My lower back pain story (I wish I knew this sooner)

What’s up, guys? Hope you’re doing well! I’ve got a bit of a different newsletter for you this week. I’m going to tell you my lower back pain story. There’s not going to be a lot of images, and it’s going to be one long wall of text.

But, I want to share this story even if it only helps one person fix their back pain or avoid another serious injury. Dealing with this for the last 2 years has given me a lot of perspective on how easy it is to take your health for granted, and that is something I won’t ever do again.

If you’ve dealt with a big injury, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

I’m writing this pretty late at night, so forgive any typos.

Dealing with Pickleball injuries (specifically the lower back)

If you are a close follower of the channel, you’ve probably heard me talk about my back pain several times. I’ve been dealing with a really annoying injury for about 2 years now.

I’ve very recently started to feel normal again, and I can’t believe how long I went letting this injury lower my quality of life. I want to share this for anyone else who might be dealing with a similar injury in hopes that you don’t have to deal with it for as long as I have.

How did this happen?

The first time this became a big issue was nearly 2 years ago. It was around June 10th when I went to a two day intensive training camp with Jordan Briones. The day before the camp started I was playing some Pickleball and suddenly felt my lower back give out.

It was extremely painful to bend over, if I was to lunge for a dink it felt like my entire back was going to give out, and even laying down was really unpleasant. I had never experienced this before and had no idea what was going on. To be honest, I think I just thought that my back was tired from so much playing.

After the first day of the camp (which I have NO IDEA how I made it through) I went and got a massage. This ended up helping ease the pain a bit, but I could tell the primary issue was still there. I ended up completing the second day as well, but with a lot of sitting and trying to rest whenever I could.

It was honestly embarrassing, because I was so limited in how I could move, and I think several of the people there thought I was using my back as an excuse for not playing well.

I went home and my back returned to normal a week later. I don’t recall having any major issues until spring of 2024. I was playing a LOT of Pickleball, and one day while playing my back did the same exact thing that it did at the camp. But this time, it was even worse.

It was so difficult to move and I immediately packed my bag and left in the middle of a session because I was in so much pain.

When I got home, I got on the couch and the pain was so bad that rolling over on my side was some of the most agonizing pain that I can recall feeling in my adult life. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to do such a basic task.

This happened right before a tournament that I was going to play in, and I had to drop out. Even after a week my back was still in a significant amount of pain. This time I knew I had to do something about it, because something was very off.

What did I try?

That same week I immediately went and bought the book “Back Mechanic” by Dr. Stuart McGill. This is a highly recommended book for fixing lower back pain and I was desperate for anything that could fix it.

Doing the exercises in the book seemed to give me relief, but I still wasn’t convinced that these very, very basic looking exercises were going to help me long term.

I ended up going to a physical therapist and he suggested that my back pain was likely due to my glutes being extremely week.

In fact, the first glute test he had me do I failed so badly and so easily, that I looked at him and said “There’s no way people are supposed to be able to do that, right?”,

He laughed and said “Oh no, you are definitely supposed to be able to do that”

While meeting with my physical therapist for a few months, I was also looking at Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and anywhere else I could try and find answers about how the back works and why people develop back pain.

One thing about me is that it’s never enough for someone to just tell me “Do x y and z” I have to fully understand it, otherwise I don’t want to do it.

Backstory

Just to rewind a little bit, I’ve been doing video production for probably 13 years now. If you’re in video production, (especially editing) you do a SIGNIFICANT amount of sitting. I’m also a bit of a workaholic, which leads me to sitting for even longer periods of time than I should.

In the time that I have been building Pickleball Studio, there have been many months (honestly, years) where I sit for 9+ hours a day. Whether that is editing, studying content, learning new skills, responding to messages, or researching.

I mention this quickly because after researching extensively for the last year, it’s very clear to me that part of my back/glute issue is that I have had a very sedentary lifestyle except for when I am on the Pickleball court. My days would alternate between sitting all day, playing hours of Pickleball, and then more sitting into the late evening (Usually up past midnight).

The frustration from hurting my back repeatedly

For the first 30 or so days after physical therapy, I followed the exercises very consistently. I made great improvement and suddenly thought I was home free and could lay off the exercises. WRONG.

I went to a tournament in June of 2024 where I was going to play with Braydon from Pickleball Effect.

My back hurt the entire time traveling, and by the time I got to attempt to practice Pickleball, I could tell there was no way I could play.

I don’t think I can properly articulate to you the pain I was in. Standing too long hurt, bending over hurt, even laying down I had a dull ache. I just had to watch everyone have a great time and sit in pain.

