CASE STUDY \u00b7 LOWER BACK PAIN
A powerful engine running on the wrong cylinders.
Yearly back spasms and pain under the bar in a strong lifter. The assessment found the cause was not tightness, it was the glutes.
Simon H.
Where They Started
Simon is strong. He lifts heavy. But he had a recurring pattern of yearly back spasms, lower back pain under the bar, and a sharp pain down the leg. He had been treating it as tight muscles and stretching the hamstring, with no lasting change.
The Assessment
Two things, and the reveal is the story. First, the sharp calf and leg pain was nerve pain, not a tight muscle, so stretching the hamstring was chasing the wrong thing. Second, and this is the root cause, the deep muscles that should stabilise his hips were not doing their job: his glutes were quiet and his hip flexors were weak, so under heavy load the quads and the lower back took over. Every heavy lift pushed the strain into his lower back and the sciatic nerve. The nerve was the loud symptom. Quads and lower back covering for weak glutes and hip flexors was the cause. A powerful engine running on the wrong cylinders.
Tension Release
Keep calming the nerve, gently and pain free. No deep hamstring stretching, because that tightness is the nerve talking, not a short muscle.
Strength Rebuild
Switch the engine back over. Ease off the heavy deadlifts and squats for now while we groove the glute pattern light, then reload once the nerve settles and the glutes are firing. His programme is upgraded at every session as he improves, so it is a moving target, not a fixed sheet.
Where They Are Now
Three sessions in, and waiting to come in for his fourth. The root cause behind his long-term back spasms is now named and confirmed: weak glutes and hip flexors leaving the lower back and the nerve to take the strain. That is what turns a yearly recurring problem into something we can actually work on rather than manage. He is on a tracked, progressive plan that is reassessed and upgraded every session.
What Is Next
Keep waking up the glutes and hip flexors, settle the nerve, then progressively reload the heavy lifting on a body that is finally firing in the right order.
“Very happy with the last three sessions. The back is holding up under the bar again and I'm waiting for Alexander to come back and treat me.”
Simon H., five star Google review
Back pain that keeps coming back under the bar?
Find your root cause.