Came out of nowhere on Saturday. No warning at all. Absolutely crippling.
Did a two hour productive endurance ride on the trainer the day before, and other than a little residual soreness from some deadlifting a week or so ago no issues at all with my back. Now I can hardly walk.
Intense pain in lower left back and into the outside of the hip and side/front of thigh. I’ve seen an osteopath but it just seems to be a case of waiting for it to go away.
I used to get them all the time lifting weights. Physio worked best for me using some soft tissue work but they also prescribed some exercises
banded clam shells
banded deadbugs (keeping lower back flat to the floor)
banded bird dogs (slow as you can)
That’s it really unless you have some underlying imbalances or whatever. It goes quite quickly, I used to have to abandon the current session, but I was fine for the next. Makes you focus even more on keeping a good brace position when lifting. Belt or no belt.
I think the origins were the deadlifting but the soreness had practically gone when the QL struck. In fact before it struck I was planning some light deadlifting in the afternoon. Half an hour later I could barely dress myself. Bizarre.
Also, my wife suggested a hot bath but I fear I wouldn’t be able to get out of it again at the moment. Giving a hot water bottle a go and that seems to ease it up a bit.
If the pain is referring into the front or side of your thigh it is unlikely it is a QL strain. That would be point tenderness to that area - pain side-bending away, and maybe pain with lumbar flexion - especially if you bend forward and to the opposite side.
Referring pain into the thigh is much more likely to be joint and spine related - especially with your mechanism of injury (deadlifting before hand).
Also, the “crippling” type of pain - less likely to be muscular in the spine than a lumbar “strain”.
I would get checked out by a competent and thorough PT/physio
Thanks all for the input. This has gradually eased thanks to a couple of osteopath sessions, rest and stretching. I also randomly found some helpful stretches via www.calispine.com
Peculiar how these things can suddenly come out of nowhere.