Question
Hi,

I am a 68-year-old man--overweight, but in good health.

Recently I found--for the second time in a year--that I get a painful stiffness in my lower back (waist to curve of back when I walk. Perhaps relevant: I do two miles on an eliptical machine every morning totally without pain.

I'm pretty sure the cause is crampped muscles of some sort. It feels like that, not like anything to do with nerves.

The first time this happened (for about two weeks) a change of shoes solved the problem. But this hasn't helped for this episode (a month long).

I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

Best,

Steve

Answer
Hello Steve;

You may be overweight, but you are working out. It's strange to me how some people do SO well with thte elliptical machine, whereas others, it crushes them.   

If you think it may be the elliptical, the best way to evaluate yourself is to videotape or have a trainer watch you do the exercise.  If your low back is moving through figure eights in the plane of your belt loops, that's an inherently bad thing... the machine is slowly chewing away at the joints of your low back.

Wow, there's a tangent for you.  Is the pain you feel diffuse (over the entirety of your low back)?  Do you feel it in the machine?  Do you feel it as you walk, or after?  There's a lot of questions I would like to ask if you were in my office.   Of course, breaking down and seeing a professional would be the best thing to do.

Did anything I say here help you out?  I hope so.