Long time reader, first time poster because I need some outside help.
For the past 2 years I’ve suffered tightness and pain in my left spinal erector, it’s focused right along the pelvic bone or right between the pelvis and spine, sometimes it feels like it’s underneath the pelvis bone. Sometimes it spills over to my whole low back and lays me down for a few days. Two years ago, from lots of squatting and deadlifting with mediocre technique, I strained the left erector and also came away with an acute strain/bursitis/tendonitis in my right hip. They are related and one affects the other to an extent.
Saw two ortho’s who drugged me up and I did find a competent physical therapist. Saw him for about a year and we found plenty of imbalances. We worked out my tight IT bands, weak abs, weak glutes, tight piriformis, weak hip rotators, and weak hip adductors and abductors, with some anterior pelvic tilt sprinkled on top. I was using my left side a lot more than my right. And I can still feel the left doing more work on most bilateral exercises unless I mind muscle my right leg/hip/back.
I have not seen the PT in several months because my back was feeling okay (and I didn’t want to pay anymore!). Except now the pain has returned and I cannot attribute it to any acute event. I haven’t touched a loaded barbell in months.
My hip is doing a lot better save for some occasional tightness and the IT band will catch and snap over the femur head but that goes away pretty quick with a bit of stretching and rolling.
My left spinal erector refuses to heal. I’ve worked on stretching and rolling the left hamstring, quad, hip flexor, and piriformis which were slightly tighter than the right, and after a good stretch session my erector feels a bit better but a few minutes later, it tightens up again. I’ve been using Magnificent Mobility for a few weeks now, it helps open things up but again, the erector tightens up when I stop moving. Hip/back extensions for high reps either feel amazing or they hurt, hit or miss. And the left erector typically takes more load.
If I load up on NSAID’s the erector loosens but I don’t want to rely on pharmceuticals.
I sleep on a hard wood floor with minimal padding, supposedly this is good for low back injuries, I haven’t benefitted yet.
I foam roll often and use a tennis ball or tiger tail for the hard to reach places.
Thanks for reading, any thoughts are appreciated.