I'm About to Give Up Squatting

For the past 3 months, I lower back has been tight. I have trouble bending forward and every time I squat, even with just body weight, my lower back/pelvic area just locks up.

I feel like I have tried everything. I went to two different physical therapists and found no relief. I would try another, but I have no health insurance and it’s just too expensive. Every time I stretch, my low back locks up. The only thing that seems to help is when I do certain exercises such as Bird Dogs, Supermans, Side Planks, and the McGill crunch. However, it just doesnt sustain itself and my back goes back to being tight.

I have noticed in my squat form that I have a butt wink well above parallel. I tried to foam roll the hip/glute, which hurt like hell, and have done a standing hamstring stretch in which I put my leg up on a bench and extend my hips backwards. I have also tried doing a couple hip stretches. However, like I said earlier, my low back just tightens up again.

I am close to just giving up on it. Nothing seems to work. Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone have an idea? Any help would be greatly appreicated. Thank you.

How long have you been doing those things? Mobility and flexibility takes weeks and months. Not just a week or a few days. Keep doing the things that help and cut out the squats for a while.

you need to activate your core musculature. Those exercises that make you feel better need to be done multiple times a day, every day, until you feel better.

All the stretching and foam rolling in the world won’t do a thing until you address WHY your muscles are tight

What type of squats do you do?