Lower back pain - ? for the wife

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mantium999
mantium999 Posts: 1,490 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hoping the smart folks around here can give some guidance. My wife has been dealing with some lower back muscle pain, isolated to the right side near the hip bone. It seems to peak 2 days after lower body days. For reference, she was doing SL5x5, and noticed as the weights started to increase, her back started to bother her. Then, about 6 weeks ago, she switched to an upper/lower split as her work schedule changed and to fit in weight training she needed a program that could be done 2 days in a row (upper on Sat, lower on Sun, upper on Wed, lower on Thurs), and switched to 3 sets of 8-10 reps. For about 4-5 weeks, her back has been fine with this, but for the past week and a half or so it is bothering her again. I am thinking it is either one of two things. First, it could be form on squats. From what I can tell, her knees are tracking well, but I am not sure what to look for if it is tweaking her back on just one side. My second thought is maybe too much volume doing lower body as a split 2 times per week. Her typical lower day looks like this, twice per week, as suggested by a friend of hers that, we assume, has knowledge about weight training:

3 sets of 8-10
Squats
Step ups or lunges (alternates)
RDL or Hip Thrusts (alternates)
2 floor work / band exercises her old dance instructor had her do (glute bridges, swiss ball rolls, band kick backs, etc.)

Any thoughts?

Replies

  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
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    Sounds like she is getting some sciatica. There can be many causes for it so she might want to go see a doctor about it if it persists.

    This routine helped my lower back and hip tightness.

    http://youtu.be/FSSDLDhbacc

    I still get it sometimes though (I have since I was a teenager). Sleeping with a pillow between my knees also provides relief.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,210 Member
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    From what I can tell, her knees are tracking well, but I am not sure what to look for if it is tweaking her back on just one side.

    You could try standing in back of her during squats and lunges and check that her pelvis stays level. It takes a trained eye to spot nuances in form, so try to find a good trainer. Even better is to have a physical therapist assess her, top to bottom.

    Does she always sleep on the same side? If so, have her flip the other way.
  • mbeuchert24
    mbeuchert24 Posts: 204 Member
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    Sounds like she is getting some sciatica. There can be many causes for it so she might want to go see a doctor about it if it persists.

    I was just going to suggest sciatica
    This routine helped my lower back and hip tightness.

    http://youtu.be/FSSDLDhbacc

    I still get it sometimes though (I have since I was a teenager). Sleeping with a pillow between my knees also provides relief.

    I may have to look at this when I'm at home...I just came off some severe sciatica pain, could barely move without extreme pain, that kind of pain only lasted about a day though, while sore I was at least able to move around more. First time I started having issues was when I was pregnant with my middle child, then I didn't start getting it again until about a month or so ago...my middle child will be 6 next month.
  • Safiyandi
    Safiyandi Posts: 151
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    Could be piriformis or sacroiliac issues. Even a lower disc issues can feel one-sided and may come-and-go while it's minor. Any of these can cause sciatica.

    Does she cross one leg over the other? I've known several women, myself included, who had hip troubles on squats until we stopped doing that.

    In any case, I can't really recommend anything other than "see a doctor" in good conscience when someone posts about back pain on the internet. Get a lacrosse ball to roll out the piriformis, build glute strength to help with SI problems, couch stretch can help release hip flexors and prevent hip tuck on squats, and definitely take time off when it hurts.
  • mantium999
    mantium999 Posts: 1,490 Member
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    Sounds like she is getting some sciatica. There can be many causes for it so she might want to go see a doctor about it if it persists.

    I was just going to suggest sciatica
    This routine helped my lower back and hip tightness.

    http://youtu.be/FSSDLDhbacc

    I still get it sometimes though (I have since I was a teenager). Sleeping with a pillow between my knees also provides relief.

    I may have to look at this when I'm at home...I just came off some severe sciatica pain, could barely move without extreme pain, that kind of pain only lasted about a day though, while sore I was at least able to move around more. First time I started having issues was when I was pregnant with my middle child, then I didn't start getting it again until about a month or so ago...my middle child will be 6 next month.

    It's interesting you say this. Yesterday she described the pain as being oddly similar to pain she would have in her back when she was toward the end of her pregnancy.

    Thanks for the tips everyone. She doesn't feel like it is bad enough to require a visit to the doc, so in the meantime I will read up on sciatica

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