Most lower back pain is not a disc, a slipped anything, or damage that shows on a scan. It is muscle and joint pain — tissue that has been loaded in a way it was not ready for, or held in one position for too long, and has protested.
What usually causes it
Rarely one dramatic moment. Far more often a build-up:
- Sitting for long stretches, which shortens the hip flexors and switches the glutes off, leaving the lower back to do their job as well as its own.
- Lifting with a pattern the body cannot hold under load — often not the weight itself, but the fifteenth rep of it when form has gone.
- A sudden change in training — new sport, more mileage, back after a layoff.
- Weak or unco-ordinated glutes and trunk, so the load lands on the spine rather than being shared.
The spasm on bending is usually the last straw, not the cause. Something has been building for weeks.
What treatment involves
Assessment first, because “lower back pain” is a description, not a diagnosis. The pain is often in the back while the cause sits in the hips, the glutes, or how you move.
Hands-on work settles the muscle spasm and restores movement. Then the part that stops it returning: identifying what loaded it badly and changing that, with specific strengthening for whatever is not pulling its weight.
How long it takes
Acute spasm usually eases significantly within a session or two. Changing the pattern underneath takes longer — typically several weeks with exercises between sessions. Anyone promising a permanent fix in one session is guessing.