if your back was really fuccked up you wouldn't be able to do heavy overhead presses.
QO - maybe not. I pulled a muscle in my lower back doing a heavy dumbbell row last week. I was doing it by bracing my free hand against my knee. As soon as I stood up when I finished, WHAM, I felt like i was hit with a 2x4 in the spine.
After a few days it still is sore, but I tried some PBN's today and as long as I had a belt on, I didn't feel a thing in my back. Must just be the way the nerves line up.
After all these years of lifting, I have found there are some movements that I can go heavy on year in and year out with no problems, while others - if I change the angle just slightly I end up in serious pain.