09/02/2026
Lower back + The root of pain
We work with a lot of individuals experiencing lower back + hip pain, and something we run into pretty regularly is a client who has already had imaging, been told everything looks relatively normal, and is still hurting. Many have also been prescribed muscle relaxers + pain pills along the way because the pain is thought to be soft tissue or 'mystery pain' but very little attention has actually been given to the muscles themselves.
There is an interesting gap in care.
We are all connected. Every facet of our bodies work in tandem together. Your lower back is working directly with your hips and pelvis all day long. If something changes in one area, the others have to adjust to it. And after a while, it becomes difficult to tell where the problem actually started.
The root of your pain is very real. And you are not imagining it. The psoas (So- as) is one of the best and most common examples to note. This muscle attaches to the lumbar (lower) spine, passes DEEP through the abdomen + pelvis, and attaches at the upper femur (thigh bone). That is one big muscle spanning your lower back, pelvis and hip. If it is involved, someone may describe lower back pain, pain deep in the front of the hip, groin pain, along with abdominal discomfort or some combination of all of them. Often, this pain is mistaken for an emergency kidney or appendix issue; because it really is that deep, painful, and difficult to pinpoint.
Then, like a domino effect, we often find that the glutes on that same side are working differently. The glute medius in particular has a big job in keeping the pelvis stable when you walk. If that area is struggling, the muscles above it begin taking on more work. One of those is the QL. (Quadratus lumborum) It runs from the pelvis into the lumbar spine and lowest rib, and it can become extremely tight + tender when it has been helping stabilize a pelvis or hip that is not moving well....
We also have the deep rotators underneath the glutes, the adductors coming into the pelvis from the inner thigh, the abdominal muscles and all of the connective tissue between them. There is ALOT of anatomy packed into this one area, and none of it is working independently....
If your back hurts but your hip also catches, tell us. If you have a strange pull into your groin, tell us. If sitting is miserable but walking feels better, that matters. If lifting one knee changes the pain, that matters too. Even an old or recent injury that might seem unrelated may help us understand why your body is moving + compensating the way it is now.
We have had the privilege of helping many people who have come to us feeling frustrated, unheard, hopeless or simply exhausted from hurting. Some had even reached a point where they had accepted that pain was just going to be part of their life.
Then we begin exploring to find A hip that is not moving well. A muscle that has been guarding for years. Fascia that has become restricted. An old injury the body learned to work around. And some muscles doing far too much (overcompensating) because another is not doing enough. And so on.
The lower back is only one example. We see these patterns throughout the body on a regular basis. The place you feel pain may absolutely be part of the problem, but it is often also one piece of a much bigger pattern. Finding those connections does not always happen in one session, and not every pain has a simple answer. But there is value in looking deeper than the painful area and paying attention to how the muscles, fascia, joints and surrounding structures are working together...
Our bodies speak.
We have to listen.
If you have been hurting for a long time, please do not assume you simply have to just live with it.
We are here to help | Florawellnessstudio.com
