Lower Side Back Pain - Any ideas?

[John Koliopoulos]

Hey guys,

at the beginning of 2016 I got a nice case of lumbargo pretty much out of the blue during warm up, i.e. my back tightened up completely so I had to be carried out the my gym. After months of rehabilitation, I have finally got most of my mobility and ROM back in the back and can do most foundation elements again. I also had an MRI taken that showed no visible damage anywhere. However, I still have issues; I cannot rotate my back from side to side or put strain on my obliques. For example, supine windshield wipers even with bent legs are not possible without pain. When stretching I can do the pancake, but not reach over to one side to grab my toes, immediately it starts firing up directly above the hips on the side of my lower back. If I ignore this, the next day it starts cramping up even while sitting occasionally and spreads to the entire lower back causing residual stiffness. My doctor has not managed to diagnose anything here correctly unfortunately.

Do you have any experience with something like this or suggestions? I feels like a strained muscle but it has been months and it has not gotten better so I am confused.

Thanks for you help.

[Alessandro Mainente]

Seems a problem of glutes, obliques and quadratus lomborum. Especially the last one it's very rich of connective tissue. it takes a long to heal.

[Andrew Long]

i have something which sound the same or similar.  pain on the lower left side of the back especially during twisting motion.  I noticed stretching the obliques, glute med and especially doing russian twists  slowly and controlled with a straight back moving within a comfortable rom and increasing it slowly as it loosens up helped me (my rom started with me moving only like 10 degrees on each side and has increased to the point where i can do a full russian twist).

massaging the hip flexors helped a bit as well.  lots of controlled motion to loosen my spine and  especially my hips in general helps.  whenever i sit too much it starts to tighten up again.

[Fabio Pinna]

Hello John. What was your initial diagnosis? MRI scan didn't show anything?

It's very weird, as a back doesn't just "lock up" for no reason. The symptoms you describe match pretty closely what would happen with an hernia pushing on a nerve. I'm afraid that any amount of suggestion would need to be taylored to your specific injury.

Generic suggestions would be: take things easy, go very slow, and only work inside of the threshold of pain - only do very small movements, and with time the painless ROM will increase more and more. This however could take a very, very long time. If you can find out what the initial problem was (hernia? strained muscle? spondylolisthesis?) then we might be able to give you much better - and faster - advice!

Do you only have problems in lateral flexion and twisting, or is there still pain in forward flexion as well?

[John Koliopoulos]

On 2.5.2016 at 10:37 AM, Fabio Pinna said:

Hello John. What was your initial diagnosis? MRI scan didn't show anything?

It's very weird, as a back doesn't just "lock up" for no reason. The symptoms you describe match pretty closely what would happen with an hernia pushing on a nerve. I'm afraid that any amount of suggestion would need to be taylored to your specific injury.

Generic suggestions would be: take things easy, go very slow, and only work inside of the threshold of pain - only do very small movements, and with time the painless ROM will increase more and more. This however could take a very, very long time. If you can find out what the initial problem was (hernia? strained muscle? spondylolisthesis?) then we might be able to give you much better - and faster - advice!

Do you only have problems in lateral flexion and twisting, or is there still pain in forward flexion as well?

The doctor initially diagnosed an inflammation of the tendon that connects spine and hips (I forgot the exact name), he gave me a shot for it, but this did not do anything. For me, it feels more nerv/muscle related, I do not think it has anything to do with tendons.

Only lateral flexion and twisting, forward flexion is now back to normal ROM, and painless. The origin of discomfort is directly above hips on lower right side.

I will make myself a new doctors appointment in the future, however, it will definitely take some time as there are currently a lot of holidays and doctors are at capacity in my area. Yes the MRI showed no abnormalities according to the docs. I could send you the files if you are interested.