Lower back pain is never fun. Sometimes it can be very scary, especially when it comes on suddenly. In many cases, however, this fear actually makes things worse and causes unnecessary negative consequences.
Without an inciting trauma or underlying disease process, lower back pain is usually something to work on actively rather than avoid with rest. This post is about how I worked through my back pain just last year without having any treatment or time off from work.
Keep reading to find out how to fix lower back pain without going to expensive physiotherapy or chiropractic treatments.
Contents
- Patient background
- Baseline assessment
- Rehab timeline
- Key turning points
- Final outcome & lessons
Disclaimer:
You should consult with a healthcare provider before starting any new physical activity. This article is for educational purposes and is not meant to replace an assessment, diagnosis, or treatment from a qualified professional. Note; no doctor patient relationship has been formed.
How it Started
Patient Background
The patient is me! I am an active 34 year old male, working full time as a Chiropractor. I do CrossFit most days, run, hike, play golf in the summers and snowboard in the winters. I have had a few episodes of lower back pain over the years, some mild, some moderate-severe.
This episode of lower back pain started while lifting weights (squats). I felt an immediate dull pain, which is familiar from previous episodes. I stopped the heavy squatting that I was doing and continued with the lighter exercises planned for after. The pain worsened for 1-2 days.
Baseline Assessment
The pain caused a significant limitation in back movement in all directions, most notably – bending forward. It was very difficult to get pots and pans out of the cupboards or put on shoes and socks for a while.
Pain and stiffness were worse in the morning or after inactivity. Movement in general was helpful, with a noticeable benefit from repeated lateral shifting. The repeated lateral shift is one of the ‘directional preference’ exercises in the LBPfix Program.
Walking, running and most upper body exercises felt fine, but most lower body exercises like squats, deadlifts and olympic lifts were uncomfortable with heavier loads (>60-70% 1RM).
How to Fix Lower Back Pain Without Treatment
Rehab Timeline
In total it took about 7 weeks to be pain free with this particular episode, but that is because I was pushing training fairly hard throughout the recovery process. This was a conscious decision because I was confident that the actual injury was mild and I wanted to keep training as much as possible.
I also use myself to experiment with different exercises and strategies so I can give better advice to patients and clients.
For the first few weeks, I did sumo deadlifts, which allowed me to continue lifting relatively heavy without aggravation. For squats, cleans and conventional deadlifts I backed off on the load significantly and then slowly built back to regular loading over the weeks.
I added some reverse hyper extensions to get some more blood flow and movement in the lower back area. As mentioned, upper body strength work, cardio and non painful CrossFit ‘WODs’ remained as usual.
I had a few aggravations from going a little bit too fast with my progressions on squats and deadlifts which delayed the process slightly. The bright side is I was able to keep exercising and learning more about my abilities and tolerance.
The perfect progression would have been a little less aggressive with lower body strength exercises and olympic lifting early on, but still high intensity with cardio and upper body strength training.
With the LBPfix Program you get a simple, gradual progression of stretches and exercises to help you get back to things you love quickly and safely. It includes lots of information about modifying painful activities based on your specific pain type, and how to speed up your recovery.
Key Turning Points
The first turning point actually went in the wrong direction. It was the first aggravation, during a push press, which humbled me slightly and increased my respect for the severity of the injury.
In hindsight, I could have guessed that the high compressive load from a push press would bother my lower back, but often the load is fine if the spinal position or orientation is maintained.
A few weeks later I had a fall while snowboarding. I immediately felt some pain in my back and I worried that this was about to be another set back. This one turned out to be totally fine, I was not even sore the next day.
For those wanting to be cautious and speed up the healing time as much as possible, you should avoid skiing/snowboarding, mountain biking, or any contact sports because there are just too many variables outside of your control in these sports.
The second turning point was a few weeks later, after building gradually for several weeks I did 3 sets of 10 in the deadlift without any soreness or aggravation afterwards. At this point I knew, given the progression leading up to this point, that I was pretty well in the clear.
Final Outcome & Lessons
The final outcome was still good in this case, as I was completely pain free in about two months. In hindsight, I probably could have recovered quicker had I just backed off a little more for the first few weeks. This timeline is still pretty good considering back injuries can take a lot longer than that to fully heal.
Most people do not train like I do so there is not much risk of repeating my mistakes. If you are one of the few, learn from this case study. If you are conservative early on, you will likely get back to full strength sooner. For you, the LBPfix program will be very helpful early on, then as you get better, you will likely need to use it in conjunction with a modified training program for return to sport.
For everyone else – LBPfix Program is perfect for you. It is designed for those who want to fix back pain at home quickly, without any equipment. It has stretches, exercises, strategies for modifying activities and educational information about back pain and recovery.
Click the link below to take the quiz to see if you qualify now!
Our Framework: How LBPfix Can Help
1. Identify Your Pain Driver: We classify your pain into one of four movement intolerance types
2. Prescribe the Right Movement Strategy: Once we know your pain type, we match it with corrective movements
3. Build Long-Term Resilience: As pain settles, we help you:
Move confidently without flaring up
Rebuild core control and lifting mechanics
Return to work, sport, or life without setbacks
Ready to Fix Your Low Back Pain?
Take our 2-minute quiz to find out if you’re a good candidate to our program – no strings attached!
