I’m a 37 year old male and I’ve been lifting for almost 20 years. I’ve had my share of training related bumps and bruises to shoulders, knees, hips, back, neck, elbows, etc… Pains and injuries that I don’t freak out about, adjust my training stress and movements, and continue lifting. No big deal.
However, I have a recurrent muscle pull in my right lower back that has been going on for years. Sometimes it manifests as a stiffness that gets worse at night and with inactivity (this is starting to become my baseline), other times it lays me out unable to walk or tie my shoes for several days. Always localized to the right lower back- exactly where the quadratus lumborum lies (I’m using QL as a geographic marker, not necessarily a self-diagnosis). As it heals the pain tends to disperse over a larger area, but there is never any numbness or tingling. It does not seem to correlate with training stress or movements- it’s completely random both in frequency and severity.
Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Like I said- I’ve dealt with plenty of pains and I know everyone “throws their back out” once in a while, but this particular issue leaves me unable to work or train, and it is extremely specific and recurrent.
We tend to talk about these issues in the context of reducing risk of future occurrences with a focus on ensuring self-management tools are in place to deal with recurrent episodes. These tools usually involve addressing your beliefs about the situation and how you’ve been self-managing. For self-management we typically advocate for moving to tolerance with some acceptance of symptoms. For training purposes this involves auto-regulating training accordingly. Check out this article for further insight: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog…ining-what-do/
Yeah… like I said- I’ve dealt with stuff like this by training around the injury, not freaking out, and tempering lifting stress. I guess mentioning “my back” sets off an auto response.
Maybe the question I should have asked is:
Do you guys have any recommendations on decreasing the frequency of a specific recurrent muscle pull? Or is this within the realm of requiring a personal consult?
@broseph I’m just a member here, not a coach. A personal consult would be worth it, IMHO, especially if this is interfering with your life and training. I have a similar reoccurring issue, although it occurs less frequently now that I train’ve been training consistently for a year. Michael’s advice is spot-on though. BBM has excellent resources for self management. But if this isn’t something you feel like you can manage on your own, a consult would be well worth it – especially if it might prevent it from happening again. Hope you feel better and good luck.
Yes, I think a consult would afford us the time and opportunity to work through this idea of a frequent muscle pull and then ensure you have tools to self-manage in the future.