Back Pain / Injury

A few weeks ago,  I came down with a cold that knocked me out for a week. I had no energy to practice so I took the week off.  After I recovered,  I went to a foundation class at my studio and felt really good.   The evening of the class, however,   I started having  pain in my lower left back.  I am not sure if it was the class or just something that I did at home,  but for 4  or 5 days,  I had to watch what I did and in the morning for two of them,  it took me a while to straighten out and to be able to stand up. 

It appears that I slightly injured my left Quadratus Lumborum (QL).  The QL  a pair of small muscles at the base of your spine.  These muscles attach the  the lower spine, ribcage and pelvis. The QL are involved in lateral spine flexion -- when you bend at your waist to either the left or right side -- and in waist rotation, when you're twisting your waist from side to side. They also stabilize your pelvis and lumbar spine.  In reading about them (there are two) , I discovered that this muscle is one of the major sources of back pain.   For myself,  it was making it very hard to bend backwards when I woke up and it always felt good to do a reverse back bend once I warmed up.   I also made sure that I was sitting where I was not leaning over as this exacerbated whatever I did to myself. 

QL in Red

What was very interesting with this back pain episode versus prior to practicing Yoga was the fact that while I had discomfort much of the time and some stiffness in the morning,  I generally was not debilitated.  I was able to walk pretty well and even stretch and twist.   Some movements were painful but the fact that I have general body flexibility allowed me to compensate for the pain and stiffness.   It could have been much worse as I remember having back spasms and back pain on a regular basis.    This was the first time in 3.5 years of practice where I had more than muscle soreness in my back.

Because I practice yoga and this injury could have impacted my practice,   I decided to figure out what my problem was and how to correct it in the future.    Based upon what I have read,  it seems that I need to work on strengthening my QL.  I do a few exercises prior to my normal practice where I do stretch these muscles so my focus has to be on working on  QL strength.     This is something that I will have to incorporate in my general core practice. 

What I also think about is the fact that I am not immune to injury.   I am getting older and I need to worry about overdoing things.   I still do not know what caused this problem,  and it may have just been sitting at the computer too long.   

Namaste.