Si Joint pain? Lower back pain? Cant sit down pain? This is getting annoying!

[sspikey]

So here we go, Ill be damned if I post on a Rippetoe forum with no damn good reason. I have searched, I have rested, I have iced, I have Starr recovery protocoled but I am still messed up and it is driving me nuts. It has been two agonizing weeks staying away from squatting when I officially weigh the heaviest weight I have ever weighed.

Ever since I started lifting I have had some lower back soreness or tingle after a hard day's training. I ignored it more or less as it wasnt very apparant and would go away after a day of rest. Two months ago though the pain started to slightly get more intense mostly noticeable in the car or while driving. At this point I got worried and took time off from the gym.

It is now two weeks later and the pain has gone from a 2 to a 4-5 depending on what position I am in. It hurts when I sit, when I drive. I can usually get the pain to go away for a bit by rolling my hamstrings with a lacrosse ball but that is short lived and it comes back soon after. Its almost a constant pressure that sometimes appears on my left, sometimes on my right side. It is centered around my SI joint or Sacrum i would say about 1 finger lenght above the beginning of my ass crack real scientific I know.

I have gone to see a GP doctor. Doesnt know crap. Went to go see a chiro today. Did a bunch of test and said come back wednesday as your case may be complicated and I need to create a plan of action but 3-4 sessions should be good.

Honesstly though I cant wait that long and would love some reading material or ideas as to what this is. There isnt a shooting nerve pain or anything. It just feels tight as hell back there and unhappy. I actually feel like I could squat pretty easily but I am way too scared to try.

So there you have it. Ideas?

[veryhrm]

Soreness is fine but what is a "tingle"? Tingle to me suggests nerve suggests MRI.

Also how did you both stay away from the gym and do Starr rehab at the same time? (not that you should really be doing Starr rehab for this anyway).

Anyhow, do you stretch your hams? how about your hip flexors? Also does it hurt less when you stretch the spinal erectors? e.g. if you lie on your side and bring your knees to your chest?

(i'm not a doctor, this isn't medical advice, consult a health professional. )

[sspikey]

Soreness is fine but what is a "tingle"? Tingle to me suggests nerve suggests MRI.

Also how did you both stay away from the gym and do Starr rehab at the same time? (not that you should really be doing Starr rehab for this anyway).

Anyhow, do you stretch your hams? how about your hip flexors? Also does it hurt less when you stretch the spinal erectors? e.g. if you lie on your side and bring your knees to your chest?

(i'm not a doctor, this isn't medical advice, consult a health professional. )

Did Starr Rehab before the stay away from the gym. Stopped pretty much when the pain got worst and I quickly realized it was going to be a stay off it totally ordeal.

I actually stretch and roll a ton. Usually about 3-4 times a week for 20 minutes I am foam rolling (PVC pipe with light foam) and rolling around on a lacrosse ball. I have found that rolling my hamstrings agressively helps alleviate the pain temporarily.

Ended up going to my first Chiro session today. Apparently the source of my pain is a subluxation in my lower back area (cant remember if it was the L5 or L4 on the X-rays) but you could clearly see the disc is considerably tighter and more compressed than the other ones with the spine compensating for it pretty evidently which is the source of my pain.

According to him this is due to one of my legs being roughly 14mm shorter than the other one which is enough to cause that pain and also causing anterior pelvic tilt which again causes the pain. He also showed me how tight my psoas was and groin area as well as my TFL because of what's going on back there. All in all he said he could probably have me back to lifting capacity in 1-3 weeks (6 sessions). He also said another 5-6 weeks (6 more sessions) to fully help put the spine in a better position that will benefit it long term and help that spinal joint to re-enter a normal position at which point ill just be coming in for slight adjustments here and there.

Very nice guy though I must say and incredibly passionate about what he does. He also cut me a sweet deal since I mentioned I am no longer working since late December at 32$ per session.

[Carlos Daniel]

So, you stopped lifting and it got worse? Funny how that works... But I'd double check your form, squats should not cause back pain if done correctly.

[sspikey]

So, you stopped lifting and it got worse? Funny how that works... But I'd double check your form, squats should not cause back pain if done correctly.

Strong rippetoe presence felt in this post...

Yeah I was surprised and kind of laughed too. might be the fact I stropped stretching as well.

