Lower Back Pain

[FindingJesse]

Haven't we all heard this one before? I'm looking for someone with chiropractic training or massage therapy training for some advice (or no training if you have experience similar to my own).

My ailment began about eight months ago when I switched up the form with which I did flutter kicks. I began stabilizing my upper body at about a fifteen degree angle from the floor with my hands behind my head, back flat on the floor (thus isometric contraction, rather than just concentric/eccentric on the abdominal muscles). I'd often combine this technique after the flutter kicks with holding only a ten pound weight on the edge of my feet for 30-60 seconds at a time (raised 6-10 inches from the floor, upper body still lifted, but back flat on the ground).

Using the above technique is when the pain first occurred, in the very lower left of my back. Specific location is about two inches below the highest point of the hip bone, four inches towards the center of the back from the left (28 inch waist circumference).

I took it easy for about 6 weeks after the initial pain, then resumed again. I still noticed discomfort but just ignored it. Then when doing a concentration curl I felt the spot in my back tighten (lifting with left arm, left elbow rested on inside of left leg), lowered the weight, then decided to finish the rep. Hah. Needless to say, the point in my back 'popped', and I've been unable to straighten both my legs perpendicular to my back ever since. Another way to say it, I can't form an 'L' with my body. As I sit in this chair with my back straight and vertical, I can straighten my right leg to be at 90 degrees with my back. I can do the same with my left leg, with more discomfort as I raise it. But if I try to do both at once, it's excrutiatingly painful.

Can't afford a chiropractor, back cracking techniques haven't done anything for me. I've consulted one friend who is a certified massage therapist who insists I need the bones in my back realigned, followed by massage therapy to keep the muscles from pulling the bones back out of place.

Any ideas? (Quite a novel I know, my apologies).

Thanks all for your time in reading this.