The polish mining industry confronts a number of obstacles. One of these is the necessity to reach deep layers in both coal and underground copper mines. One of the consequences of this deep mining activity is the need to cope with the high risk of rock bursts. Associated risks to the health and life of miners must be considered. Geophysical methods are used to identify deformation processes in rock masses prior to seismic events. Due to the complexity of the problem of analyzing the movements of rock masses that produce seismic shocks it is often concluded that predicting mining shocks is impossible. An analogy of the problem can be constructed by considering the movement of two masses, linked to a moving frame and each other by springs, on a surface with friction. The masses are analogous to rock masses and the surface to a discontinuity along which they are moving producing seismic shocks. Analysing this model leads to the conclusion that predicting mining shocks is impossible. However, by examining the conditions under which shocks occur, it turns out that geophysical measurements can be used to identify the inelastic deformation processes in rock masses that precede strong mining shocks. It can be shown that the deformations occurring before strong mining shocks have several stages, including splitting in the roof an exploited seam (the roof layer), the occurrence and development of sliding planes in the seismic zone (zone of seismic migration), the tightening of micro-fractures and cracks in the volume of the future seismic source and, the final stage, a seismic release of energy. The development of seismic inelastic deformations cause changes in the physical properties of rock-masses as well as changes in seismic emissions. Both of these can be recorded using geophysical measurement systems. The correct interpretation of geophysical measurements recorded in underground mines can lead to better identification of the stages of inelastic deformation that precede seismic shocks.