My road to no back pain

About 3 years ago I was experiencing tremendous back pain. No doubt the 405lb-rounded-back-deadlifts, constant improper running, ill-fitted cycling and wreckless power lifting behavior contributed to it. It got so bad that I was barely even able to bend over in the morning to brush my teeth. After visiting the doctor and going through an MRI, I was found to have developing (is there such a thing? or is my mind playin' tricks on me [kudos if you know the song reference]) arthritis in L4 and L5.. that's my lower back for you non-medical folk like myself.

Wow - that was a game changer for me. NOT. I spent the next year trying to fix my form on my lifts, but my ego kept me trying to lift the same weight. That didn't help much. Well, as the pain grew more and more, my ego was getting smaller and smaller. Pretty soon I wasn't able to even run a 5k, cycle more than 10 miles, or do a set of 225lb DLs without having to stop, stretch and wince in pain. It was time for a change.

12-18 months later, I can happily say that I'm relatively pain-free from my lower back about 95% of my day. That's with doing all of my usual activities, you know, trying to stay fit and all. Here's how I did it. While it may not be the answer to everyone's (or even a single other person's) back pain woes, I've done and been through a lot and here are my wins and losses.

Losses:

• Using a foam roller to push the arch of my lower back (laying flat on the floor and just sticking the foam roller under the lower back)
• Doing straight leg dead lifts
• Doing good mornings
• Continue doing deadlifts (I don't DL anymore)
• Using a weight belt as a bandaid for a weak back
• Not warming up the core before heavy squats/rows

Wins:

• Foam rolling the top of glutes - this is my TOP pain remedy for tightness. I can't explain to you medically what it does, but hitting this spot released most, if not all tightness from my lower back.

• Focusing on strengthening my hamstrings (I discovered I have a severe leg muscle imbalance.. big quads, small hamstrings). I've found hamstring curls work wonders
• More core work - e.g., leg raises, planks, etc.
• This machine is my best friend:

• Lowering the weight and seriously focusing on form during lifts
• Being more aware of my running gait (I supinate, so I bought corrective insoles, also tightening up my stride)
• Getting fitted on my bicycle
• DYNAMIC stretching pre-workout, STATIC stretching post-workout
• Foam rolling
• Dedicating a part of my leg day and my back day to strengthening my lower back and lower abs
• Tucking my chin on lifts (admittedly, I've thought that keeping the chin up during ALL lifts was the better way to align the spine, but I was DEAD wrong)

So all in all, it's been a long road and this battle with lower back pain will likely progress into the future, but at least I've got more awareness/experience in how to deal with it.

Hope this helps!