In today’s FAQ video, we answer the question “Why do I have lower back pain when I run?” Watch the video below to learn what’s behind your pain. Leave any questions you may have in the comments section below.
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Why Do I Have Lower Back Pain When I Run?
Video Transcription
[Please excuse grammatical errors due to the conversational nature of the video]:
Why does my lower back hurt when I run?
It depends. The patients that I typically see with low back pain are runners. Usually they’re women who have really arched backs when they run. Their pelvises are so far forward, and they’re very upward. They’re taught that they need to have a really upright posture.
They do it like almost excessively, right? Because that’s the way they think they’re supposed to—to present yourself with a nice upright posture. So they run like that, and they typically have really tight hip flexors, and their low backs are very tight while sitting.
They are always asking me questions like, “Why am I sitting? What are you doing?” Well, you’re supposed to arch your back. When you put your hand at their backs, patients would say “Hey, stop being creepy. I came here for my big toe.”
It’s all connected.
But I see that a lot. Usually my female patients who have just really significant low back problems complain a lot. When they hold that position, they take a lot of force. And when they run, it’s kind of a jarring kind of look. It’s not a smooth, easy fluid motion. That’s what I see a lot of in our clinic.
A running analysis can help identify such problems.