Hello doctor, I have recently been experiencing lower back problems on the right side of my back. I work out a lot and have been working out for some time now and I generally do a range of heavy to mid-weight sets quite often. I remember initially feeling this pain immensely while squatting (was wearing a belt). Which I thought was just a muscle strain so I reverted to doing other back exercises that day. After leaving the gym, I remember the pain and soreness (I would say more soreness than pain) persisting for about a day and did not feel anything after. However, recently, I was walking and somewhat slipped on some ice. I never fell, but because of the sudden jerk, I felt that pain in my lower back on the right side immensely once again. This pain generally always comes and goes and it is usually during back exercise or sudden jerks. Therefore, I was wondering if in your opinion do you think this would be a problem regarding a strain of a muscle or a disc problem in my lower spine. If so, should I have an X-ray done to confirm?
Hello. Thank you for providing a brief history. As per me, it looks like the paraspinal muscles are getting over excited to safeguard the spine and the ligaments of the intervertebral joints are also getting over excited due to the weight lifting. There should be a proper guiding before doing any kind of heavy weight lifting and also there should be enough of the core muscles strength before doing one. This pain which is on and off is a red signal for the spinal column. Taking up and MRI should be really worth rather taking up an X-ray. As this pain is only while doing movements I will highly recommend to take up the MRI and get back with the reports. Gym. MRI. Sacroiliitis. Degenerative disc disease. Stop the gym for a week.