lower back pain

[Klown]

Hey, it seems recently I get a sharp pain on the left side of my lower back, particularly in the hole when squatting atf. I seem to aggrevate it when doing deads and good mornings as well.

Now it seems to feel better if I knock off those exercises a bit..... I was doing something similar to madcows single factor 5x5. I definitely don't want to stop doing those lifts tho. I've gone back to the one bodypart a week style for a little while to see if it helps. Anyone have any problem like this ?

 

[Xet]

my lower back hurts alot when I do crunches or sit ups I dont know why exactly as far as i know i might have damaged it somehow. It used to be so bad that during random parts of the day my back would start hurting alot but not that often now.

Im not sure if this relates much to your problem though but I assume that it should...

I remember someone saying workout your back to reduce the pain.. can someone clarify on this? and if so whats some decent excercises to work out the lower back

 

[cwc73]

I get it occasionally. I just cut back on my squats and straight legs. I do this for a week, and then I get back into it keeping good form. I don't hurt during the lift, but usually afterwards. I would get that pain in the middle of the day too. IT sucks, but just back off of it, andlet it heel. That is what your body is telling you. You might want to increase strength in you erector spinae muscles (back straps) to help out.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Situps and crunches are pretty bad for your back. Flexion exercises hurt the vertabrae. If you insist on doing them, do them on a swiss ball, and make sure the only flexing is at the waist - the torso should remain straight, the back flat.

 

[ScottK345]

I actually had this same problem, i think i messed up on my deadlift form on a couple lifts one day and hurt my back so I had to stop doing deads, and squats for 4 weeks now i have started those lifts back up but very light weights.

 

[bignate73]

Situps and crunches are pretty bad for your back. Flexion exercises hurt the vertabrae. If you insist on doing them, do them on a swiss ball, and make sure the only flexing is at the waist - the torso should remain straight, the back flat.

im pretty sure this is incorrect.

the abs serve 2 functions: static stability (keeping the torso straight) and flexion of the spine. bending at the waist is hip flexion, which is done by the hip flexors, and the abs act as static stabilizers to keep the torso from flopping back thus arching your back. its good to train for spinal stability but this would be like doing static holds in a bicep curl, you get strong at that position only. full range of motion with flexion strains the muscle throughout various positions.

if it hurts your back to crunch....its time to stretch your lower back.

situps are just fine, as long as you roll up and roll right back down.

 

[JLowe]

my lower back hurts even as we speak but i assume its from sleeping on the hard ass floor at my friends trailer for the last couple weeks and not from lifting weights. a case of beer seems to do the trick for me

 

[vin01]

make sure your hamstrings are loose. if you dont stretch your hamstrings, no matter how active you are, you very well may get lower back pain.

tight hamstrings are a major cause of lower back pain that the majority of sufferers blame on other things.

i have extremely tight hamstrings- used to not be able to sprint or squat bc it hurt so bad. 10 trips to a chiropractor getting electro therapy and stretching have helped me immensely.

 

[blut wump]

im pretty sure this is incorrect.

the abs serve 2 functions: static stability (keeping the torso straight) and flexion of the spine. bending at the waist is hip flexion, which is done by the hip flexors, and the abs act as static stabilizers to keep the torso from flopping back thus arching your back. its good to train for spinal stability but this would be like doing static holds in a bicep curl, you get strong at that position only. full range of motion with flexion strains the muscle throughout various positions.

if it hurts your back to crunch....its time to stretch your lower back.

situps are just fine, as long as you roll up and roll right back down.

Agreed. Ensure you do the rolling up part to move the emphasis more onto the abs from the hip flexors. Sit-up and crunches are just fine so long as you do bend the back at the top.

Also, I strongly agree with the hamstring stretches to reduce tension in the lower back.

 

[kimchee411]

BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL OF LOW BACK INJURY.

I have a slightly herniated disc caused by doing that stupid back extension machine (ironically I was doing it because I realized I didn't work the lower back much, and wanted to strengthen it), even though it was light enough that I could pull out 10 good reps. It was weird... in the middle of one rep I felt a really sudden and sharp pain in my left upper thigh, but I was fine after that brief moment, and I finished up my workout. It was the next morning that I was incapacitated.

Anyway, that was 3 years ago, and I still have a bad back. I can lift anything heavy, but standing in the same place for 5 minutes hurts a lot. My orthopedist's explanation for the prevalence of low back pain is that humans aren't yet fully evolved for standing erect, and that's why we have weak lower backs. He told me that basically there are 2 options: 1) Get PT, and since I'm young, there's a fairly good chance it will move back into place by itself (that hasn't happened); or 2) Get surgery, in which they don't actually fix your back, but just remove the tissue that's agitating the nerve.

I've learned to live with it, but my life sure would be a lot better if I didn't have it. I'm not saying anything like squating will cripple you (I do squats myself, which do not hurt my back at all), but if you are experiencing pain as it is, be extremely cautious because modern medicine can't really do jack to fix an injury there.