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Why Muscles Cause Low Back Pain: Low back ilio/quads
Do you wake up in pain? When you are trying to get out of bed, does the pain in your back take your breath away? You move slowly. Your hips feel “locked.” You make it into the shower and let the hot water run on your back and finally you’re “almost ok.” And it’s still early in the day!
As the day goes on, it seems to improve a bit. You rub your shoulders, and try to move your body around to find a comfortable position. Finally, you get into the car and drive home. By the time you try to get out of the car, the pain is back with a vengeance. This time it doesn’t seem to get any better, and you eventually go to bed, to repeat the cycle tomorrow.
Many people go to their chiropractor and it feels better for awhile, but the pain keeps returning. You try muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory drugs, pain pills…anything to make the pain subside. You know that the drugs have serious side-effects, but you need to do something!
There is a very logical reason that it comes back.
These conditions can all be the end result of muscle spasms! While it seems incredible that a simple thing like a spasm can cause so much trouble, it’s easy to understand when you take a close look at the body. There are 600 muscles, and 206 bones, in your body. Unless you have a traumatic accident, the only reason bones move is because muscles pull on them. Muscles originate in one place, cross over the joint and then insert in another place. Muscles always pull on the insertion point. Visualize pulling your hair at the end. You don’t feel it at the end where you are pulling, but you do feel it on the scalp where it inserts. Likewise, you rarely feel the pain in the part of the muscle that is being pulled, but you do feel it at the insertion, the origination point, and the joint bends.
Although every joint moves by using the same dynamics, for ease of explanation about low back pain, we’ll just pay attention to the muscles that cause you to bend forward, stand up straight, or lean to the side. We’ll also take a look at the muscle group that pulls your pelvis down in the front.
The two low back muscles both start on your lumbar vertebrae. One, the iliopsoas, originates on the front of your vertebrae and either pulls you into a bent forward position or lifts your leg up so you can take a step or sit down. And the other, the quadratus lumborum, originates on the back of your lumbar vertebrae and enables you to lean to the side. There is a long muscle on your back, the erector spinae, that originates along the entire length of your spine and is responsible for bringing you up to the standing tall position. These three muscles are the reason you move in any direction at your waist. It will help if you visualize what happens to your pelvis and low back as these muscles contract and lengthen.
If you want to sit down, the iliopsoas contracts and you begin to bend at the top of your legs. While this is happening, your pelvis begins to rotate forward and down to enable the move. However, if you sit for an extended period of time, the muscle shortens and when you want to stand up, the muscle must stretch. The tight iliopsoas pulls down on your lumbar vertebrae, and it also impacts your thigh muscles, the quadriceps, requiring them to shorten in order for you to straighten your leg. The now-shortened quadriceps will pull your pelvis down in the front and put a further strain on your lumbar vertebrae. When you add all of this together, you have low back pain caused by sitting!
When you bend forward, you are actually stretching the muscles on your back, so they aren’t as involved in back pain as you would expect. In fact, the majority of time the only reason the muscles of your back are painful is from doing something like shoveling snow or lifting heavy weights from a bent position.
The cause of low back pain becomes more complicated and in order to explain it fully, and demonstrate how to self-treat each of these muscles, I will be writing a short booklet entitled Stop Low Back Pain FAST! Be sure to visit www.julstro.com soon for your copy.
© 2009 Julie Donnelly, LMT is an internationally respected expert in repetitive strain injuries. She has specialized in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries since 1989, and is the author of many books including Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You, Treat Yourself to Pain–Free Living: Discover the Secret of Why You Hurt and How to Stop It, and The Pain-Free Triathlete. Ms. Donnelly also has expertise at training individuals and groups the self-treatment methods that eliminate pain and can be reached through her websites, carpal tunnel treatment and www.julstro.com, or by calling 845.627.7035.
on May 29th, 2010 at 8:02 am
This article is inaccurate in almost everything but the conclusion- too much sitting is bad for your back.
I will assume that Julie is deliberately simplifying anatomy, but I think she goes too far. Some examples- When she mentions a single muscle, there are at least two, such as left and right quadratus lumborum(QL), or more, such as the erector spinae(spinal erectors in English) which is a large collection of muscles on each side of the spine attaching at different vertebrae and ribs. Some muscles have simple point-to-point attachments and actions, but many do not- for instance the trapezius. The iliopsoas is a misnomer for two separate muscles, psoas major and iliacus. The QL is active in side-bending, but less so than internal and external obliques. And I believe the rectus abdominus has something to do with moving at the waist. Etc…
I think the technical level of this blog’s audience is higher than this article seems to assume.
Positive Massage Therapy
on June 6th, 2010 at 9:18 am
We got a note from a chiropractic doc who took issue with the comment that people go to a chiropractor and only experience temporary relief. I’d like to apologize to all the good chiropractors for my lazy reading — I should have noticed that. I assume that was a bit of lazy writing on Julie’s part, too. I doubt she literally meant to say chiropractors don’t provide good teaching and full results, because of course many do. I hope the underlying point of the article is not lost here.
