Lower Back pain. Sideways, above glutes. help!

[tontyx]

Lower back pain location:



That right there. Only feel the pain when I wake up or when I do a Stretch on that area, like bending my torso down till parallel and then twist my hips. not sure if it is an injury, and don't want to visit a doctor now.

Every damn doctor I visited in all my previous injuries told me to not lift "heavy" since I wasn't going to compete or anything :-)

So I just wanted to know if any of you encountered something like this.

This happened when doing wide stance Squat with hip drive. Low bar.


Just wanted to know if it might be a ligament tear? I assume it is not the spine as it towards the right of spine about an inch away.
i can still squat at about my 70-75% 5RM with no pain during the squat, but I still feel this pain after deadlifts, and upon waking up.

Also when I do some stretches as mentioned above. Also in this position below:



Do I need to see a doctor?

[tom11]

Every damn doctor I visited in all my previous injuries told me to not lift "heavy" since I wasn't going to compete or anything :-)

I understand you my friend, I had wrist tendonitis and doctor told me to never chin up again because "you hang your whole bodyweight from your arm". Meanwhile now after 5 years I chin with over 45 lbs attached with zero pain...

HOWEVER, in your case this could be a SI joint problem, which is important so I would say you take some rest and if you can afford it, definately go see a doctor. But make sure this doctor knows his stuff, because someone is doctor doesn't mean he is an expert in sports injuries.

[BigJon55]

Before you will know how serious it is, you need to get a proper diagnosis. With pain in the area that you indicated there is a possibility of 3 things, spine injury (disc herniation, etc), Piriformis syndrome or sacroilliac joint dysfunction. Despite what you'll hear a lot of people say on the internet, piriformis syndrome is not a diagnosis that gets handed out very frequently. It's pretty rare. If you had a disc herniation you would probably have more radiating pain and could have numbness in the foreleg, foot and/or toes. Since you localized your symptoms to a very small area I would assume that you have a sacroilliac joint dysfunction. I say this because, clinically, patients will point to the affected area with one finger. This was the problem that I was having up until about a month ago. I did a lot of hip mobility drills, static stretches like the one you show above, foam rolling, I got a sports massage by a particularly sadistic fat lady and reduced my squat and deadlift weights significantly until I made progress. I also took 200mg of Naproxen and 500mg of Acetominophen twice daily for 8 weeks. The stretching, foam rolling and hip mobility drills were done before work, on my lunch break and before and after my training session. After all that I'm good to go and back lifting heavy weights. I still have to do a lot of stretching and mobility drills just to make sure that it doesn't come back but a certain level of management is expected in orthopedic injuries. If you don't see improvement in your symptoms after 8 weeks of following this protocol then you should go see a neurologist and have electroneurophysiological procedures performed and an MRI. Hopefully you don't live in the UK or Canada.

[tontyx]

Before you will know how serious it is, you need to get a proper diagnosis. With pain in the area that you indicated there is a possibility of 3 things, spine injury (disc herniation, etc), Piriformis syndrome or sacroilliac joint dysfunction. Despite what you'll hear a lot of people say on the internet, piriformis syndrome is not a diagnosis that gets handed out very frequently. It's pretty rare. If you had a disc herniation you would probably have more radiating pain and could have numbness in the foreleg, foot and/or toes. Since you localized your symptoms to a very small area I would assume that you have a sacroilliac joint dysfunction. I say this because, clinically, patients will point to the affected area with one finger. This was the problem that I was having up until about a month ago. I did a lot of hip mobility drills, static stretches like the one you show above, foam rolling, I got a sports massage by a particularly sadistic fat lady and reduced my squat and deadlift weights significantly until I made progress. I also took 200mg of Naproxen and 500mg of Acetominophen twice daily for 8 weeks. The stretching, foam rolling and hip mobility drills were done before work, on my lunch break and before and after my training session. After all that I'm good to go and back lifting heavy weights. I still have to do a lot of stretching and mobility drills just to make sure that it doesn't come back but a certain level of management is expected in orthopedic injuries. If you don't see improvement in your symptoms after 8 weeks of following this protocol then you should go see a neurologist and have electroneurophysiological procedures performed and an MRI. Hopefully you don't live in the UK or Canada.

Looks like it is what you are saying after I googled sacroiliac joint. It is not really a very intense pain. It is just out there and I know that If I go heavy I will hurt it. I think I need to do a lot more Hip Mobility work than the few minutes that I do each before squat. Do you think i should stop doing squats altogether for a few weeks and see?

And, fortunately I live in a country where MRI is very affordable out of pocket,. Unfortunately it is nation of weaklings and the only sports we excel in doesn't involve a lot of physical prowess :-), and so I have not come across any sports doctor.

