Low Back Stiffness/Pain from Weightlifting

Hey guys

I've had this problem with my lower back for around two months now, and I'm not sure how to address it besides backing off from lifting weights entirely.

It started out when I threw out my lower back. It was the first time it ever happened. I can't remember what I did in particular, I remember reclining in a really bad position that put a lot of pressure on my back. I also was under a lot of stress which may have triggered it. Either way, the next day, my back started to randomly spasm. It did this for a day or two, and pretty felt felt better by the next week.

Now, ever since, whenever I do squats or deadlifts, I wake up and my lower back is stiff and slightly painful. The area affected is fairly narrow, the bottom is at the start of my hips where I can feel two pieces of bone on each side (not sure where its called), and extends up a few inches to around belly button level. Additionally, I have a slight loss of flexibility, as my pike stretch is worse when I feel this.

I get the pain only when I completely relax my lower back and allow my pelvis to rotate and back to round. For example, if I'm sitting in a low chair or doing an ass to ground squat without keeping tension in my spinal erectors. I can also feel it slightly during cat-cows, not as much pain there since I'm not under load, but stiffness.

Anyway, right now its very concerning that this isn't going away and might be getting worse. I've generally been lifting for most of the 2 months the issue has been going on, and I've actually made a lot of progress on my lifts. I went from squatting 115 for 5 to squatting 185 for 5, and I've worked up to deadlifting 215 for 5 (video is only 175).

I posted some form videos. The third video (squatting) was after receiving input. I was told I was hyperextending my low back at the top, and the 'butt wink' I saw was just moving into neutral position. Also, I learned to breath with the valsalva maneuver, and started aggressively tightening my abs.

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I still don't know if my form is good or bad with squats/deadlifts. Its hard for me to tell if my back is neutral, and I'm worried about having a butt wink on the squat. I've also been told that my squats are knee-initiated, rather than hip-initiated, and I should work on box squats to fix that.

Anyway, thanks if you've read this far. My questions are obvious- how do I fix this problem?

Also, should I be worried? I hear horror stories about people screwing up their backs from lifting weights. I don't know if thats a gradual thing or a sudden thing, but should I take this as a warning sign?

Thanks a lot,

MCem

Hi,

Well you've stated that you do have pain so I would defenitley take that as a warning sign and not do anything to make it worse. I'm no expert but as far as form goes, on the squat it looks like on the very bottom of your squat your lower back starts to round. This can definitly cause some low back pain. Your deadlift doesn't look too bad from the side angle but from the back and the front it looks like you are picking up and lowering the weight unevely. I can't really describe it but it looked strange to me. Sorry if this doesn't help much. Just wanted to share my observation.

Phil

Thanks for replying, Philip. I'm not sure if my lower back is rounding or if the visual appearance of a butt wink of from the position of my pelvis.

I also noticed the same thing on the deadlift, that one side hits the ground first. The weird thing is, from the front camera angle, its the right side, and from the back camera angle, its the left. Maybe its just my inexperience that is making me have trouble lowering it evenly.

A few other things about my deadlift:

To me, my back looks the worst at the end of the negative portion. Maybe its because I reset into neutral position before every positive, but its harder to stay neutral going down from the top.

Sometimes I feel a stain in my low back after deadlifting. Right after I release tension, its a mild, dull pain, that is especially noticeable if I relax my abs. Perhaps it has to do with spinal compression, since hanging on a pullup bar makes it feel better.

Finally, I have a tendency to straighten my legs before opening my hips. I think you're supposed to do this, but I do it to the extent where I end up with my back parallel to the ground, like I'm doing a good morning or something. Maybe I should open my hips slightly while straightening my legs, so as to keep a constant angle between my torso and upper leg?

EDIT- sorry I typed so much. I made this thread more to address my lower back than anything else, so ignore these specific form comments if they aren't relevant

I see a few problems with your deadlift in special. One is on the way up and the other is on the way down.