[Carlos Daniel]

Strong rippetoe presence felt in this post...

Yeah I was surprised and kind of laughed too. might be the fact I stropped stretching as well.

You know what? sometimes Rip knows his shit, strange though it may seem... Post a form video, squat and dead... it might be the dead too.

[sspikey]

You know what? sometimes Rip knows his shit, strange though it may seem... Post a form video, squat and dead... it might be the dead too.

I asked about three times and the chiro told me barbell work could of never done this to my spine this fast. This is 10-15 years of neglected posture finally manifesting itself after adding 20% weight gain to my frame and squatting nearly double body weight. This is not an acute injury but a chronic long term degeneration that finally manifested itself.

none the less I will be taking it very easy when I am back to training in two weeks. I will be seeing a qualified strength and conditioning coach as well as an olympic lifting coach for power cleans to dial in all my lifts and perfect everything.

One day later. I am already feeling better oddly enough....

What are people's thoughts on the one sided heel lift he gave me? I noticed for a long time that I would push more on one leg that the other.

[veryhrm]

i'm generally skeptical of chiros and their subluxations but that IS a good deal and finding out about your leg length difference is good to know.

One question is how are those muscles so tight if you stretch and foam roll all the time?

Also how is one leg being shorter going to cause anterior pelvic tilt? Maybe it does, but it is counter intuitive to me. Your bad pelvic tilt is more likely due to sitting down a lot just like it is for everyone else.

Finally, and i don't want to alarm you, but from what i read most back pain is not related to anything visible on MRIs or Xrays and most "issues" seen on imaging are asymptomatic.

So. If you have tight psoas and TFL, hit mobilitywod and find some good mobility exercises for them and do them. Also ask your chiro to show/demonstrate exactly what a neutral pelvis is for you so you can maintain that when you stand.

[sspikey]

i'm generally skeptical of chiros and their subluxations but that IS a good deal and finding out about your leg length difference is good to know.

One question is how are those muscles so tight if you stretch and foam roll all the time?

Also how is one leg being shorter going to cause anterior pelvic tilt? Maybe it does, but it is counter intuitive to me. Your bad pelvic tilt is more likely due to sitting down a lot just like it is for everyone else.

Finally, and i don't want to alarm you, but from what i read most back pain is not related to anything visible on MRIs or Xrays and most "issues" seen on imaging are asymptomatic.

So. If you have tight psoas and TFL, hit mobilitywod and find some good mobility exercises for them and do them. Also ask your chiro to show/demonstrate exactly what a neutral pelvis is for you so you can maintain that when you stand.

Not sure why I am so tight even though I roll all the time. I stay immobile for long spans of time in a chair so I think that has something to do with it. I am very flexible at this point but certain areas still need to be addressed. It may help to mention I tore my mcl and meniscus a while back which had me immobilized for weeks which caused a lot of the stiff muscles. This dates back two years ago.

Not sure about the pelvic tilt but what he explain is becuase my leg is shorter, My body leans forward to put it down rather than tilt the pelvis lower towards the shorter leg. Because I lean forward my pelvis tries to make up for it by tilting. I want more info about this. Good idea on having him place me in a neutral position though!

Back pain is STILL decreasing! I think he may have popped my SI joint back in to place (read about it online and pretty sure he did that) which has cut pain by about 70% I would say. I am confident I can go squat right now almost but rather take the time to fix this bio-mechanical leak.

In regards to what is visible. I will take a pic of the Xrays and you can tell me if you think that vertebrae looks normal. Its pretty extreme you can see how dislodged it is compared to the others around it. its not like I had to look I looked at the Xrays before he got in the room and my first thought was WTF IS THAT and starting sweating as I thought I hurt myself incredibly bad doing barbell work. He assured me though that this is a long term condition which he should be able to help with.

I am actively rolling around since seeing him again which is also helping. He strongly recommended if I can roll that I should.

Overally I hope me posting each few days in this thread hopes the next person understand what is going on with their body. Somehow though, I trust this guy a lot. He is relatively young, incredibly passionate about what he does and is charging me a grand total of 12 sessions at 32$ so incredibly cheaper than most any other professional care. If anyone is in Montreal his name is Dr. Simon Lupien across the street from Mcgill university.

[Carlos Daniel]

I'm not an ortho but other than a fracture, you can't really see acute injuries on an simple x-ray.