The night before the tournament Doug from Bread & Butter had mentioned that Voltaren might help. (it’s just a cream for aches and pains/arthritis)

This stuff was crazy. Immediately my back felt amazing and I was playing on the courts that same night warming up with Braydon. I couldn’t believe it, but I knew this was temporary and not a long term fix.

I ended up throwing my back out again in our first real match, and was really frustrated.

I’m not going to tell you guys every story, because there are many. But all you need to know is that through most of 2024 I continued to deal with my back giving me a very difficult time. Most of the year I just powered through it and would find brief periods of relief from doing my exercises. Despite doing them, I never changed my lifestyle. I was still sitting way too much. If I wasn’t playing Pickleball, I was probably sitting at my desk.

I was angry, frustrated, sad, and in some ways felt hopeless. My worst nightmare has been a significant injury that would sideline me to the point where I can’t even review paddles. Thankfully this didn’t do that, but my quality of life has been much lower than what I want.

Bending over to put on shoes was annoying, I was paranoid that if I coughed too hard I would throw my back out, sitting to work would cause me pain, sometimes even sleeping wasn’t comfortable.

Some days no matter what I was doing, I was just in pain.

It wasn’t a constant horrible ache 24/7, but I never had any idea when it was going to make me feel awful, and many times it happened when I really needed to be on court.

Fast forward to today

For most of 2025 I have still dealt with back pain, but thankfully I haven’t thrown it out. However, I’ve always been able to tell that it is holding me back on the court in my ability to move quickly, easily, and confidently.

Recently my hip started to hurt, followed by my knee.

I’m also in the process of finishing up my home court and I couldn’t stand the thought of injuring myself worse and just staring at my backyard unable to use the court.

This was finally the breaking point.

I knew I couldn’t keep doing this forever. I’m only 28, but these injuries have made me feel like I am 70 years old.

I heard this great quote in a lower back pain video that went something like this:

“You spent 10-20 years damaging your back and you really expect to fix your pain in 1-3 months? No. This is going to take 1-2 years if you’re lucky. You have to think long term about this”

This resonated a lot with me. When I look back at the last 13 years (especially before Pickleball) I was sitting so much. I’ve been degrading my muscles for years and I didn’t even realize it. Playing so much Pickleball only exposed it and eventually sped up the process to injury when my lower back had to compensate for other muscles not doing their job.

So, after finally having enough frustration and wanting my normal life back, I put myself on a strict regimen for the exercises I’ve acquired and making sure that I get more movement in during my day. This looks like multiple 15-30 minute walks a day. Ideally morning, lunch, and evening. My goal has been to average 10k+ steps a day.

In the past I used to view breaks during the day as a waste of time. Why would I take 1-2 hours of my day and waste it taking a break from work? I always have so much on my plate that it felt like I was throwing away time to build things.

What I didn’t understand at the time was that by neglecting my health, it was eventually going to cost me my ability to get work done. Maybe in the short term it worked, but in the long term it would cost me more time.

Today was the first day in a REALLY long time that I played Pickleball and almost felt like my normal self.

I wasn’t thinking about my back while I played, I wasn’t worried about putting my non dominant hand on my leg to support myself and take load off my back, and I was moving quicker than I have in a long time.

It’s been so long since I felt this way that I couldn’t even remember what it felt like to be on the court and not think about some part of my body hurting.

I have a tournament with 2 events this weekend, and I’m excited to play it purely because my lower back isn’t killing me. In fact, this is the same tournament last year that I had to pull out of because my back injury was so bad.

Resources for lower back pain

I want to be clear, I am not a doctor, I’m not qualified to give you medical advice, and I would HIGHLY suggest you see a physical therapist to evaluate your own back pain.

However, I do want to share with you things that I learned in hopes that it will speed things up for you.

Physical therapy

Go to a physical therapist and get an assessment. They will be able to give you an idea of what your issue might be SO much faster than you will on Google. Of course, make sure you find a good one.

I’m glad to have found a great one and they have been amazing to work with. You don’t need to go forever, but go until they can make sure you are moving in the right direction. Then it is up to you to keep doing the work.

Back Mechanic (Book)

This is the book by Dr. Stuart McGill. The main takeaway from this book is the McGill big 3 exercises. You can find these all over YouTube to see what they are. The first time I saw these I said to myself “Ha, that’s so basic. There is no way that could possibly fix my back pain”. The more I researched it and read the book, the more I realized I couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, one of the things I think I’ve learned about a lot of different injuries is that many of these “basic” exercises are extremely helpful for areas of the body that are often times very weak.

