I have hurt my lower back which really pisses me off…a strain on the left hand side just above the top of my hip 1/2 way between spine and side
Had been a bit tight after last few times of squats but think doing hang snatches on Sunday was the cause this time …bugger it!
Pain is isolated to that area only but is pretty constant dull ache and hurts if I lift my knee so thigh is horizontal…I did tempo last night followed by a contrast shower and some foam roller work.
I have a recovery week anyway and plan on doing the following
today (Tues) rest
Wed
warm up and drills
block starts to 10m x 5
block starts to 30m x 3
flying 30’s x 3
explosive med ball work
stretch,
foam roller
Thurs
tempo (1400m)
foam roller
Fri
rest,
Sat
race
comments, suggestions welcome? FYI don’t have ART available here.
What a coincidence! I injured the exact same area last week. I believe I wasn’t fully recovered from heavy rack pulls when I foolishly decided to show a training partner how to do a one-handed pull between two boxes with the rolling thunder handle. Although there wasn’t much weight on it, there was sufficient diagonal stress going through my compromised lower back to cause quite a bit of pain. Never had any lower back problems before and have easily deadlifted over 500. I feel the exact pain you described when the thigh is horizontal and the lower leg extended.
I used ice and traction with jump stretch bands
initially. A couple of days later I used EMS in TENS mode for several 20 to 30 minute sessions and a foam roller afterwards. It has been about 4 days now and I have used different topical liniments and it seems to be healing. Haven’t used a massage therapist as of yet. Might do some epsom salt now. Basically trying a bit of everything.
Sounds like it may be a quadratus lumborum strain. The muscle runs from the 12th rib and the iliac crest (back of the hips) and attaches medially along the spine at L1-4.
The muscle flexes the lumbar spine and laterally flexes it. It takes a hell of a beating during squatting/deadlifting movements (spinal stabalization and extension) as well as during sprinting (stabalization and extension). It tends to get strained lower down just above the iliac crest where you mention.
Unfortunately, these things can be bothersome and linger if not taken care of. You may have to limit some of your exercises to those with a neutral spine as it begins to heal up.
It can also be a bit of a pain in the ass to stretch out. Using an ITB stretch in combination with the arm held overhead against a power rack will usually get it. (I’ll track you down a picture if you need; if you’ve got somebody to stretch you out and have a table, I can get you one of those also).
Oh yeah . . . the Oly lifts and explosive med ball work can be really tough on the muscle. You may want to take it easy with the expl. med ball throws.
Might also want take it easy with the block work. Use a RSS if the block work it too hard on the back.
Yeah, quadratus lumborum…I was going to put that but figured no one else would know :rolleyes: hahahahahaha
Thanks for all the repolies guys I have put a herbal relief cream on which seems to have helped a bit apart from that it’ll be rest, ice and foam roller work.
I’ll flag the block and med ball work and just play it by ear tomorrow. I’ll see how it goes the rest of the week and if still not right will get some hands on work done next week.
Thought I’d post an update, I ended up doing the following
Wed
warm up & drills
flying 30’s x 6
Thurs
tempo x 1000m
foam roller
Fri
rest
Sat
by this stage back was back to about 90-95% right so I raced with no problems, in fact set a PR in 100m in pretty crappy conditions
I did tempo and a weights workout last night (Monday) that included power cleans with a moderate weight with no issues. Back is more tired than sore so will wait till it feels 100% before doing too much in the way of static stretching.
