Lower Back Problems/QL

Justin - im probably not the best person to share advice, but my problems are identical to yours. My sacrum has been out of alignment for the past 9 months or so. This has caused my hip to constantly pop, pronounced anterior tilt, and even a slight herniation at L5.

What i’ve done is - ditched all squats, dead lifts and heavy work. It was going through a divorce but necessary.

Read Stuart McGill’s work ’ Ultimate back fitness ’ - it really helped me learn alot about how our spine functions.

My SIJ ligaments are pretty overstretched and since its an old injury, its stubborn to resolve. What helped me the most thus far are:

  1. Single leg squats - slowly work up your ROM. Form is key - i like the form set by Dr. McGill, it spares the spine

  2. Rick from exerciseforinjuries.com gave me some great advice - i suggest buying his product on the SIJ. It is just a whole depth of knowledge that has helped me make some real good progress. One exercise that helped me the most is the inflare correction: EZezine - ezine/newsletter publishers. And push hard against the wall, but make sure its pain free

  3. This is something i discovered on my own - by trial and error. And its helped tremendously. Lay flat on the floor (face up) back neutral, knees up and feet on the floor. Squeeze your glutes and lower back as hard as you can and feel it targeting the L5/SIJ region. I do 10 reps - 3 sets and hold for five second each. One thing i learned from Dr. McGill’s work is chronic injuries usually are usually indicative of damage to fast-twitch ligaments and the proper way to target fast twitch ligaments is more reps.

Stay strong

I had the exact same issue as you. Firstly one of my QL’s locked up then I started getting lots of tightness in my upper groin area on the right side. I saw a bunch of physio’s and no one could tell me what was wrong.

As time went on I was forced to stop all bilateral lifts because my left ql and right side of my groin would tighten up. I religiously foam rolled and hammered my hip/t-spine/ankle mobility. I tried a bunch of glute activation exercises but they only aggravated my groin.

After about one year I began seeing an ART practitioner. I don;t think the ART helped alll that much but he did say that it was possible I had a weakness in my hamstring/glute on the right side as opposed to my left.

After 6 weeks of doing two extra set for my right side on single leg rdls and leg curls my problem is almost completely gone.