The book also has chapters about learning how to move as to not irritate your lower back more. This is helpful when your pain is really bad.

He also talks about walking frequently, because for a lot of people that helps back pain. This is where I got my 15-30 min walks from. I also would not underestimate how much those extra steps help. I wish I had taken that advice serious sooner.

Low Back Ability (YouTube channel)

This is a YouTube channel that talks about back pain. He has a bit of a different approach than Dr. Stuart McGill. He holds far less credentials than McGill, however, it’s very clear that he understands what it’s like to have chronic back pain. He talks about his story many times in his videos and what he did to fix it.

He has more of a focus on training the lower back and building the muscles so that they can support you better.

His YouTube videos are long, but they are worth a watch.

He highly recommends people buy a back extension machine (or use one at your gym). I actually ended up buying one, and I have been focusing on implementing his back extension exercises into my routine slowly and progressing up.

I like his mindset about training the lower back over time rather than treating your back like it needs to be a stiff beam that never bends for the rest of your life.

Go slowly

This is VERY important. Often times I would go really hard on my exercises and hurt really bad the next day. I assumed I was just sore, and then I wouldn’t let my back recover enough, and I’d do it again.

Remember, fixing your back (or any injury) is probably going to be a slow process. Had I just followed the proper protocol from the start in 2023, I could have been LONG done with these issues, but instead I wanted fast results and it cost me 2 years of lower back health.

Even prior to my back being really messed up, I was trying to work out consistently. In my head I had to push everything to failure for it to count as a gym session, and if I couldn’t go 3 times a week, then I was probably wasting my time.

Now that I have learned more, I realize that is a horrible approach and mindset. You don’t have to murder yourself in the gym to get results.

Consistency is greater than short bursts of high intensity.

Squat University (YouTube channel)

While they don’t focus solely on lower back pain, they have a ton of YouTube shorts that are extremely informative and I learned a lot about various body mechanics and how to fix various issues by watching this channel. Lots of great information.

Weak glutes

I mentioned earlier that many of my issues are likely due to my weak glutes. This is another focus of my exercise right now and I wanted to list some of them out for you.

I recommend you Google these exercises because having a visual will be far better than my explanation. If you look up glute medius exercises, you’ll find many (and more) of the exercises I will mention.

• Lateral band walks

  • You take an exercise band and put it around your knees, and then bend your knees like you are at the kitchen line, and you take 10 steps to the left, then 10 steps to the right. Try to keep tension on the band the whole time

• Banded clam shells

  • Google it. It’ll be easier haha.

• Glute bridge

  • Lay on your back, put your feet on the ground, squeeze your glutes, and lift up into a bridge.

• Standing glute kickback

  • I don’t quite do it like they recommend. Instead of kicking backward, I kick backward at a 45 degree angle. This was recommended by my physical therapist. I would do this every single time to warm up before playing Pickleball along with the lateral band walks.

Walking

I already mentioned it, but I think it’s so important I’m going to say it again, go on frequent walks and get your steps in. Sitting constantly is not good for you, and I found that walking more has drastically sped up the process to getting better.

Plus, walks are just good. Listen to an audiobook, a YouTube video (maybe our podcast? ;D), or walk with your significant other (if you have one).

DO THE WORK

If you’re like me and you’ve dealt with the issues for a long time, it’s not going to be an overnight fix. I don’t enjoy taking what feels like a good portion of my day doing these exercises, but I realize if I want to stop complaining about my back, I need to put the work in. Even if that means I have to do all of this every single day for the next year.

There’s no reason I need to keep living with this pain, and the only thing holding me back has been my own stubbornness about putting in the real work. Don’t skip days, don’t skip reps, just get it done.

Final thoughts

I will never take basic aspects of my health for granted again. I’m thankful it only cost me a few years worth of time to learn that lesson, and that I learned it fairly young. I hope this helps someone out there avoid this type of injury altogether, or help someone that is actively dealing with it.

I have no doubt that I’ve still got a journey ahead of me and that I will probably flare my back up a couple more times in the process. I don’t expect to be cured yet, but now I know what I need to do.

Even if you don’t have back pain, I think it’s worth it for everyone to learn how to warm up properly, and even introduce some basic workouts into your life to avoid ending up in a similar position.

Whether that’s lower back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, hip pain, etc.

Trust me, when you get to the point I did, you will be so frustrated with your past self for not setting things up for future you.

Do something today your future self will thank you for.

Hope this helps someone out there.