Hip/low back pain - training days over?

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

I’m 34yrs old, I’ve been training since I was 15. I’ve had a nagging injury since my late teens that doctors stated was likely an SI joint dysfunction. I’ve lived with it since, training fine for years and aggravating it every so often. A few weeks and I was back in business. That is until recently. These days, it seems my hips have completely deteriorated. Training, whether it be squats, deadlifts or even running will wreck my hips/lower back for days. I’ve taken a few months off (with the help of COVID) and while leaning over to work on my home AC units, my hips were completely annihilated and I’m having a hard time even bending over at all. There was no sharp pain or anything that felt like an injury, but after finishing, it was a general soreness that simply got worse and worse as time went on. This is the same thing that happens when I trained. It will last a few days, and then will subside but never really go away.

Are my ligs/tendons just so completely shot? It doesn’t feel like an injury, just localized pain that gets worse and worse after strenuous activity. I also wake up regularly with a “stiff” back and it’s difficult to even put my socks on in the morning. It “loosens” up during the day and if I’m not doing anything, I can move completely fine. I’m at a loss. I bought the Low Back Rehab program and will start it once gyms reopen, but I’m not having high hopes for it (or any training program honestly). Could it be early arthritis? Sorry for rambling, just really disappointed.

Thank you for any insight on the topic.

2

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your struggles and frustrations. I do not think your training days are “over” at all, but we may require a change in approach. First, a few questions.

  1. Have you read or listened to much of our content on pain? For example, I would start by reading this article in its entirety, very carefully: Pain in Training: What To Do? and/or check out our podcasts/YouTube lectures on pain.

  2. Would you be open to consulting with our rehab team? There are a number of complex aspects to these situation that require fairly detailed conversations (more than we can feasibly address on a forum), and may involve addressing some factors that you may be reluctant to share on a public forum. It (along with coaching from our rehab team) would likely be our strongest recommendation here (consult link can be found at the bottom of this page Contact Us | Barbell Medicine