Your QL Might Be The Reason Your Back Hurts - Massage Saffron Walden.

I see this a lot at my massage room in Saffron Walden. A tight Quadratus lumborum (QL) This is a muscle in your lower back region that, connects your ribs, spine and pelvis. By the way..this is not to be taken as medical advice.

Does any of this sound like you? You can assume your that QL that is tight because you will

• Deep ache in the lower back

• Stiffness in the lower back

It's normally a:

• Ache in one side of the back (Normally above your hip bone)

• Normally worse when standing or walking for long periods.

• Bending sideways may feel tighter on one side (big one here...)

• Rolling in bed or getting out of chair might feel stiffer on one side

• Uneven hips, one side might look or feel higher than the other.

Quick self check:

1. Stand tall

2. Bend to one side, like your touching the outside of your knee

3. You should feel on the opposite side a stretch, that's your QL.

4. Now lean the other way

5. If one side feels tighter then this is a good sign that you have an imbalance and need to help this

Why does the QL become tight? 1. Poor posture. Sitting for a long time, leaning to one side more than the other.

2. Your glutes are weak. If your glutes do not do their job very well, other muscles will take up a lot of stress.

3. Repetitive movements

4. Emotional stress! A big one and a blog i made here >>

The common reason I personally see , is people that lean to one side more than the other. So why is this leaning a problem?:

If you lean to the right side more, then your QL on this side is likely tight, and overworked, causing a lot of tension (imagine walking around all day with a tensed bicep.) The QL on your left, is likely now is over stretched and becoming weak.

Now you have a world of back problems. You really need to address your "why" this is becoming tight in the first place, and then follow my two stretches and releases:

Here I have a video on how to help this, CLICK HERE.

Deep tissue massage in Saffron Walden can really speed up the process for you, we can use many deep tissue massage methods to help release the QL and create a plan to help strengthen the muscle.