doesn’t cause pain?”

My pain had only started recently—just a few weeks—and since there hadn’t been any traumatic event, it was likely the anterolisthesis had been there for years.

That professor then shared something that shifted my entire perspective.

Could the anterolisthesis be contributing to my lower back pain? Absolutely. But stopping squats wasn’t going to “fix” my back pain or reverse the anterolisthesis. At the same time, continuing to squat the exact same way wasn’t the solution either.

A Different Approach

Instead, he recommended:

• Adjusting my squat stance.

• Incorporating alternative leg and spinal loading patterns.

• Monitoring pain and adjusting training volume as needed.

• Focusing on recovery through better sleep, stress management, and nutrition.

This approach allowed me to keep moving, build strength, and manage pain effectively.

Two Experts, Two Approaches

I’m grateful I chose the latter approach because now, years later, I still:

• Squat heavy.

• Lunge heavy.

• Run 2-3 times per week.

Finding out you have degeneration, spondylolisthesis, compression fractures, or other “scary” imaging findings can be disheartening, especially when it’s followed by advice to stop doing the activities you love.

But here’s the truth: stopping entirely isn’t usually the answer. More often, what’s needed is an adjustment in dosage, intensity, and mechanics—because those matter more than the activity itself.

The Path to Confidence

This process of understanding someone’s capabilities, identifying the true contributors to their pain or dysfunction, and building a tailored plan to return to their favorite activities is exactly what we do at Optimize Chiropractic.

It’s allowed us to help hundreds of people get back to running, rock climbing, CrossFit, and much more with confidence and peace of mind.

If you’ve been told to stop doing something you love because of pain, there’s a good chance you don’t need to quit entirely. You may just need a plan that works with your body, not against it.

Click here to schedule your complimentary consultation, and let’s find out if we can help you too.