Is Lower Back Pain Always A Form Issue?

[Foze]

Basically I tried doing squats/deads 6 months ago and had lower back pain for a while so I stopped doing them. The pain had ceased and now it's back. Now I tried doing them for the past 2 weeks and with every session the pain got worse.

This is where i'm feeling it



It's not a pain that increases when I touch the area. In fact there's no pain at all there when touched. But now i can barely bend forward or down without pain. Trying to touch the toes properly is quite painful. It doesn't transcend to any other muscles and it doesn't feel like bone damage or disc herniation.

Lower back stretches such as child poses to relieve the pain somewhat but once I sit or stationary for a while my lower back tightens up again.

I went to the doctor 6 months ago when I had the problem and she said nothing was wrong with my back other than slight scoliosis and lordosis and the pain was definitely muscular. She did say I might have weak lower back/glutes and hams and even recommended doing more deadlifts after recovery.

[BombDonald]

You should stretch more and strengthen your abs.

It's probably not so much of a lower back weakness as much as it is your back is taking an unnecessary amount of stress due to imbalances and not being able to do the movements correctly due to inflexibility.

[Magicbox]

You should stretch more and strengthen your abs.

It's probably not so much of a lower back weakness as much as it is your back is taking an unnecessary amount of stress due to imbalances and not being able to do the movements correctly due to inflexibility.

I think this is pretty much what is going. I'm guessing your pain could be described as a tightening of the lower back? I think it's most likely that your lower back is way stronger than your core, so I would recommend on working on strenghtening your core.

Foam rolling your lower back can relieve the pain somewhat.

[kanis999]

You should stretch more and strengthen your abs.

It's probably not so much of a lower back weakness as much as it is your back is taking an unnecessary amount of stress due to imbalances and not being able to do the movements correctly due to inflexibility.

Good answer. You can have perfect form on the outside but not be bracing your core with enough strength on the inside.

[LondonBruh]

could possibly be tight hamstrings. Look up the mckenzie stretches they helped me out with my lower back pain immensely

[Foze]

You should stretch more and strengthen your abs.

It's probably not so much of a lower back weakness as much as it is your back is taking an unnecessary amount of stress due to imbalances and not being able to do the movements correctly due to inflexibility.

my whole back is pretty weak tbh. I can only deadlift 175 x 5 and squat 200 x 5.

[k9pit]

there are lots of variables besides the usual suspects that can influence lower back issues on one side to come out under weight loads

many aren't even weight lifting related. here are a few that i've bumped into personally along the way.

bad bed. sagging in the middle causing back pain on 1 side.
having too much stuff in a wallet. when you sit down, you're shifted over to one side.
car seats can screw with your lower back and knees (getting out of bucket seats wrecked absolute havoc on my knees).
typical sitting posture.
a muscle imbalance around one of your knees can cause you to shift to one side when squatting or deadlifting, forcing more load over to one side of your back. (easy to see this by recording yourself).

you'll get a lot of advice like stretches, form, etc in the thread, but i'm just giving you another viewpoint that could have some bearing on your issue.

[seph213]

dam im happy i found this thread . I'm in the exact same situation as you OP. A year ago i was happy dead lifting , squatting then out of nowhere my lower back started hurting. After 6 months of pain i went to see a physiotherapist , she helped a lot to reduce all the pain that was going down my legs.

Now tho i cant do any leg exercise. I can't do ham curls , cant squat , cant DL . Can't even bent over without some kind of pain. It's like my lower back tissues have shrunk so small that any bending movement strech's them to pain. Like you OP sitting down is painful , anything else tho is fine, i can run , still do upper body work.

i will get serious on strech's to see if it improves. Until i recover what exercises could i do to replace the work done by DL ?

[oldballs]

Like others have said it might be a lot of factors, flexibility issues is what I'm willing to bet is the biggest one. I would bet a hundred bucks most of your problems are because of tight glutes and possibly hamstrings.

[Foze]

Like others have said it might be a lot of factors, flexibility issues is what I'm willing to bet is the biggest one. I would bet a hundred bucks most of your problems are because of tight glutes and possibly hamstrings.

how would i know if i had tight glutes and hamstrings?

[LeanAsFuark]

Does it matter, you should be stretching anyways, to keep your mobility and have the best form possible on DLS, squats so on and forth. Stretching is often forgotten.

how would i know if i had tight glutes and hamstrings?

[oldballs]

how would i know if i had tight glutes and hamstrings?

Sit in a chair, cross your legs so your ankel is on top of your knee. When you lean forward your chest should be able to touch your knee or come close to it.

[kanis999]

Sit in a chair, cross your legs so your ankel is on top of your knee. When you lean forward your chest should be able to touch your knee or come close to it.

I just got pwned by this stretch.

[Foze]

Sit in a chair, cross your legs so your ankel is on top of your knee. When you lean forward your chest should be able to touch your knee or come close to it.

just tried this and I didn't even come close to touching either knee.

[JohnJenkins04]

Pretty much same thing that happens to me. I assumed it was from my acl surgeries and my hips being uneven. But after watching some youtube videos I think its from not stretching my quad, hamstring and my lower back.

[oldballs]

just tried this and I didn't even come close to touching either knee.

you dont have it nearly as bad as I did but a lot of the stretches in here could help you.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=152826461

[Foze]

Just ordered a foam roller.

If the pain subsides should I go back to squats and deads but really focus on my form even though I currently have muscular imbalances and inflexibility?

[jgreystoke]

just tried this and I didn't even come close to touching either knee.

Just did it no problem. And I'm a grandfather.

Work on your flexibility.

Not something ridiculous, like the rag -doll flexibility of some Yoga types who are weaker than Granny. Just get mobile enough to squat and dead and overhead press(good thoracic extension) safely.

[oldballs]

Just ordered a foam roller.

If the pain subsides should I go back to squats and deads but really focus on my form even though I currently have muscular imbalances and inflexibility?

Foam rolling is only going to be ten percent of the cure. Fixing any posture problems, bad habits, form issues and stretching twice a day is going to be what helps you. You should be as flexiable as a stripper in a month if you are motivated. Continue with your squats and deads as soon as you can do it pain free.