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About once or twice per year, I’ll be doing something pretty innocuous and my lower back will suddenly seize up. For example, one time I was playing floor hockey and running backwards while defending. They pass the ball across the court and I shift ever so slightly and my lower back just seized up.

On Tuesday I did a dynamic warm up and just went to lay on my back to do some abs and my back seized up while going to lay down.

It’s the same spot on lower back, right at the base. And it feels like disc, not muscular. It hurts if I hyper extend my back (hips forward), or shift left or right at the hips. After a few days it seems to go away and I don’t have any issues until it happens again many months later.

I think it originated with some bad squat and OHP form years ago trying to grit out a tough last rep.

I’m not too worried about it since it resolves after some days, but I’d also prefer to not be dealing with this 1-2x per year. I also don’t want it to devolve into something worse.

If anyone has any tips or thoughts on either what’s going on or how to prevent it, I’m all ears.

Thanks!

spemma wrote:About once or twice per year, I’ll be doing something pretty innocuous and my lower back will suddenly seize up. For example, one time I was playing floor hockey and running backwards while defending. They pass the ball across the court and I shift ever so slightly and my lower back just seized up.

On Tuesday I did a dynamic warm up and just went to lay on my back to do some abs and my back seized up while going to lay down.

It’s the same spot on lower back, right at the base. And it feels like disc, not muscular. It hurts if I hyper extend my back (hips forward), or shift left or right at the hips. After a few days it seems to go away and I don’t have any issues until it happens again many months later.

I think it originated with some bad squat and OHP form years ago trying to grit out a tough last rep.

I’m not too worried about it since it resolves after some days, but I’d also prefer to not be dealing with this 1-2x per year. I also don’t want it to devolve into something worse.

If anyone has any tips or thoughts on either what’s going on or how to prevent it, I’m all ears.

Thanks!

I had an issue with lower back at the base to the right ...it happened at the end of 2016 December when I was lifting (doing stupid hip thrust stuff) and my back stiffened hard but there was no pain ...pain came after a day at the same region... I was fortunate that there was no weight on the barbell or I'd had been injured for sure.....The pain still surfaces sometimes.....So what I did was Suryanamaskars(Hindu pushups) that really fixed my back and also gave me mobility and flexibility ....and I also did Hip bridges high repititions which strengthened my hams and glutes ....Also I did Supermans ,planks...that helped a lot ...perform these exercises they will surely help you...read convict conditioning 1 and 2 it has some good stuff about progressing with bodyweight... Never Gymless by Ross Enamait is another gold for bodyweight training ...You can incorporate these exercises along with ur barbell training ...Hope this helps

I have the same issue. The only solutions I came up with are

- trying to be mindful with my body mechanics on the regular basis
and
-doing some mobility drills daily.

I literally "take my time" to get up and sit down and I try to brace every time I suspect that the movement I am about to do can compromise my lower back. It is not fun but it does the job.

And here is my favorite drills below. I find that taking care of core, hips, and glutes does fix my lower back issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbemelnkHag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5_14SfX9Is

Hope that helps..

thank you both for the replies. i'll try to incorporate what you've suggested.

See. A. Physio. Or an Osteo. If possible. Recently I had a slight issue with my knee and it turns out it had a bit to do with my glute medius. Within a week of using the exercises given daily, the issue has resolved.

My general thing is this, if you can’t work out what the problem is or why it’s happening yourself, (with your own mobility work etc) get some help with it through a health professional (that you trust) and it can help speed up the problem solving part so you can move in to the recovery stage with hopefully little to no reoccurrence.

Seconding the 'see someone who can help', but that said...

When I was 40 (51 now) I began having intense spasms in my low back + SI joint issues. Spent several thousands of dollars over the next few years with physios, getting ART, massage, acupuncture, and it always recurred anyway. Dan John suggested checking out Martha Peterson's Move Without Pain, and I bought the book and did all the floor exercises (this is about 13 exercises, I think - I split them in two and did one half one day & the other the next) for about six weeks and all has been well ever since. For the first year or so after I did them once or twice a week, now more like a few times a month. If I do get any hint of a spasm or back pain, I run them more often. Worked for me and a good number of folks I've passed the suggestion on to.

Aiwacht wrote:Seconding the 'see someone who can help', but that said...

thanks for the advice brother!