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Lower back pain affects both men and women, affecting 80% of all people at some time in their lives. Many causes, such as poor posture, muscle weakness, or herniated discs, are common to both sexes.
However, women's anatomy, hormonal fluctuations, and life stages—such as pregnancy or menopause—can introduce additional challenges.
The good news is that with a targeted approach that seeks to find the root cause instead of just treating the symptoms, lower back pain can be effectively managed and often eliminated.
Women, like men, frequently experience back pain due to:
1. Muscle Weakness: If your muscles don't have the strength or endurance to provide the support your spine needs you will overload them, crossing the tipping point into pain and injury.
2. Herniated Discs: The intervertebral discs in your lower lumbar spine may bulge or herniate due to poor movement patterns or incorrect lifting technique, often involving excessive flexion and/or extension of the spine, especially while under load.
3. Poor Posture: The alignment of your spine while you sit, stand and move determines the amount of stress it's subjected to. Excess stress can cause premature degeneration of the intervertebral discs.
Disc herniation explained by Dr. Stuart McGill
However, women are more susceptible to certain types of lower back pain:
1. Sacroiliac (SI) Joint Dysfunction
Hormonal changes during pregnancy can loosen ligaments, destabilizing the SI joint. This can often be addressed with targeted spine and hip stabilising exercises that strengthen all of the muscles around the SI joints.
2. Endometriosis
Uterine tissue growing outside the uterus may cause severe pelvic pain that radiates to the lower back. A laparoscopy (a minimally invasive surgical procedure) remains the gold standard for diagnosis, as it allows direct visualization and biopsy of the lesions.
3. Fibroids
Benign growths in the uterus can exert pressure on the lower back. These can usually be identified by ultrasound.
4. Osteoporosis
Women are at higher risk of reduced bone density, which can lead to spinal fractures. One in two women over the age of 50 will experience an osteoporotic fracture. This highlights the importance of full body strength training for peri and post-menopausal women. You can take a bone mineral density test to understand more about your individual risk.
5. Hormonal Changes
Menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and menopause can affect ligament flexibility and spine support. Spine stabilising exercises are often the most successful way to address any resulting hypermobility.
To rule out conditions such as endometriosis and fibroids that could be contributing towards your back pain you should consult with your medical doctor.
However, if your back pain changes when you move or change posture, there's clearly a biomechanical component to your pain.
If this is the case, it's important you undergo a thorough biomechanical assessment to determine its precise cause(s). There is no more thorough assessment for low back pain than the McGill Method assessment.
As a McGill Method Certified Personal Trainer, I provide a science-based approach to identifying the cause of your back pain and helping you to become pain-free.
Using evidence-based techniques developed by Dr. Stuart McGill, one of the world’s leading experts on low back pathologies, I help my clients alleviate their pain, restore function, and build injury-resistant backs. This is how it works:
1. A Comprehensive Assessment
I take you through a thorough assessment to Identify the postures, movements and loads that provoke your pain. This includes assessment for conditions such as hypermobility or a dysfunctional SI joint that may be a result of hormonal issues specific to women.
2. Education and Empowerment
It's empowering to understand the precise cause of your low back pain. I teach you movement tools and 'spine hygiene' practices that help you avoid provoking your pain and put you on the path to becoming pain-free.
3. Personalised Training Plan
I provide you with an individualised exercise plan based on what we find during the assessment. I only give you exercises that you're able to do pain-free. I adapt your program progressively as your muscular endurance and strength improve.
4. Accessible Coaching
With remote consultations, I support you wherever you're based in the world. I have helped women in North America (eastern and western time zones), Europe, Asia and the Middle East overcome their back pain exclusively via online assessments and coaching.
'I have had a variety of back issues for most of my adult life. I am 57 and have always exercised regularly, but I was at the point where I was taking pain medication daily and regular physiotherapy wasn’t helping to relieve the pain. I was doing an exercise program designed for people with back pain, but I was starting to feel that perhaps it was working against me and I went looking online for a personal trainer who really understood back issues.
