Why do I Have Lower Back Pain When Squatting?

If you do them safely, squats are some of the best moves to build a developed and strong lower body.

Squatting it out can help you grow your glutes, develop your quads, and even help build hamstrings or stubborn calf muscles.

But if your technique is not on point, squats can seriously hurt.

There are many ways you can injure yourself by doing a squat. For example, a lot of people have hip pain during squats from tight hip flexors.

But hurting your lower back is another tricky way that you can throw out your body when you squat.

Especially when you're working on heavy lifts like a barbell back squat, lower back injuries may abound.

Let's get up close and personal with the lower back and its muscles. We’ll learn what happens when your lower back hurts during a squat and what you can do to make it feel better.

Anatomy of the Lower Back

There are a few key muscles that you should get to know within the lower back.

Let's go over the function of some of the muscles that help your back to work.

Latissimus Dorsi

The lats are the biggest muscles in your back. With a wing-like shape, these muscles are hard at work during most of your pull exercises that work the back.

If you build developed and strong lats, you can also get a pretty mean lat spread. If you're posting gym pics on IG, this can give you a great aesthetic shape to the back.

For function as well, major strength moves like the pull-up are lat dominant and require you to strengthen these muscles.

Erector Spinae

The erector spinae are the main flexors of your spine.

When we think about your posture and maintaining an upright position, the erector spinae are what let you do this.

These muscles help you to stand straight up, and maintain great posture.

Obliques

The internal and external oblique muscles let you rotate your trunk and support your torso. These muscles also help keep your pelvis stable when you perform exercises like squats.

Causes of Lower Back Pain When Squatting

Bad Technique

Using improper technique in your squats can put a strain on your lower back.

Bad technique usually looks like incorrect alignment with the way your joints are stacked, or the wrong position of your barbell.

Make sure that your knees are tracking over your toes, in line with your toes, and that you keep your torso upright.

Too Much Weight

If you're squatting with a barbell, loading too much weight onto the bar before you're ready to lift such a heavy load can put your back under strain.

Not enough work to strengthen the back, before doing a heavy squat can seriously give you a backache.

Not only this, but I can put excessive strain on other joints too.

The weight path of your squat puts force onto your hip knee and ankle joints. If you're lifting too heavy a weight too quickly, you can risk injuring any of these joints with your squat exercises.

Bad Hip Mobility

Many adults in the world suffer from bad hip mobility, with around 10% of people claiming to experience hip pain.

In teenagers too, a study from the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports found that lower back pain was associated with a higher BMI (body mass index).

In boys, the study indicated that below-average hip mobility, hip rotation and hamstring flexibility were associated with lower back pain.

Squatting, especially when you’re really dropping it down low, puts a lot of strain on your hip joints.

A full squat requires a very deep hip hinge that we don’t get through a lot of other exercises. If you’re unused to it, it can feel painful or too hard.

Since the hips anchor the pelvis at the end of your back, healthy or unhealthy hips can certainly impact the required mobility you need to squat pain-free.

If you think your hip mobility is giving you back pain when you squat, try a mobility test to see how you can improve the strength and health of your hip joints.

Injuries or Spinal Conditions

Some issues with back health in general can be triggered when you put strain on the back like you would during a heavy squat.

People who struggle with misalignment in their spine including things like lumbar lordosis, kyphosis, or scoliosis may experience increased amounts of pain while squatting.

Improper Stretching or Warm-Up

Lower back pain is one of the most common issues that most people face.

Even adults who don't squat have probably experienced some degree of lower back pain in their everyday lives.

A lot of this has to do with work culture. if you work from home or at a desk, your spine might not have enough opportunities for release or stretch.

Modern sedentary lifestyles put a lot of strain not only on our spines but on most of the joints of the body.

If you're a desk worker try this: Stand up out of your chair. Think of extending your spine from the top of your head and growing taller, then tuck your chin under and start to lower your head down towards the floor slowly rolling down the back of your neck and into your shoulders.

Roll your spine all the way forward until you curve your body forward. Hinge at the hips, and roll your body all the way forward until you are folded in half and your hands touch the floor.

Take some time here to swing your head around and introduce a bit of movement into your spine.

When it feels like enough, tuck your pelvis downward and engage your glutes to lift yourself back up from your bent forward position. Tuck the pelvis downward and roll back through the vertebrae of the spine slowly.

The goal is to feel every part of your spine unfurling until finally, your head ends the chain of movement by extending again upward toward this guy. Do you feel taller?

It's a good idea to practice standing up and getting small bits of mobility into your back whenever you have the chance.

For most of us, it should feel good to start decompressing the spine.

Should You Feel Squats in Your Lower Back?

Squats should absolutely work your low back. After a squat workout, it is normal to have an exertion sensation. You should feel the muscles here being worked.

