Uneven lower back growth/ache

[roundedback]

I have noticed something about my lower back, my right lower back muscle is bigger than my left. Sometimes I notice a bit of an ache on the right side of my back around that region as well, but only a mild pain/ache. Is this something that I should be worried about?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Uneven erector development is seen in cases of scoliosis and where leg length is significantly asymmetrical. Get it checked, you may need to shim one of your shoes.

[roundedback]

Ah. I'll get my leg length checked first. I'm almost positive I don't have scoliosis but I do feel a little off balanced sometimes. So if I have larger development on my right side, that means I have a longer right leg?

[Kyle Schuant]

Rip is right. Don't speculate or waste any more time here, get it checked.

[gtl]

Would the side with the larger erector (or even ache/pain as OP mentions) be the shorter or longer leg in a case of leg length discrepancy?

[medwards]

What happens if you don't use a shim?

[Michael Wolf]

I have this. I have a scoliosis, minor enough that it was never noticed by any doctor or anything growing up. And never affected anything I did. Once I started squatting and deadlifting, the right side erectors began to develop more prominently because of the scoliosis and this was first noticed by a massage therapist in 2007. I wasn't yet squatting to depth, or deadlifting correctly - that began in 2008 - but since 2005 I had been doing some version of squatting and RDLs, and that was enough to create the uneven development.

It doesn't hinder or prevent me from doing anything, but the right side is somewhat hypertonic, so high rep stuff, even light, makes it get really fatigued and seize up. So I can, for example deadlift 600x3, but don't ask me to do 225x30 or some stupidly high number. The right side just seizes up and takes a while to calm down. Squatting sometimes ticks it off, too, as it did for me today. Just in that it gets really fatigued because it's so constantly "on."

Don't know if you have scoliosis, as things are different with a leg length discrepancy but that's been my experience with it. I roll aggressively on it regularly, and also get regular massage with a focus on the spinal erectors.

[medwards]

Wolf, do you notice it more as you've progressed with weights? I do, or I think I do. Do you squat symmetrically or does your stance uneven?

[Kyle Schuant]

Would the side with the larger erector (or even ache/pain as OP mentions) be the shorter or longer leg in a case of leg length discrepancy?

Shorter leg's side gets tighter, bigger and stronger. Typically the shorter side will be where the person usually puts their weight, so that leg gets stronger, too.

But it may not be leg length, it can be how the femur sits in the hip, or it could just be the spine, etc.

Those are all structural scoliosis, ie the body's just made that way. These can't be resolved by weight training or anything short of surgery, but like all imbalances can be mitigated by weight training. Certainly if you do nothing it gets worse.

Sometimes scoliosis is not structural but functional. A tennis player or rower may have such uneven muscle development that it pulls the spine to one side. Functional scoliosis can be completely resolved by weight training - just make the weaker side stronger, and there you go.

Wolf, do you notice it more as you've progressed with weights? I do, or I think I do. Do you squat symmetrically or does your stance uneven?

Wolf will report his experience, but speaking generally and from my own experience: whatever the cause of the asymmetries, load amplifies asymmetries. The person can stand nice and straight and upright with 60kg will have a lean to one side with 160kg.

The fact that load amplifies asymmetries is one of the reasons that in weight training we start easy and build up slowly. This lets us correct the wonky movement along the way rather than just having the person fall over, which is a bit unprofessional. And if the lopsided person moves in a more balanced way, they become more balanced. Correct movement is the best corrective.

But in order to get correct movement you sometimes need medical advice, to figure out the exact cause of the lopsided movement. This will be necessary until trainers and coaches all take radiology courses and Google Glass has an MRI app.

[gtl]

Shorter leg's side gets tighter, bigger and stronger. Typically the shorter side will be where the person usually puts their weight, so that leg gets stronger, too.

But it may not be leg length, it can be how the femur sits in the hip, or it could just be the spine, etc.

Those are all structural scoliosis, ie the body's just made that way. These can't be resolved by weight training or anything short of surgery, but like all imbalances can be mitigated by weight training. Certainly if you do nothing it gets worse.

Sometimes scoliosis is not structural but functional. A tennis player or rower may have such uneven muscle development that it pulls the spine to one side. Functional scoliosis can be completely resolved by weight training - just make the weaker side stronger, and there you go.

The bar sits lower on my right side, and the bar dips to that side when I squat. Yet, my left side is more developed (especially erectors). I just tried to shim my right leg a couple times, and didn't notice a difference.

I've actually been to a chiro 2x now in the past week and a half and got ART. He is supposed to be addressing this, but has not checked leg length symmetry either. I just looked at my insurance, and my first visit bill is $500 (pre insurance negotiations,etc). Kinda feels like I'm wasting my money.