In the initial 3-hour session, Andy was meticulous about understanding my history and what kinds of movements both caused and relieved the pain. No other health care provider has taken this kind of time and attention.
The training sessions Andy has put together have been enjoyable, just challenging enough, and with enough variety that they aren’t boring. The app works very well, and Andy has been very responsive to any questions or issues. When something isn’t working for me, he makes suggestions until we find something that helps.
I live in a rural, isolated area so being able to access a personal trainer online is necessary. I wasn’t sure how effective this was going to be, but Andy has unique skills that have made it work very well. It feels very much like we are working together in the same room.
Highly recommended!'
—Anne Bennett (Canada)
'How lucky to have found Andy! For several years I had been suffering from back pain in the lumbar region. I had a series of lower back pain issues despite physiotherapy and regular physical activity. Everything got worse after my pregnancy, and I was starting to despair!
The Low Back Pain Rehab Program saved me! I learned to relieve my pain, to perform the right movements on a daily basis, to restabilize my back and to build my muscles properly.
I appreciated the professional follow-up, the presence and the involvement of Andy, all by video, simple and effective! Thank you!!!
I recommend 100%!'
—Rosine Hudbert (France)
Lower back pain doesn’t have to control your life. Whether it’s caused by an issue common to men and women or by one unique to women, I’ll help you get to the root of the problem and put you on the path to becoming pain-free.
Book a free online consultation with me today to find out more about how I can help you.
'After months with pain in the lower back and trying massages, stretching and abdominal exercises, yoga, physiotherapy which worsened the symptoms, I decided to look for a solution that tackled exactly my problem and found Andy.
After a video call to check expectations and modalities we started with a thorough 3 hrs analysis. I was surprised with which detail this is possible via Zoom and yes, Andy has an experienced eye in observing which type of movements are causing pain and how to modify them. After that, I received a written summary of the analysis and daily exercises. The program was updated every couple of weeks after checking in trying more and other types of exercises. I still receive my daily workout.
The pain improved quickly with the few adjustments in my daily behavior and the exercises, and after a couple of weeks I was pain free almost always.Thank you so much Andy for your patience and dedication.
The money here is well spent - for the sake of a pain free life.'
—Jannett Hucke (The Philippines)
'I have being struggling with my lower back (L4-L5) since almost three years, I had surgery and stopped feeling the pain through my leg but nothing seemed to really work to stop feeling pain in my back. I decided to contact Andy for help and I think that was the best idea.
I have being doing his back program for almost four months, and having online sessions every two weeks with him. I am happy to say that now I have days that I really don't notice my back and I started to do more of the ordinary things that I stopped doing because of my back.
He is an extraordinary professional, always kind and willing to help. If he managed to help me this much in these few months I can't wait to see whats next in the months to come.
Thank you, Andy 🙂'
—Mayte Medina (Spain)
'I call Andy a miracle worker. Without even being in the same room or running any tests, he was able to diagnose the chronic lower back pain I’d been suffering from for four years.
I had tried every conventional method to relieve my pain—medication, physiotherapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, deep tissue massages, yoga—you name it. Nothing worked.
As it turned out, I had undiagnosed herniated discs. Remarkably, just by stopping the stretches I’d been doing for years, I experienced immediate relief.
Andy’s thorough approach and easy-to-follow program have made a huge difference in my life. I now feel empowered, in control of my pain, and hopeful about my future. Moreover, I understand my condition and trigger points better, so I am able to work around it.
Although there’s still a long road ahead, I finally see a silver lining. I fully recommend working with Coach Andy and following his program.'
—Najma Khan (Iraq)
'Andy has worked a literal miracle on my back. Before I had almost constant pain and now I have hardly any.
His practical approach to strengthening, stretching and movement comes from a place of experience and solid knowledge. My general strength and fitness has also improved so that I can run pain free again.
I couldn't recommend him highly enough!'
—Sarah Morter-Laing (France)
