Can anyone help me?

During my runs my lower back tightens up. It gets damn near painful. It only happens sometimes but it bothers me none the less. I think I might have messed up my lower back weight lifting while in Iraq this summer but the flight doc keeps telling my nothing is wrong, just a little extra wear and tear on my discs (which they say is normal if you lift weights).

Anyway, I know it's my form that's screwing me up so can anyone give me a couple tips on exercises that will help me improve my form? This is probably a stupid question but I ask anyway.

Your doc is right, I guess. In Current Diagnosis and Treatment - Orthopedics - the authors write that the most common cause of lower back pain in athletes is a lumbar strain after a lifting or twisting event or without known trauma. And it's indeed due to "extra wear and tear on your discs".

I did a little search of medical literature on low back pain and sport/lifting/running... I encountered some interesting stuff and I guess you could try to start with dynamic stability exercises (trunk stability exercises)... Here is what they wrote:

DYNAMIC STABILITY EXERCISES have become an accepted option in the management of low back pain (LBP) over the past decade.Although passive and active structures aid in trunk stabilization, the active muscle forces play a significant role to counteract external perturbations associated with fundamental movements provides an excellent, and these forces are controlled by the nervous system [...] even 1 muscle producing an inappropriate contraction (force) could result in the necessary force to disrupt stability.
The dynamic-stability [excercise] strategies include (1) selective recruitment of specific muscles and (2) synergistic coactivation. The goal is to improve the muscular responsiveness needed to stabilize the spine against perturbations associated with movement and activities of daily living.

So said in simple words, by specific exercises (trunk stability exercises) you need to teach your nerves and muscles how to work together in a more stable and efficient way.

Please GOOGLE the following terms

trunk stabilisation exercises
trunk stability exercises
core stability exercises

There are quite a few results - and try those exercises - hopefully this will help.

(Also make sure your running shoes are not overused - they MUST be changed after certain milage)

If your symptoms get worse, pain gets worse - you should definitely go see your physician again, no doubt about that, but in the meanwhile you might try to help yourself with those exercises I suggested. I would also say - stop lifting for a while, until you reach some improvement (dynamic stability) with regard to your back muscles and their working. Possibly also do some swimming, so your back muscles get some relaxation - you might not feel it all the time, by they might be slightly spastic. I hope that relaxation and dynamic stability improvement will help you get that low back pain problem under control...

Good luck!!!

Katarzyna

PS. I am only a med student, not a doc yet, so some docs might question my post, but I have only tried to use common sense combined with medical knowledge to answer this issue.

If you're in this job for a while (like me...22 years)...you learn that pain, wherever it may be, is part of the job. I have to warm up to get out of bed...sucks, but such is life.

Word, Thanks

ever talk to Nate Morrison? He's usually pretty good on the info department.
Joint mobility is a really good way to keep the pain down. If its muscle pain... well, e-mail me... I'll send you some free (but EXCELLENT) info...
burton1977@hotmail.com

CODmega and X-Factor Butter Oil might help...

It's not really pain it's just stiff and tight. Quick movement causes a bit of pain but if I'm not moving it doesn't hurt, it just feels likt my lower back needs to pop.

like I said, its not a guarantee, I'm no doctor, but joint mobility exercises and some stretches might help you out. Along with those supplements that I listed.
e-mail me if you want that info on JM and stretching...

burton1977@hotmail.com

I have one little request to those who post advise on medical issues - please make sure it sounds logical or is medically justified. Please look at the post about tibial stress fracture and see the answer posted by Dan. Everyone can see that Dan has any idea what he is saying. You don't need to be a nurse, doctor, medical student or a physical therapist to think logically in medical terms on medical problems.

The first principle of medicine is PRIMUM NON NOCERE (FIRST DO NO HARM), and unfortunately, like in this post, it might be even harmful to stretch spastic muscles. We try to relax the muscle, bring it into it's neutral position, and then we work on the underlying cause of the spasm, so it can be possibly prevented in the future.

