One Sided Back Pain

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
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Hopefully Bushy will chime in here as well.

I’ve been experiencing on and off “one sided (left) back pain” for a couple years now. I actually met with Eric Cressey last year and his recommendations have helped me tremendously. Seems like a healthy dose of foam rolling, specific hip mobility drills and etc was enough to get me deadlifting and squatting relatively pain free.

I still feel some residual pain (not nearly as bad as when I first hurt it), but still bothersome nonetheless. Sometimes when I stand on right leg, I get some back pain on the left side. I know that during a single leg stance, the glute medius and adductors stabilize the one leg, while the Quadratus lumborum prevents the opposite hip from dropping.

Now to me thats a tall tell sign that my QL is at least one culprit in my back pain. My question is, do any of you have any tips of getting to the QL? I own the trigger point book and have tried the thera-cane, ball against the ball (all sizes), but its still hard for me to locate and distinguish the QL from the erector spinae. I’ve been to a couple A.R.T guys but they don’t seem aggressive or even diligent enough in their work.

I found this interesting article and have tried attacking this spot in the QL, but to no avail:

Anyone?

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Just based off of the information you presented and without physically assessing you, I’d agree with the QL assumption. If the ART practitioners you have seen have not pleased you, I would recommend continuing to look for other soft tissue manipulation practitioners (ART, Graston, etc) and as for referrals and references on them. Also, I’d look into somebody who can assess some movement patterns on you and possibly help with some MET and similar techniques.

Another thing you may want to look at is a weakness in your left psoas. Sometimes you can find that QL over-activated due to an inhibited/weak psoas muscle. Just a thought.

You seem to be on the right path. Best of luck with it all!