Lower back pain (Thoracolumbar fascia)

[jhm]

I've read a bunch of the other threads, and a lot of people seem to be having lower back pain. The thing is, they don't really provide a description further than "my lower back hurts." I have pain on the lower left and right sides of my back. My spine does not hurt, just the thoracolumbar fascia. See the following picture.

http://fetlifefitness.files.wordpres...k-muscles1.jpg

The pain I feel is this annoying tightness (as another member put it, it is akin to the discomfort felt when washing dishes or bending over the sink shaving for too long). The pain is not constant, it subsides when sitting or laying down. However, when I start to walk, about 10 minutes into I start to feel an annoying tightness/burning sensation. I have no clue if this is something that will go away, or something that I should be expecting from the workouts. My form is not perfect (I have a thread up in the "Techniques" section with a video):

http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=28980

Is this something I should be concerned with? Any and all help is appreciated! Thanks!

[Mr_Rogers]

The pain I feel is this annoying tightness. The pain is not constant, it subsides when sitting or laying down. However, when I start to walk, about 10 minutes into I start to feel an annoying tightness/burning sensation. I have no clue if this is something that will go away, or something that I should be expecting from the workouts.

I have the exact same pain, limited to the right side. I honestly think the tightness comes from sitting at a desk all day. When I squat properly there is no pain there whatsoever and any pain I get usually comes from sitting at my desk while at work. If I get up and walk around it's fine.

I'm glad you asked this question as I've been kind of concerned.

[Mr_Rogers]

My internet and forum searching skills aren't all that great, but I did find this. As well as a few threads Mark moved into the repetitive inquiries section, but I cannot get a search to return the threads that weren't repetitive ha.

[jhm]

I found this thread:

http://startingstrength.com/resource...ght=lower+back

The thing I can't figure out, is what is the difference between the pain felt from a pulled muscle, and the pain felt from "the rapid initial growth of spinal erectors exceeds the fascia's ability to stretch."

But the symptoms this guy had are very similar to mine. His last response was:

"Anyway, to answer your question, I had a pulled muscle which I pretty much kept pulling anytime I'd deadlift. Don't do what I did which was ignore it for 6 months, stop lifting so it could get better and then re-pull it when I started again. In hindsight, I'm a dumb-ass.

What fixed it? Starr Rehab, mobility work and re-evaluating how I deadlift (long arms, long torso, short legs changes the angles a bit). I have no low-back issues anymore."

Seems like other people don't know what's going on with this, or are too annoyed by the question to give some insight into this. Oh well. Thanks for your responses though!

[Manimal]

My brother was experiencing the pain you are talking about to a higher degree. He could barely move, getting on and off the pot was hard. He did star rehab using squats and was fine after he finished. Do expect some serious pump early on, your lower back is going to swell a lot.

Most of the time you see the program for star rehab and not how to return to lifting once completed. He injured himself doing sets across at 180. His program looked like such.

45 3 sets of 25
45 2x25 50x1x25
45 1x25 50x1x25 55x1x25
continued like this for 11 days or so then started moving the reps down in the same fashion until he was at sets of 5. He then moved by 15-20lbs initially untill he was about 70-80% of his original working set, he then moved by 10lbs until he was back on track to use 5s. A fair amount of detraining did happen. hope this helps.

[jhm]

I'll take a good look at the starr rehab program, and post questions/results in this thread as I progress through it. I don't mind deloading as long as I can go back to squatting without this issue. Thanks!

[jhm]

Here's the protocol in case anyone else is lurking in the forums searching for similar information.


Bill Starr Rehab for Muscle Pulls

Mark Rippetoe:

"Here is the tried-and-true injury rehab method for muscle-belly injuries we got from Starr and that has worked for years better than any other method I've ever used. It also works well on orthopeadic injuries in general, and should be tried before anything more elaborate is used. Wait 3-4 days until the pain starts to "blur",which indicates that the immediate process of healing has stopped the bleeding and has started to repair the tissue. Then use an exercise that directly works the injury, i.e. that makes it hurt, in this case the squat. Use the empty bar and do 3 sets of 25 with perfect form, allowing yourself NO favoring the injured side. If it's ready to rehab you will know by the pain: if the pain increases during the set, it's not ready, if it stays the same or feels a little better toward the end of the set, it is ready to work.

The NEXT DAY do it again, and add a small amount of weight, like 45 x 25 x 2 , 55 x 25. Next day, 45 x 25, 55 x 25, 65 x 25. Continue adding weight every day, increasing as much as you can tolerate each workout. It will hurt, and it's supposed to hurt, but you should be able to tell the difference between rehab pain and re-injury. If you can't, you will figure it out soon enough. This method works by flushing blood through the injury while forcing the tissue to reorganize in its normal pattern of contractile architecture.

After 10 days of 25s, go up in weight and down in reps to 15s, then to 10s, and finally to fives. During this time do NO OTHER HEAVY WORK, so that your resources can focus on the injury. You should be fixed in about 2 weeks, squatting more than you hurt yourself with.

This method has the advantage of preventing scar formation in the muscle belly, since the muscle is forced to heal in the context of work and normal contraction, using the movement pattern it normally uses. The important points are 1.) perfect form with 2.) light weights that can be handled for high reps, 3.) every day for two weeks, and 4.) no other heavy work that will interfere with the system-wide processes of healing the tear.

It is also very important through the whole process of healing the injury that ice be used, during the initial phase after the injury and after the workouts. Use it 20 on/20 off, many times a day at first and then tapering off to morning, after the workout, and before bed. Ice is your best friend in a muscle belly injury, holding down inflammation and fluid accumulation ("swelling") while at the same time increasing beneficial blood flow through the injury. But DO NOT USE ICE MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AT A TIME. More than that can cause more damage than it repairs.

This may actually be the most useful post on this entire little forum of mine, and if you use this method exactly you can save yourself many weeks of lost training and long-term problems with muscle-belly scarring. Try it and see."

[JennieK]

What great info!!! I'm printing this out.

[jhm]

Just a quick update on my pain levels:

3 days into the protocol has alleviated the lower back pain I feel while walking. I can now go for a long walk without my lower back hurting. Considering the fact that the protocol seems to be working, it seems that I did pull my back and develop a muscle belly injury.

Getting those 25 reps is actually pretty exhausting, especially if you're trying your hardest to keep perfect form. I do get the lower back tightness/pain during my squat sets, but it feels no worse than it used to feel. In fact, the severity of the pain during and after the sets is actually not as bad as it used to be with my the worksets I injured myself with. The pain goes away in a couple minutes after I complete my set. (It used to last about 20-30 minutes before). As soon as I finish the full 2 weeks on the protocol I'll update the thread with information of the level of back pain after getting back to 3x5 squat worksets.

[Basis Change]

Here's the protocol in case anyone else is lurking in the forums searching for similar information.

As soon as I finish the full 2 weeks on the protocol I'll update the thread with information of the level of back pain after getting back to 3x5 squat worksets.

jhm, this is a nice thread you put together here. Your description of the pain and the attached photo of the back musculature were great details for a newbie lurker such as myself. Adding Rip's direct quote of the Starr rehab was also extremely useful.

It's been 2+ weeks now, so I'm curious how your rehab went. Are you pain free? Are you back to squatting your working weight, or close to it? Any further details, findings, or enlightenment you'd like to share?