But what is too much to feel in your back? If you feel consistently achy post-squat, it may be a sign you’re going too hard.

During the squat motion, if you feel any pinching, crunching, or excessive achiness in your back, it’s a good idea to stop and reduce your weight to prevent further injury.

Remember, squats are meant to strengthen your back, as well as your leg muscles. Ideally, we want the muscles of the back to feel like they’re working to get stronger rather than straining so much that you’re enduring pain.

Anything that feels painful rather than simply challenging is too much. If this happens to you, scale your weight back and focus on proper squat technique.

What Should I Do if Squatting Hurts My Back?

To reduce back pain associated with squats, you may want to try these steps.

Check Your Form

First off, make sure you’re using the proper squatting technique. Are your wrists properly engaged and in a straight position to grip your barbell or are they flopping backward? Do your knees following the direction of your toes as you squat?

Is your core actively engaged and your chest proud? Are you driving through your heels up from the bottom of your squat?

Ask yourself these questions. If you answered “no” to any, see where you might be able to tune up your squat form to alleviate your lower back pain when squatting.

Lower Your Weight

Did you recently increase your weight? As a next step, if you’re squatting heavy, the weight you’re working with may simply be heavier than your muscles can tolerate at the point you’re at in your fitness journey.

Although squats are primarily a leg-strengthening exercise, they do work your other muscles as well. If your back muscles aren’t at the level they need to be to squat what you do, you may need to throw some back workouts into your routine to squat the weight you want.

Consider incorporating back and core exercises into your gym routine. Bent-over back rows, lat pulldowns and planks which work your full body and core too can all be great ways to strengthen your supporting muscles for squats.

Change Your Equipment

Thirdly, everyone’s body is different, meaning we all have different preferred routines and techniques.

This is true too when it comes to picking your workout equipment. If you’ve got pain in your back, you may want to try working on your squats and deadlifts with resistance bands.

Resistance bands don’t load your back, they put the load only on your legs.

If you’re suffering under the weight of a heavy barbell and it’s causing strain to your lower back, resistance bands may be a better option for you.

You can also try kettlebell squats, dumbbells instead of barbells or an unweighted squat for less challenge.

Switch to the Leg Press

Next, leg presses work similar muscles to squats. Since you’re seated, though, you may find a leg press instead of a squat puts less strain on your back since your body is supported.

What is the best leg press foot placement? This depends on whether you want to focus the work on your quads, glutes, hamstrings or all your leg muscles evenly.

See a Doctor

Finally, if you notice persistent, acute pain when you’re squatting, see a doctor or a qualified sports medicine professional.

Squats should increase your back strength, not causing you excessive or debilitating pain. If you’re finding that back pain from squatting impedes the rest of your workouts or causes you pain in your everyday life, it’s a good idea to get a medical assessment.

The Takeaway

Low back pain when squatting can feel like a drag at best. At work, it can put you in danger of injuries to your back, hips, knees, or ankles.

If you experience lower back pain during your squats, it could be due to several factors.

These include:

• Bad technique
• Too much weight on your barbell
• Bad hip mobility
• Back or spine injuries or conditions.

You may experience back pain in your squats for other reasons, but these are some of the key factors.

When performing squats, make sure you're optimizing your form. Think about starting position, squat depth, the position of your upper body and your core stability.

Make sure to work out the muscles around your legs too when you prepare and cool down from squats. Muscle groups like the abdominals also support your squats.

It's important to work on your core strength to get better in your squat variations long term. Don't forget to work on moves like hip flexor stretches too.

How do you know when it’s time to see a doctor about your back pain? If you simply feel sore after a workout, it may be your muscles getting rid of muscular waste after tough exercises.

That being said if your pain after a workout persists for more than 5 days or so, you could be looking at an injury.

It’s normal to experience the sensation of hard work, exertion and challenge to your muscles. But if you’re experiencing acute or chronic back pain from squats, it’s a good idea to ease back.

References :

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Dimitrijević, V., Šćepanović, T., Milankov, V., Milankov, M., & Drid, P. (2022). Effects of Corrective Exercises on Lumbar Lordotic Angle Correction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(8), 4906. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084906

Janicki, J. A., & Alman, B. (2007). Scoliosis: Review of diagnosis and treatment. Paediatrics & child health, 12(9), 771–776. https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/12.9.771

Lam JC, Mukhdomi T. Kyphosis. [Updated 2023 Aug 8]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK558945/

Lee, S. W., & Kim, S. Y. (2015). Effects of hip exercises for chronic low-back pain patients with lumbar instability. Journal of physical therapy science, 27(2), 345–348. https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.345

Sjolie A. N. (2004). Low-back pain in adolescents is associated with poor hip mobility and high body mass index. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 14(3), 168–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2003.00334.x