On the way up your hips are raising faster than your shoulders, thus worsening your leverage and making you stiff leg the weight, placing more stress on your hamstrings and lower back. To address this you should think in "pushing the ground with your legs", instead of "pulling it from the ground". You can think it is like a free-weight leg press. Then after the barbell clear your knees, you just have to go from there to lockout, which should be pretty natural.

Now, on the way down, you're really exaggerating the arch in your spine. I know you have the best intention when doing it (not letting your back round), but it can be as bad as letting it round. To address this you should learn how to keep a neutral spine. Learn how to go from neutral to anterior pelvic tilt and to posterior pelvic tilt. Then, before lowering the weight, try to keep it neutral/posteriorly rotated. Try pulling the pelvis upward with your abs, or contracting the glutes hard. Jim from beastskills.com talks about this somewhere in the middle of this tutorial: http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/tutorials/37

Also, if you didn't already, read Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe. It explains how to do the lifts pretty well.

The above comments are good.

In the squat the lower back is rounding, it is connected to the hips so as they tilt back at the bottom the lower back has to round with it. Work on squatting and bringing your hip pointers forward, find a leg position that will allow this. Squat in a doorway and hold the door jam to help actively pull the hips through. MoBWod has a number of good exercise for this as well, its one of his favorite topics.

If you look at the first video, the view from behind, watch the groove of you spine, see how it is deep and then it pushes out at the bottom, that's rounding, and the lower back does not like that with weight on it.

Thanks for the comments, divingpeanut. I also noticed that my knees were locking out too soon and I was essentially stiff-legging the weight. I'll try thinking about leg pressing the weight, I never actually 'pressed' with my legs rather than pulled it off the ground. I didn't realize my arch was exaggerated on the way down- now that you say it, it makes sense. I purposefully try to arch my back, but I suppose that is just doing things incorrectly.

I do own Starting Strength, by the way. I've read over it once or twice- its a lot to take in.

Mr. Brady, excuse my ignorance, what are the hip pointers? When you say pull your hips through, what do you mean?

I actually took photos of my squat a few weeks ago when I was thinking about bottom position. The way I would naturally squat is like this. My back is rounded, but there is no load. I just watched Kelly's first 10 minute squat video, and he mentioned about exploring flexion. Is it OK to have back flexion for weightless squats?

http://i.imgur.com/9Z87C.jpg

I learned how to push my knees out, and started squatting more like this. What I'm doing might be what you mean by pulling my hips through, when I spread my knees my back position changes and my hips shift forward a bit

http://i.imgur.com/gWEGn.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/d4ZDE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/fReFq.jpg

If I'm doing mobilityWODs and hanging out in squat for 10 minutes, should I do it the first way or the second way?

When you squat all the way down, which is way below parallel, your back is going to round, and anyone else's is, unless they are a very unique specimen. And no, there's no problem in your back rounding in a weightless squat, because it's weightless.

But what you have to be aware of is that a low bar back squat IS NOT a bodyweight squat. They have different mechanics, different purposes and different restrictions. In a low bar squat, your trunk will be inclined forward, about 45°, your stance will be wider than you'd like and your knees/toes will be pointed out more than you'd like (30~45°). Your back should not round and you need increased intra abdominal pressure. Now in a bw squat you'll just relax in the position, just like you would do if there were no toilet seats available.

I don't know if you are familiar with the Starting Strength forums, but you can get feedback on your form from Rip himself there, which is very cool. http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=129

I had heard of the SS forums, but I didn't realize Rip was so active in responding to them. Once I get my @#$% together, I'll post a form check and see what he has to say. Id be too embarrased to post mine now :oops:

Anyway, I squatted and deadlifted today and tried modifying my form a bit. I couldn't complete my squats because of a shoulder issue in externally rotating my left shoulder. Deadlifts I pretended I was leg pressing on the way up, and tightened my glutes and didn't arch as much on the way down.

Right now, my low back feels completely fine after lifting heavy (dead 235 for 3, squat 165 for 5). Ill see how it feels tomorrow, hopefully just as good