I began having issues with low back pain while I was in high school during my track and cross country seasons. I went to physical therapy where I learned that I have scoliosis. At the time, doctors and physical therapists told me that scoliosis was not the cause of my back pain, rather, it was due to tight hamstrings and weakness in the lower back. I began to add in extensive hamstring stretching to my routine as well as weight training to strengthen my lower back. I continued to have pain but I was able to keep running. In the years after high school I ran several full marathons as well as half-marathons. I enjoyed long distance running until my back pain became too severe to continue. I tried returning to traditional weight lifting as well as yoga for flexibility and began chiropractic treatment.
My lower back pain continued to get worse. I tried massage, acupuncture, pilates, anti-inflammatory pain medications and using an elliptical trainer and stationary bike for lower impact training. As the years went by, the list of activities I could no longer participate in kept growing, as well as the list of treatments I’d tried without long term success in relieving my back pain.
