Back pains... am I running wrong?

[Mitchm77]

Hi,

Was diagnosed a few years ago with a degenerative disc on the right side on my lower back. I get pains occasionally, but have learnt to live with them... ish.

Since I started Couchto5k, I get pains on the days I don’t run on my lower back on my left side. As I bend over, I can feel something shift. It’s more painful than my left!

I’ve heard there’s a chance I could be “running wrong”. Is that possible? I’ve emailed my GP to see him once life is back to normal. I don’t want to stop running as it’s really helping with my mental health and given me something to strive for. Been a bit miserable today as I couldn’t do my planned run as my back was so bad, so I ate loads of bad foods! 😫

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Here’s a whole long article on running form runnersworld.com/beginner/a.... However, there’s also a school of thought that if it’s working don’t change it (Usain Bolt was an awful runner technically, but he did ok!). Some of this could be down to your condition on the right side having you compensate and so now the left hurts (I’ve been here with my knees many times over the years) but that’s not easy to be sure about from here... a physio, or even a running store, may be able to help there as they’re used to looking at gaits... my preference would be a physio as they will understand your back’s history better. Sorry, but I cannot tell you the answer here fully... in general core strengthening work like planks, crunches, and bridges help a lot, but they’d need to be safe for that disc.

[Mitchm77 in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Yeah, my boss preaches to me “squats!” But they hurt! I’ll definitely try the plank. I used to be good at them years ago, so hopefully it’s like riding a bike 👌🏼

I’ll have a read of that in the morning, thanks so much!

(My job doesn’t help either... I’m a nanny, so a lot of carrying babies!)

[Silverfox1943 Graduate in reply to Mitchm77]

I think first a good physio is recommended. You don't want to do any lasting damage.

[Grannyasbo Graduate]

Hi. I have a bad back too. 15 years ago I was diagnosed as having bulging and desiccated discs (!) and never to run. I had many episodes of acute (unable to stand/walk for days) back pain. I tried osteopathy for many years and spent lots of dosh on it. Not much improvement overall. Then I went to an nhs (love them) physio who gave me a series of gentle strengthening back exercises. Nothing mega like squats or plank but doing them regularly really helped and I haven’t had an acute episode for years now. And now I can do squats etc but I had to build up slowly. And it took time. No instant cures I’m afraid.

Recently decided as I always wanted to be a runner I would try very slowly to do C25k. May be mad but at w6r2 completed and only a grumbling back so I figure it’s ok to keep going. 6 weeks in I had to learn again that I have to do my back exercises (gentle ones) to keep pain low.

Upshot is I can highly recommend Nhs physios and doing the exercises they recommend religiously. I have to be honest and share I don’t always do back exercises as often as I should and then I suffer. So if you can do what a physio says as often as you can. Go via your GP and ask for physio referral. It’s free (love the Nhs) and they have excellent continuing clinical training and supervision. So you can trust them.

Finally it is rotten having a bad back. But it need not stop us as long as we take care of it.

Good luck take care and love that inner snail. 👍💪😀