As I said in my intro, I am not a doctor yet, just a medical student, but once a professor told us, that his most important class he would ever teach us, can be summarized in one sentence: EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE EXACT KNOWLEDGE ON SOME ISSUE, ALWAYS THINK LOGICALLY BEFORE YOU ACT...

I got on this board, since my husband aspires to become a CCT. I wanted to look around and see if I can make myself useful in that area. I see I can help some of you, with a little bit of medical knowledge here and there... That is why I support those who share their experiences on medical issues as are very valuable. But only if really relevant to the problem of a person seeking advice. So generally - PLEASE THINK LOGICALLY BEFORE YOU SHARE ANYTHING OR ADVISE ANYTHING - as wrong advice (like that on streching spastic/tight muscles) might be even more harmful than the initial injury itself. Please imagine, that your unthoughtful advice might ruin someone's dreams...

Thanks a lot, and please don't feel like I am attacking anyone. I only mean to best to the current/aspiring great warriors. I look at you through the prisma of what my husband is trying to accomplish, and I just want you to make us all proud!!!

Katarzyna, or doc-to-be

doc, you're at Spang? is your husband a Air Traffic Controller?

These symptoms are very close to what I had about 1 month before I was diagnosed with a herniated L5-S1 disc. I'm not saying thats what you have or are going to get, but it's something to be aware of. I ended up having to get surgery to fix the problem. The reason I even bring it up is that a herniated disc is a dq issue for FCI, II and III though you can get a waiver for an FCIII at the MAJCOM level.

Something that completely "cured" my back pain is a book called the The Mindbody Prescription by John E. Sarno. Very interesting and definately worth a try if your in severe pain

For all bad lower backs out there,....Reverse Hyper!

Look man Ill tell you what your lower back pain is from, if you dont have any serious medical problems. It is from not being balanced while you run. I know this from personal experience running cross country in HS and college and training in general. Make sure when you run that your hips are under your shoulders. Im not saying stand up so straight that you look like a retard...But some people tend to arch their lower back when they run and it creates way more stress on the lower back than is needed.

What I did was have someone watch me run and critique my form whenever I started to go back to that "unbalanced" form that let my pelvis and hips slip back while I ran. I went through that pain my senior year of HS. It got so bad I couldnt run for 3 days. Now it never bothers me. Once it heels, start doing strength training for your lower back and make sure your running form is good and you wont have any more problems. Hope this helps.

I can't say I know exactly what is causing your back pain. I am not a Medical Professional nor can I examine you in person. Since I've done a lot of running and lifting and have experienced very similar symptoms from very similar circumstances, I'll take a shot at it.
First, you may have done as the doc said, extra wear and tear while lifting. That isn't going to go away on it's own if you continue to work out, in fact, I still get it from time to time and it appears unavoidable. I can limit how often it happens by protecting my back during lifting and cals. I prefer to keep a proper arch while using my back and proper form in all exercises (with special emphasis on keeping my back streight (especially not letting it sag forward-towards my belly). Second, I take some preventative action by doing back hyper extensions as part of my daily warm up. My abs are pretty strong from doing tons of sit ups but the counter muscles in my back are comparitively weak so the pull of the abs overstresses my back (I think). Since doing the back hypers, the back feels much better. Third, I concentrate on good form while running. I tend to relax my back and let my gut stick out. This takes pressure off my weak back but actually causes pain later. My solution is to conciously hold my head high, my shoulders up and to the rear (within reason)and feel my weight centered over my hips rather than forward of them. I run looking at objects at head level in the distance to keep my running form in the position mentioned. It really helps, especially durring speed work. Periodically (on the curves of the track on speed days or whenever I can spare a glance on easy days)I look at where my feet are striking. If my hips are in front of my feet, I'm leaning too far back or am letting my back slump. Leaning back or relaxing your back are very common reactions during speed work because it is a subconcious way of slowing down and thus hurting less. Watch for it when doing hard Workouts. Much of what I say is covered by TJC so I'd say it's a common solution to a common problem since more than one person has seen it.