Thread: Back Pain - Any idea's on what the cause might be?

looks like a poor posture issue. I would start taking a look at your scapular stabilizer strength.

Do a search in the training forum. We have lots of stuff about it.

Originally Posted by P-funk

looks like a poor posture issue. I would start taking a look at your scapular stabilizer strength.

Do a search in the training forum. We have lots of stuff about it.

Hey P, how often do you see scapular stabilzer issues?

Originally Posted by IainDaniel

Hey P, how often do you see scapular stabilzer issues?

it is one of the most common things I see, just because most people spen all day sitting at a desk, with poor posture and their muscles become adapted to that position. It is very common in todays society.

Just had a quick search - thanks P Funk.

I had a read through the Rotator Cuff Injury thread and i'm thinking a possible cause might be that i've recently switched from seated DB shoulder presses to standing military presses. The form isn't wonderful at heavier sets which is a pain, my chest/mid section seems to push out a bit, which causes a bit of discomfort, but i find i can't really 'push' it back to give a straight chest/back.

Could this be the cause?

it just looks like your stabilizers are weak...your shoulders are internally rotated and your left side is a little higher than your right side (but that could be the lighting). you look slouched.

try stretching your chest and lats, strengthen your serratus, external rotators, and stabilizers like mid and lower traps and rhomboids. Don't know what your program looks like but my guess would be you push more than you pull.

My right side is lower than my left side, it's been like that for a long time now, not sure on the cause of this really.

I started properly training in around March of this year, was working on a Push/Pull/Legs format, something like this. Each session had 1 days rest between.

Day 1: Legs/Abs

Squats
SLDL
Calf Raises
Crunches
DB Side Bends
Hanging Leg Raises

Day 2: Chest/Tri's/Shoulders

Flat DB or BB Bench
Incline DB Bench
Seated DB shoulder press
Cant remember what tri exercise i did, probably pushdowns or dips

Day 3: Back/Bi's/Traps

Deadlifts
Bent over DB Rows
Wide Chins
Shrugs
Ez bar curls

I did the above until around October, when i switched to a 4 day split below which i've been doing up to now;

Day 1: Chest/Bi's

Flat DB Bench
Incline DB Bench
Chest Dips
Ez Curls
Hammer Curls
Conc Curls

Day 2: Legs/Abs

Squats
SLDL
Calf Raises
Crunches
DB Side Bends
Hanging Leg Raises

Day 3: Rest

Day 4: Shoulders/Tri's

Standing BB Military Press
Superset Rear Delt Fly/Lateral Raises
Skullcrushers
Overhead DB Extensions
Tricep Dips

Day 5: Back/Traps

Deadlifts
Wide Chins
Bent over DB Rows
Shrugs

Day 6&7: Rest

That takes us up to the present day, so you can probably make a better assessment of the push/pull ratio than myself.

One other thing to note, i've been going to gyms since the age of around 16, nearly 19 now. Although this wasn't proper training by any means, for the first year or so it was all resistance machine work which was fairly balanced, the only free weight exercises being curls/db benching (yeah yeah i know, bad move).

What could be the problem was from around September 2005-January 2006 i was using the poorest programme looking back on it. Direct shoulder work was neglected, and DB benching/Curls were overdone to the extreme, no real compound work, no real back work other than the Lat pulldown machine. I've done my best to bring everything up to speed but as you've seen from the picture it's still work in progress.

Thanks again for the reply, i appreciate it

yea, lots of pushing and not a lot of pulling. You only make the problem worse.

Best thing you can do is switch to etiher total body workouts or upper/lower and pull more than you push and add in activation and strengthening work for the muscles i said above and stretch the chest and lats.