Annoying lower back - continue training?

[rasmusDoh]

Hey

So i've been having this pain in my left upper buttock for a long time.

It's like a stinging pain that comes and goes.

Usually if i pay good attention to keeping my lower back tight during training, it gets better. Often the pain disappears for a day or so, and then i train again and so on.. I often still get a "sting" when turning in bed though.

If i have a bad workout, where i fuck up holding my back tight, it can get pretty bad.

I think it might have originated from a squat where i leaned over way too much, but i've been using a lot of time on fixing that and working my way back up.

The first time i got this pain though was from doing Barbell Rows when i first started training 9 months ago (never trained before) on Stronglifts (i know lol).


Now, last wednesday i had a good workout, with DL and bench. The DL felt heavy as hell, but i used my belt and i think i did pretty good. My back was really "tired" afterwards - in the "good" way where you can just feel that it got worked out good.

No problems and didn't have this sting at all the rest of the day or thursday. Friday i was gonna train again, but i decided to move it to saturday, since i had a lot of exam preparation to do and already used valuable time on going to my last class.

Anyway shouldn't have been a biggie, except after feeling good all day friday, my lower back suddenly totally fucked up in the evening. Still don't understand what triggered it, maybe moving a couch, but i got some crazy pain.

If i just stood still there was nothing, but it hurt (stang in the left buttock yet again) so freaking bad whenever i moved my left leg. Had to limp up to my room and i looked up stretching videos on youtube. It helped slightly, but i had to take some painkillers and then went to bed (where it hurt like hell whenever i wanted to turn over).

So i decided maybe it would be a good idea to give my lower back a rest from training. So i skipped saturday and monday trainings, but decided to want to train today.

Except!! After feeling pretty good all day, i got the same sick pain as friday all of a sudden, just before going to bed. Had to get up at 4 and have some painkillers again to be able to sleep.



Sorry for the super long story, but i just dunno what to do now.
Like said it usually makes it feel better to train, but i'm just scared if i'll fuck up something in my back if i do.

What would you recommend?

22 yrs old, still on novice (200 lbs squat, 285 DL)

Hope you can help me out! :-)

Thanks

[morbidlyfat]

My bro instinct is to say that if training doesn't make it feel worse and sometimes makes it feel better, then stick with it. And pay more attention to your posture while out in the real world.

[KAG]

It sounds exactly like what happened to me, a herniated disc.

Mine started with fatigue in the lower back that I confused with muscle fatigue. Then my lower back got tight as if the muscles were cramping. I stretched and it helped some, but later that night my back completely seized up on me. I suddenly couldn't move at all without excruciating pain. I couldn't stand without help, once I stood, I couldn't get back down. And sitting is still the worse. It was that way for 7 or 8 days before I could get around. Then it took another week or so to return to normal.

I went to several doctors and got x-rays, but insurance gave me the run around about an MRI. X-rays showed diminished disk space in my lower back, which made it about 99% probable that I have a herniated disk, because if there isn't room for the disk between the vertebrae, then it was compressed and ruptured.

I was told that given my symptoms that it was definitely pinching a nerve severely.

It took over 2 weeks to go away to where I could function normally. Since I couldn't get an MRI I have no idea the severity of the herniation.

It's been a while since it bothered me, so I figured I would try to return to weight training. I squatted Monday, and it felt fine. Then I benched yesterday and afterward I felt a slight sting. As I type this my lower back has just the slightest discomfort. I'm almost positive that the arch in my bench caused it today. I'm supposed to deadlift tonight. I'll take it slow and light, and see how it goes. If I feel anything, I'm going to have to stop.

I'd recommend resting, then seeing a doctor, a chiropractor, or both. My chiropractor was the only one who could help with the pain. The adjustments she made got me about 25% beter each time. Too bad it took a week to get in to see her.

My MD also gave me a steroid shot (I can't remember which steroid or which dosage) and it helped a lot for about 24 hours after it kicked in.

Be careful with the stretching. I was doing a lot of that too, which helped slightly at the time, but I always felt worse a while later. My doctors said it depended on the area of the disc that is damaged. One thing that helped some was grabbing a pullup bar, relaxing everything but my grip, and hanging. The down side to this is that eventually you have to let go and land, so use a real short pullup bar.

If you keep it up, you can definitely hurt yourself worse. But, disc do heal over time on their own, if they're rested enough.

Good luck.

[veryhrm]

It sounds exactly like what happened to me, a herniated disc.

Mine started with fatigue in the lower back that I confused with muscle fatigue. Then my lower back got tight as if the muscles were cramping. I stretched and it helped some, but later that night my back completely seized up on me. I suddenly couldn't move at all without excruciating pain. I couldn't stand without help, once I stood, I couldn't get back down. And sitting is still the worse. It was that way for 7 or 8 days before I could get around. Then it took another week or so to return to normal.

I went to several doctors and got x-rays, but insurance gave me the run around about an MRI. X-rays showed diminished disk space in my lower back, which made it about 99% probable that I have a herniated disk, because if there isn't room for the disk between the vertebrae, then it was compressed and ruptured.

I was told that given my symptoms that it was definitely pinching a nerve severely.

It took over 2 weeks to go away to where I could function normally. Since I couldn't get an MRI I have no idea the severity of the herniation.

It's been a while since it bothered me, so I figured I would try to return to weight training. I squatted Monday, and it felt fine. Then I benched yesterday and afterward I felt a slight sting. As I type this my lower back has just the slightest discomfort. I'm almost positive that the arch in my bench caused it today. I'm supposed to deadlift tonight. I'll take it slow and light, and see how it goes. If I feel anything, I'm going to have to stop.

I'd recommend resting, then seeing a doctor, a chiropractor, or both. My chiropractor was the only one who could help with the pain. The adjustments she made got me about 25% beter each time. Too bad it took a week to get in to see her.

My MD also gave me a steroid shot (I can't remember which steroid or which dosage) and it helped a lot for about 24 hours after it kicked in.

Be careful with the stretching. I was doing a lot of that too, which helped slightly at the time, but I always felt worse a while later. My doctors said it depended on the area of the disc that is damaged. One thing that helped some was grabbing a pullup bar, relaxing everything but my grip, and hanging. The down side to this is that eventually you have to let go and land, so use a real short pullup bar.

If you keep it up, you can definitely hurt yourself worse. But, disc do heal over time on their own, if they're rested enough.

Good luck.

The symptoms you describe are, afaict, common for many back injuries. The whole seized up back... having to hold on to the walls as you slowly shuffle to the bathroom after it took you 10 minutes to work your way out of bed...

OP, try to get in to see a sports aware doctor and see if you can get an MRI... also read other thread in this forum about back issues.