I had a bad back from skateboarding. My lower back muscles (stability muscles) were really shot after jumping down flights of stairs again and again, not to mention the poor posture that skateboarding has. It was so bad that my fiancee could not sit on the couch next to me and put her legs on my lap as it would hurt my lower back after a short amount of time.
I was very careful with this when I started at the gym. Doing hyperextensions would absolutely kill my back, and I was always scared to deadlift. I started about 12 months ago now with 40kg, we really made sure our technique was right and took our time easing into the weights, they went up slowly and the whole time I was very careful with my back. I have now built a MUCH stronger lower back and deadlifted 150kg for the first time the other night. So there is some hope there Kyle, I don't know what your problems are but maybe if you ease into it and be very careful you can build up the strength and before long you will be deadlifting like a monster.
I need to get some chalk, where do you buy this? Or is it simply blackboard chalk? The knurling on the bars at our gym is almost non existant and they are a bit slippery, chalk is definitely needed!