Lower back pain on the left side for almost 2 years

[DavisSeeley]

I am a sprinter and the first time my back started hurting was when I was doing short sprints like 30-60m. I would include a picture to show where exactly I feel pain but sadly I can't. It hurts when I stand up from being bent over or when I tilt my body to the right and standing on my right leg. I have been to a specialist even had an MRI scan and they said everything is okay with the bones and muscle onsets. I have had special individual training programme haven't sprinted since. Before the back injury I had my left hamstring injured for about half a year. I had two massages for my hamstring and it was okay, I was okay for a week and then my back injury occured. I had about 5-7 massages for my back, my back was okay for a week and then it started hurting again after every massage. Sometimes when stretching my left and sometimes my right hamstring would also hurt. I don't know what to do. I'm afraid of spending more money for massages. I was thinking of buying an EMS, maybe that would help with my injury.

[gymdandee]

http://www.shoulderpainsolved.com/dwl-5ttfbpat-200803112015/

[LuisArturo]

did you try with exercises?

[DavisSeeley]

I have been doing lots of stretching and strength exercises such as lunges, squats, abs (lots of different abs exercises), back, hamstrings (when you're on your knees and slowly drop down, I'm even strong enough to get back up), push ups and pull ups recently, calves, and more I just can't think of.

[Paxiled]

MRIs really don't tell you much about muscles -- it's really more about soft tissues that don't show up on X-rays (bones show up well on digital X-rays).  In your case, most likely there's something in the way you're moving that's not going well -- such as tight hips, lack of mobility in the joints, and the like.  There also might be some hydration or nutrition problems, which would explain the hamstring problems.  So might not stretching enough -- doesn't have to be static stretching, could be dynamic stretching such as yoga, but you could just be very tight.  Stressed out people are tight.  People who don't sleep well can be tight.  Some people have body parts that are odd -- I have a twisted pelvis that's just the way I'm built.  These kinds of things usually don't bother you when you're young, but over time they get us all because we're all odd somewhere.  There are few perfectly shaped people.  Sprinting is one of the most traumatic things you can do to your body -- doing it occasionally when you need to get somewhere quickly is natural, but doing it over and over isn't, and this sport is notorious for muscle cramping (hamstrings, anyone?), foot injuries, ankle injuries, etc.  Look at any Olympic sprinter and then look at injury history -- for most of them it's a pretty painful pursuit.  What I would do is find a sports chiropractor or really experienced cross-fit trainer or sports osteopath or someone who works a lot with athletes and have them watch you run.  They can then tell you if you're moving properly.  They can also test your hips and knees and legs and see if they have sufficient mobility in every direction and, if not, give you a program of stretching and strength training that will improve you where you're rigid.  That might help.  Also know that any injury causes you to compensate for it, and that can create incorrect movement.  It's pretty classic for serious athletes to get hurt on one side of their body one year and the other when they come back because the better side compensates for the weaker side.  This is especially true if you've used painkillers or steroids to keep going or gotten surgery -- you're never the same after surgery or as strong as nature made you so you have to exercise knowing that.  All this is stuff I've been told as I've gotten older and started suffering lots of pain after having been an avid basketball player, runner, and martial artist for years without major injury of any kind.  It got me anyway partly because of all the reasons I mentioned.  And on other thing -- sprinters do a lot of bending, and just the repetitious act of rising back up wrong can account for an injury on one side like you're having.  Get evaluated by someone who does it for a living and see if what they say makes any sense (some are just clueless, so don't turn your common sense off).  Good luck.

[DavisSeeley]

I think my coach is well educated and experienced and he hasn't said that anything is wrong with my running style. He thinks 99% reason for this injury is because of my quick qrowth. I don't know tho, I didn't grow that much at  The masseur I have been to is educated as well I don't know in what I just know he also had an olympic gold medalist in judo and he told me that I have slight scoliosis, nothing to worry about. I do a lot of stretching mostly static, I even did a split at one point. I have been doing a lot of squats and abs exercises and back. I haven't sprinted in a long time so I don't see how my running style can be a problem. I only run 800m 400m and not at full speed.

[DavisSeeley]

I think I never grew more than 7 or 8 cm in a year. I forgot to mention that I'm 18 years old.

[DavisSeeley]

I tried rolling on a baseball and I don't know maybe helped a little. And I can do some back exercises, my back is not weak, not very strong but not weak.

[gymdandee]

Check the following links
https://youtu.be/D4YHHX-hstQ

http://modernhealthmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Back-Pain-Guide-IFO.pdf


http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/the-3-best-moves-to-prevent-back-pain?cm_mmc=EOWNL-_-1281626-_-05012013-_-MovesBackPain-link

[Paxiled]

When you said you rolled on a baseball, I hope you didn't mean a hardball.  That's too hard.  A locrosse ball is a as hard as you should ever get, and a tennis ball if you need something softer.  And one thing I learned recently about foam rolling and rolling on balls, make sure you only do it on muscles and not hard tissue.

[Paxiled]

Also, it's very hard to follow any program such as Gym is recommending if you don't know why you're hurting and where it's coming from.  You can make it worse.  Sometimes we feel pain in one place but it's coming from another place, sometimes because inflammation is pinching on a nerve.  So be cautious about entering any program of treatment without a diagnosis from somebody.

[DavisSeeley]

I have a soft compound baseball, I can squeeze it with my hand but it's still fairly harder than a tennis ball. My friend has a really hard one and that one actually helped.

[gymdandee]

https://uhs.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/LowBackPain.pdf

I suggest buying the books Pain Cure RX. and Overpower Pain by Mitchell T. Yass

[gymdandee]

https://youtu.be/cBD3Ttn_bRU

https://youtu.be/p6CMso14NWk

Try also foam rolling. Also glut and core exercises