So, I'm a premed student with more than 10 years of "exercising" under my belt (meaning I didn't realize how much I was breaking myself until starting to try and fix myself with GST). I have slight scoliosis; not the kind that is debilitating or even all that significant. No degeneration of the discs or vertebrae (according to MRI). The only thing that I have is lower back pain, unilateral on the right side around about T12/L1 area. Its not persistent, and is much less frequent when I sleep flat on my back, as well as when I am exercising regularly. One thing I have noticed, however, is that when I do hamstring work, my muscles get tight as expected. This isn't accompanied by pain or loss of strength during exercise but will occasionally lead to pain the next day or so. What brings on the hurt more immediately however is when I try to stretch out a tight hamstring that I've previously been working out. I can feel it stretching and it hurts a bit (in that good way a muscle you just worked out the day before might hurt when you go to stretch it) but that pales in comparison to the pain it brings on when stretching. I know about anterior pelvic tilt (APT) and i get a sense that this is what my problem is, however I am still working on PPT while performing hamstring stretches (that requires a lot of focus for me) and when, say, standing and trying to put my palms on the ground next to my feet (and in turn stretching the tight hamstrings) it triggers the pain. Its not a sharp pain that radiates down my leg at all. Its like a dull throb that is localized that becomes slowly significant enough to cause a bit of nausea, however again...no loss of strength and no undue shortness or breath. So here's my question, after that long drawn out message: should I be worried? has/is anyone else dealt/dealing with scoliotic back pain that doesn't radiate into the legs? I know people say staying active will help, but I wonder if what they really mean is "it will help stave off degenerative processes, but ill always have to exercise with some level of pain." Should I really be trying for PPT when doing toe touches? (the reason I ask is...if the quads are engaged, then by default the hamstrings should not be [im trying to keep the knees extended while performing the exercise] but the hamstrings are at least partially involved in posterior tilting of the pelvis [unless I'm mistaken] along with the glutes.) From the stretched position, are people achieving glute activation while trying to stretch their hamstrings?
Additionally, I have one more concern (I apologize, i'm still a beginner, only 3 weeks into fundamentals). When I go to try the ape position, I am easily able to sit all the way into it with heels on the floor. I occasionally notice that upon going all the way down that my knees will make a popping sound. Upon trying to stand up, I then get a little bit curious/worried about the long term health of my knees if I am performing this exercise (squatting down into fully flexed knee-type position), specifically of the meniscus. Is this kind of squatting going to cause damage to the menisci over time?
Thanks for the patience everyone. I'm looking forward to continuing all the way until I either master all of the GST exercise or have died because I like it so much. I am always trying to sell my friends on it. Hopefully over the years it will provide me with the joint health and mobility I desire. For reference in case it is of use in answering the questions I've posed above: I'm 32, 6'3, 180 pounds. I eat fairly well, and I drink predominantly a glass or two of red wine every evening or two.
