Tight Glutes

[Mr Scorpio]

I woke up after a run recently to find that my lower back was in a fair deal of pain, and I'm fairly certain that my glutes (screw you spell-check!) are to blame. While I've had some decent relief from doing a "pigeon-stretch", I am still unable to run w/o re-aggravating the problem. My attempts to foam-roll the problem away have proved futile thus far.

 

Any advice?

[JDPT]

I used to get lower back pain when running due to bad form and overstretching. The only thing that alleviated this was, and as obvious as it may come across was to simply give me a few days to rest and be mindful of my posture next time I went for a run.

[dichotomy]

Random ideas.....

 

What areas did you foam roll? There is some debate on this but I foam roll directly my lower back and it helps 80% of the time.

 

Any chance its the hamstrings instead? or upper back pulling on to lower back?

 

Any access to hot water soaks (bath or hot tub)

 

What condition are your shoes in?.

 

Rest more - take a longer break.

Edited May 25, 2014 by dichotomy

[Mr Scorpio]

What areas did you foam roll? There is some debate on this but I foam roll directly my lower back and it helps 80% of the time.

 

I attempted to roll my glutes, though I don't know how well I did at targeting any particular area. I also rolled from my hips down the sides of my legs to my knees. That did more harm than good, as I apparently rested on bone. Rather painful the next day.

 

Any chance its the hamstrings instead? or upper back pulling on to lower back?

 

I suppose it could be. The first time I had this sort of issue, my knee hurt because the muscles in my foot were knotted up.

 

Any access to hot water soaks (bath or hot tub)

 

Good idea. I tried some icing tonight. I'll try heat tomorrow.

 

What condition are your shoes in?.

 

I have no idea. I have never maintained a running-log. I would have a hard time even ballparking the number of miles I've put on them. It is also likely that my form is terrible.

 

Rest more - take a longer break.

 

Sadly, this pain resulted from a light 20 minute jog, the first jogging I had done in two weeks.

[Phoe]

How are you foam rolling? Are you using your hands to roll it on your muscles, or are you sitting on it? Sitting on it works best.

 

Also a tennis ball can get into the muscle deeper.

[Emilia]

IMO lower back problems can be aggravated by hamstrings more so than glutes.

Agreed.

 

OP, try good mornings to loosen up your hamstrings.

[DKT3]

Core, core, core.

 

Core work is the key, people don't focus there enough.

[Mr Scorpio]

How are you foam rolling? Are you using your hands to roll it on your muscles, or are you sitting on it? Sitting on it works best.

 

Sitting on it w/ one leg crossed over the other. Unfortunately, I was rolling more on the side of my leg. Nasty.

 

Also a tennis ball can get into the muscle deeper.

 

Yup. I have a lacrosse ball for that. At least, I think it is a lacrosse ball. Got it from my PTs and it worked wonders for my knees. I didn't use it much a'cause I wasn't sure where I was supposed to be rolling.

[Mr Scorpio]

So I went to the doctor and paid $90 to get a prescription for PT. Of course, my back felt fine the next day! "Hopefully" the problem arises again before the prescription "wears out".