And to Steven above, I agree that many of the blog’s readers are well educated in how the body moves, but if our incoming email is a good indicator, and I suspect it is, much of this thinking is new to our musclehead group. Over the past few years, I’ve been thinking of this space more as a sort of bridge between the gym rats on Dave’s side and the new movement learning I’ve gained in my successful search for pain relief. A big part of that relief is this: Too much sitting is bad for my back. :~)
on June 21st, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Muscles more specifically the deep extensor muscles of the spine, if weak can cause a lot of back pain That is why it is important to do an exercise that isolates those deep extensor muscles. One I have done at a Chiropractors office was the Med-X.
on June 25th, 2010 at 8:46 am
I apologize for not being more precise in my message about chiropractors only giving temporary results. I know many chiropractors who are excellent and give permanent results, and each of them will release the tension in the muscles first.
We have often discussed it and they always agree with me that when a bone is out of alignment, and it didn’t involve some type of trauma (car accident, etc.) that the only way for the bone to move is for the muscle to pull on it. However, if the muscle is relaxed and the bone is re-aligned, it will stay in place and give permanent relief.
I hope that clarifies my comments. I work well with chiropractors and have a great respect for the part they play in overall health and well-being.
Wishing you well,
Julie Donnelly
on July 12th, 2010 at 7:32 am
Due to injuries received from an auto accident and altercations (job related) I have had 2 back surgeries 1975 and 77…
First one did not fix problem totally, second was a fusion of L-5 S-1…Using the bone in my hip to cement them together (fuse)… Lost a nerve in the deal that feeds the left upper calf area…I am not 100% but then many are not when you have a bad back…
I have to deal daily with what Julie mentions…
Many want to get real techy, but for layman it is a situation of muscle relaxing, daily stretching and getting by the best you can…
Many make a very good living dealing with those who have bad backs…
Headache is he first major complaint, second is backache…
If you experience backache, more than likly you work with it and deal with it… Those who sit or stand a lot in one place seem to have problems…
Injury related you have to rely on others until you come up with something that works best for you…
Articles like this are good from positive or negative, it keeps you thinking…
Walking is very good for the back…
Thanks for the post Laree…
Regards,
Gary
on July 31st, 2010 at 3:33 am
I agree with a lot of what Julie said in her article, we have become a much more sedentary society. We now spend extended hours sitting at our office desks, in our cars, etc, this coupled with poor posture, is a recipe for disaster when it comes to the lower back.
I am a Chiropractor and a Deep Tissue Massage Therapist, and when I discuss a patients condition with the patient, they quite often feel more comfortable when I explain the problem to them, as Gary says, in Layman’s terms.
However, in defense of Chiropractors, eliminating back pain becomes a lifestyle change for the patient, if they do not maintain a healthy lifestyle, diet and exercise program, in general pain will return. Therefore, when I treat a patient, I give them a specific exercise program. This helps to ensure the patient stays flexible and strong, I also give advice on posture, all of which allows the patient to maintain a healthy back.
on September 27th, 2010 at 10:15 am
After suffering from lower back pain for more than 30 years I tried yoga 4 months ago. Since then I have been to 12 classes and the pain has gone, some times for more than a week. The yoga I do is called Iyengar yoga and it works for me.
on September 27th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
My fiance keeps having lower back pains and he refuses to have it checked by the doctor. Which brings to the question: Why are men so stubborn?! Haha, kidding. :-p I’ve bookmarked this page so I can let him read it later! Thanks!
on December 16th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
I have tried all kinds of things and have found that for me, at least, an inversion table has helped me find some relief from my lower back pain I have suffered from for years.
After I use it I can then exercise, and am trying some Yoga now.
John
on January 20th, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Well there is nothing worst than back pain. Patient feel so much pressure in back, Try some message or acupuncture technique, I think it will help
on January 25th, 2011 at 5:02 am
with the information from this blog it will help people suffering from illness such back pain.. just an advice try some exercise and stay away from your habit which will cause back pain.
on January 28th, 2011 at 7:07 am
Rehabilitation is a must!! Rehabilitation of low back pain includes exercising muscles that have become weak due to SITTING ALL DAY! Such as the glute complex and/or core muscles. When I say core I’m mean the transverse abdominus. This is a huge player in low back pain. Has anyone ever heard of the brilliant physical therapist Stu McGill? Stu McGill is a physical therapist that has spent his life studying low back pain. He wrote the book Low Back Syndromes. Everyone should check it out.
on February 3rd, 2011 at 4:53 am
I have extremely poor posture when I sit at my computer. I definately feel the tightness in the lower back when sitting engrossed for long period without moving. Usually a brief session of stamding and walking is enough. I’m lucky to have a strong core which protects me from my bad habits of poor posture. I must try to remember to sit up straight more for my breathing than for my back…
on February 17th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Posture and sleep can definitely be a cause of low back pain. The muscles get inflammed and this leads to pain.
on February 18th, 2011 at 9:53 am
Many of the ideas noted are helpful in alleviating low back pain. Massage, manipulation, stretching and strengthening the core muscles are all proven therapies in dealing with patients with lower back pain.
Another area that is sometimes overlooked is helping the patient to restore proper joint and posture proprioception. Vladamir Janda, M.D. has pioneered work in this area and I recommend viewing his DVD.
on May 3rd, 2011 at 9:57 am
Like the above poster JME, I have found the most relief with an inversion table. It also only requires about five minutes per day, which is a lot easier and more convenient than regular chiropractic visits.
I usually invert myself upside down and just completely relax my spine for the five minutes, allowing it to decompress and the vertebrae that are out of alignment to adjust back in.
Some people like to do exercises to strengthen their core while they are inverted. These work too.
on August 29th, 2011 at 5:11 am
Most of back pain associated with sleep is due to positioning habit. Having your body properly aligned all the time will ease the back pain symptoms.