Low Back Sketchiness. What Do!?

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MelmothWanders
MelmothWanders Posts: 47 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
TL;DR- For folks with occasional lower back issues, what do you do to stay active or even relieve tension?

After several months of weight loss and now hitting the gym several days a week for a couple of months, I'm in the best shape I've been in for years. Still a long way to go, but I'm doing well. One week full of restless nights and all this tossing and turning has left my lower back feeling off like it occasionally would when I was 60lbs heavier. Not really sore or stiff, just feeling not right. It has me really nervous to do anything because it feels like it could either be fine tomorrow, or start spasming next time I move funny. I was feeling pretty good on Thursday, so I resumed my weight lifting with a pull day, but then Friday was back to feeling slightly off.

I'm bummed. Moving feels good, but I'm nervous to lift and I'm overdue for some leg attention. I'm thinking that I should probably rest today given the weird hip/lower back twinges I've had this morning, so I'm going to do some stretches and stick to some house work. I'm hoping that this goes away and only gets better, but still open to ideas to hear what y'all do when your back is acting up.

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  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
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    Strength training. Free weights, build up slowly.
  • deputy_randolph
    deputy_randolph Posts: 940 Member
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    Ice and chiropractor.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    If there's any doubt, take rest day. If you really don't want to, do it anyway. That's the rule.

    But you can do "active recovery." Go for a walk. I hurt by back a little bit lifting weights, walking would always loosen it up.

    Can you swim anywhere?
  • mkculs
    mkculs Posts: 316 Member
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    Walking, and esp. jogging, loosen up my lower back like nothing else. I only stretch when I’m done, and over a 40+ year career as a jogger, I’ve never had a serious or long-term running injury. Start slowly, go slowly, and increase distance slowly. I found that 2 miles was good enough to loosen me up even though I routinely ran more. So for your back, working up to, and then doing, 2 miles 3 times a week may be all you need. And it is a good way to offset the weights.
  • katwhitlatch
    katwhitlatch Posts: 2 Member
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    Yoga for sure helped with my lower back issues, especially the forms that help with core strength. I'm a fan of yoga with Adrien on YouTube and I think she has a few videos specifically for lower back pain
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    Once I was lifting for a while, I started getting twinges in my lower back. I started doing yoga positions specifically for the lower back and have not had any issues with it in years. I do them as part of my warm-up and cool down.
  • spikeraw22
    spikeraw22 Posts: 19 Member
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    tldr answer

    1. stretch stretch stretch. I do an hour and ahalfof yoga once a week
    2. strengthen your core/abs. A strong gut protects a weak back.
    3. lose weight if overweight. This helps everything. Heart, lungs, knees, back etc.


    I hurt my lower back when I was 15 and it still bites me occasionally as a 38 year old. Make sure your form is perfect on your exercises and concentrate on the list above. You'd be amazed at how good you can feel.
  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
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    I have suffered from back pain for years after herniating my S1 in high school. I am now pain free. It has taken years and thousands of dollars to fix. However, my only regret is that I didn't tackle it sooner.

    1. See a doctor and get referrals to physical therapy and an MRI to determine exactly what is wrong. When I saw my actual scans it opened my eyes that I have a real problem that is not going to resolve on its own.

    2. Do the physical therapy. I recommend one trained in the Mckenzie Method for back pain although any therapy is better than none. Google Mckenzie method of physical therapy and go from there. Do the exercises that they recommend indefinitely. Those exercises will strengthen and stretch the muscles around the problem and bring movement to the area which will increase blood flow and healing.

    3. I have found great comfort in network chiropractic. I was in pain this morning after a run and got adjusted. No more pain. The pop and crack chiros do not work so find a network method chiro.

    4. Continue your weigh loss and fitness journey. Most exercise will help your back; however, some exercises will hurt it. You may have to experiment here. I cannot do kettlebells swings above 53 lbs or deadlift more than 250 or I have an episode. Therefore, I do what I can do to stay in shape.

    Don't delay. Addressing your issues now will save you alot of agony in the future.
  • MelmothWanders
    MelmothWanders Posts: 47 Member
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    Thanks for the advice everyone.

    Yoga sounds like a winner, and it's something I've wanted to try for a while anyway. I went back to the gym today for the first time in a week and I'm feeling pretty good. I was already doing core exercises twice a week, but I'm probably going to expand that, make sure to follow through on stretching, and check out some yoga on rest days.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    edited July 2018
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    bpotts44 wrote: »
    I have suffered from back pain for years after herniating my S1 in high school. I am now pain free. It has taken years and thousands of dollars to fix. However, my only regret is that I didn't tackle it sooner.

    1. See a doctor and get referrals to physical therapy and an MRI to determine exactly what is wrong. When I saw my actual scans it opened my eyes that I have a real problem that is not going to resolve on its own.

    2. Do the physical therapy.

    Definitely get checked out if pain persists. I got an MRI and I have bulging discs at L3/L4 and L5/S1 as well as spinal stenosis in the lumbar (I forget the exact location) and spondylitis. Strengthening muscles across it helps; lying face down on a bench, lift right arm and left leg and then left arm and right leg, alternating back and forth until you can't (which will be very few to start with). The bad news it hurts pretty much every day. The good news is that it's okay to push through it within reason. I have gotten conditioned to low level near constant pain; I have to think about it to realize it's there.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    +1 for walking, core work, and also yoga with the below caveat.
    MelmothWanders wrote: »
    Thanks for the advice everyone.

    Yoga sounds like a winner, and it's something I've wanted to try for a while anyway. I went back to the gym today for the first time in a week and I'm feeling pretty good. I was already doing core exercises twice a week, but I'm probably going to expand that, make sure to follow through on stretching, and check out some yoga on rest days.

    Careful about yoga. Some poses call for arching your back, which might aggravate your problems.

  • MelmothWanders
    MelmothWanders Posts: 47 Member
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    Yeah, I meant to mention: I had diagnostic and physical therapy work last time it went out a few years back. Nothing major going on outside of my weight and very poor sleep position. I've had bouts of spasms once every 3-4 years since I was in my early 20s, so I'm very nervous when something feels off because I know how quickly it can go sideways.

    So far so good, I did my full leg routine but went easy on the dumbbell deadlifts yesterday, today I feel fine.

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