Lower Back Pain

[Andrea North]

A couple months ago, I started getting mild lower back pain. Nothing too serious, but after sitting for a while it started hurting. The pain has gotten more and more frequent, to the point where I can pretty much feel it all the time. I do work an 8-5 desk job where I'm sitting most of the time, and I know that does not help. I've never had any pain before (I'm 24), so this is making me quite concerned. I don't particularly notice the pain when I'm running, but it usually hurts quite a bit after hard workouts.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what might be the underlying cause? Also, any suggestions on exercises to reduce/fix the back pain?

[April G]

Whenever I slack on doing my abwork and corework I start to get backaches in the lower back.  For some reason doing the core work takes care of it.

[Jeffrey McClellan]

The problem with back pain is that there are so many things that can cause seemingly the same thing.

I have had issues with back pain off and on since I was in high school (tweaked my back lifting weights) and there are times when it has flared up so randomly that I have never been able to figure out why.  What I have been able to do is work on things that help my overall back health in the long run, so even not knowing why the pain comes at a particular point in time I am still able to do things that make this issue better so that I feel the pain less frequently.  Part of the reason that core work is so effective for many people is because many people have weak core musculature, and the increase in strength from core exercises helps to relieve some of the load on the back, thus reducing back pain.

One thing that helps in my situation now is by simply lying on the floor with my feet up on a chair and a knee angle of close to 90 degrees.  I press my lower back to the ground and just lie there for a while.  The reason this helps me is because I have an anterior tilt to my pelvis (probably has nothing to do with the back injury in high school), which causes my lower spine to curve a little more than is natural.  Flattening my back to the floor helps my body to recognize that my pelvis and back aren't supposed to be tilted the way that they are.  I have other exercises that I do, which I can tell you about if you want, but this is the most simple exercise and from my perspective the most effective (by the way, my back pain actually got worse before improving after I started doing these back exercises because my back was being stretched in a way it wasn't used to). 

Another thing that helped me was sleeping on the floor at night (not very comfortable, but it helped my back vs sleeping on a mattress that is probably too soft).

What I have mentioned here may not be your problem at all (anterior tilt of the pelvis).  The key for you is probably determining what the cause of your pain is.  Once you do that you will have an easier time determining how you can fix the problem.  In the mean time it would be a good idea to get up and move around as much as possible when you are at work.  Just search for excuses to get up for a minute of two every so often so that you can give your back a break from sitting.

[Andrea North]

Thanks for the responses. I went to an injury screening last weekend, and the doctor mentioned that I may have the anterior tilt of my pelvis causing pain. So I might be in the same situation that you were in, Jeff! I started doing some exercises to target that issue (as well as doing more core the past few weeks, thanks April for the advice). The past week my back feels like it has gotten worse. That made me question whether it was really the pelvic tilt or not. I'm glad that you mentioned the pain got worse before it got better because that's probably where I am at this point.

What are some other exercises that have worked to fix the anterior tilt of the pelvis? I've researched a bit online, but I would trust someone's personal experience a lot more!

[Jeffrey McClellan]

Try putting your legs straight up in the air with your feet up on the wall, and lie with your back flat on the ground.  Press your lower back and pelvis to the floor (you may have to get a few inches away from the wall to actually get them to the floor) and then hold it for a couple minutes.  This stretch really kind of hurt when I first started doing it, but now is not so bad.

You can also try lying on the floor like you are about to do crunches.  Put one foot over your opposite knee (almost on top of your quads), and then rotate your knee outward until the foot on top of it hits the floor.  Hold this for a minute or so, and then repeat on the other side.  Make sure to keep your shoulder blades on the floor when you are doing this stretch.  I don't know how much this stretch really helped me, so I don't do it as often as the others, but I figure it can't hurt.

You may also want to try to find an inversion table so that you can release the pressure on your spine by hanging upside down for a few minutes a few times a week.  I don't have one of those tables, but recently I started hanging off of my dresser and that works (I know this sounds weird, but I'd rather hang off my dresser than pay the money for the inversion table).  If you have a school nearby you might try to find some pull up bars there that you can hang from.

That, and like I mentioned before, just lying on the floor with my feet up on a chair and pressing my lower back to the floor helped a lot.