Lower Back Pain Port Macquarie

The QL Muscle & Lower Back Pain

The QL is a muscle that resides in the lower back on either side of the spine. It functions to stabilize the spine and pelvis but also helps you to stand up straight, lift your hip, and bend sideways at the waist. 

Poor posture and sitting for long periods can weaken other spine and pelvis stabilizing muscles of the lower back and hips, which can force the QL muscle to constrict and tighten in an attempt to compensate for this loss of support in the lower back.  

 

Lower Back Pain Scenario

Let's say this scenario of muscle weakness and QL muscle compensation has been going on for a while in your lower back, unbeknownst to you. 

Over the weekend you decide to get busy in the garden, pulling weeds, digs holes and planting flowers. That night while relaxing you begin experiencing a deep ache in your lower back.

In the morning when you wake up you roll over to check the time, thats when you notice a twinge in your lower back. You attempt to get out of bed and discover standing up and walking are painful and trigger your lower back pain. What happened?

Well, the extra strain from a big day of gardening has overloaded an already tight QL muscle in your lower back, which has caused it to go into spasm and become painful.

Enquire today for more information or to find out how we can help.

 

Ryan Samuels. Dr TCM, Reg. Acupuncturist                                                                                                                                              

 

 

 

References

Dutton, Mark, Dutton’s Orthopaedic Examination, Evaluation and Intervention (McGraw-Hill Companies, 3rd ed, 2012)

Reaves, Whitfield, Chad Bong, The Acupuncture Handbook Of Sports Injuries and Pain (Hidden Needle Press, 2011)