Can you also point me to a good Hip Mobility Drill or drill. The more the better. Thanks in advance
Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[sheed30]

Damn....I think this is exactly what I have....fuuuuuu

[BigJon55]

Looks like it is what you are saying after I googled sacroiliac joint. It is not really a very intense pain. It is just out there and I know that If I go heavy I will hurt it. I think I need to do a lot more Hip Mobility work than the few minutes that I do each before squat. Do you think i should stop doing squats altogether for a few weeks and see?

And, fortunately I live in a country where MRI is very affordable out of pocket,. Unfortunately it is nation of weaklings and the only sports we excel in doesn't involve a lot of physical prowess :-), and so I have not come across any sports doctor.

Can you also point me to a good Hip Mobility Drill or drill. The more the better. Thanks in advance
Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I did defranco's agile 8 plus a lot of static stretching afterwards for hip mobility. Just search "defranco's agile 8" on google or on youtube. I know the MRI will be cheap and easy to get regardless of where you are. It's the electroneurophysiology procedures that will be hard to get if you live where there is socialized healthcare because you'll have to see a neurologist first. It's a very specialized test. Anyway, hopefully the problem is your SI and you don't have to go through all of that. Good luck.

[tom11]

OP, I know some people that had some problems with their SI joint and a chiropractor did wonders for them. If you know a good chiropractor around your area I would definately pay him a visit.

[tontyx]

Thanks Guys. I will hop that it goes away with rest. I felt the pinch during Barbell rows and Hip drive for a long time. I should not have pushed. I thought it was just muscle sore.

[JustinLeeL91]

I've had similar pain in the past. Stretching my hips, and glutes has helped tremendously. Something to try.

[tontyx]

Won't be doing any exercises that Involve the hips.

One question.
One Arm DUmbbell row with one knee on the bench. I am not suppose to involve my hips but on heavy and repeated pull, I feel some strain on the hips. SHould I not be doing The One Arm Row either. That leaves me with seated row or chest supported rows, huh?

[Morkraedd]

I've had the same pain, disappeared after a while tho. Probably just some strain!

[tom11]

Won't be doing any exercises that Involve the hips.

One question.
One Arm DUmbbell row with one knee on the bench. I am not suppose to involve my hips but on heavy and repeated pull, I feel some strain on the hips. SHould I not be doing The One Arm Row either. That leaves me with seated row or chest supported rows, huh?

Chest supported rows are awesome, do them if your gym has them. Very good exercise with strong bench press carry-over.

[SmallLats]

I had my sacroiliac joint out of place and had the exact same experience you experienced. I've just got back to squatting and it's been about 3 weeks and I'm only back to about 80% of my 5rm. Stretching and keeping everything loose helped a lot and a tiny bit of chiropractics helped

[BigJon55]

Won't be doing any exercises that Involve the hips.

One question.
One Arm DUmbbell row with one knee on the bench. I am not suppose to involve my hips but on heavy and repeated pull, I feel some strain on the hips. SHould I not be doing The One Arm Row either. That leaves me with seated row or chest supported rows, huh?

I did mostly chins to train my back while my SI was healing up. It trains your lats without any added stress on the hips and the weight of my legs pulling down on my pelvis helped reposition my SI and seperate the joint to get some much needed blood into the area to flush out inflammation.

[HyperPeanut]

I've had the same thing for 3 years. It probably started from a lack in form while squatting. Perhaps you hyperextend your back? Could be sacroiliac joint dysfunction, Piriformis, disc injury or a slew of other injuries. If you don't have massive aching debilitating, pro-suicidal pain, you don't have a disc injury, congratz!


Simple answer, you're not flexible enough or you are too flexible in the lower back/core. Foam roll then stretch every day. Train core 2 times a week(Hyperextensions, weighted planks,ab wheels w/e else)

[tontyx]

I've had the same thing for 3 years. It probably started from a lack in form while squatting. Perhaps you hyperextend your back? Could be sacroiliac joint dysfunction, Piriformis, disc injury or a slew of other injuries. If you don't have massive aching debilitating, pro-suicidal pain, you don't have a disc injury, congratz!


Simple answer, you're not flexible enough or you are too flexible in the lower back/core. Foam roll then stretch every day. Train core 2 times a week(Hyperextensions, weighted planks,ab wheels w/e else)

Thanks.

I think I do Hyper extend a bit during my squat?
I try to hit my hip flexors both during the squat and the top position of my DL.

Please See my squat from about 6-7 weeks back:


I hyperextend more. May it is not flexible enough for me to hyperextend. ANd yes, no suicidal pain, and the pain is only when I do a particular stretch, which gets worse when I DL or ROW.

I can still train core? Like weight planks or hyper extensions?