As active adults our lower backs are asked to do a lot for us.

Your back supports you while you train and lift weights. It stabilizes you during hiking, runs and the other sports or hobbies you love. It carries you through long workdays, travel, and the mental load of busy full lives.

So when lower back discomfort shows up, it can feel frustrating. Especially when the internet keeps offering the same advice on repeat: stretch more, strengthen your core and avoid movements that hurt.

For most active adults this isn’t the answer. 

Below are the five most common causes of lower back discomfort I see every single week in active adults. And what actually helps you feel strong, capable and confident in your back pain.

1. When Training Demands Exceed Your Body’s Capacity

The most common reason pain shows up in active adults is when the demands of your training and life exceed your body’s current capacity. 

This is also why so many flare-ups feel random, when in reality, they’re usually anything but. 

When the load from your workouts, daily activities, hobbies and sports starts to stack up, especially when combined with increased stress and less consistent sleep, eventually your body will start to speak to you. 

Not because something is damaged. But because your body is asking for more support, more recovery or a shift in how you’re loading and stressing your back. 

This is why you might feel fine for weeks, and then suddenly notice tightness, achiness or pain during a particularly stressful work period, a heavy travel schedule, or a stretch of poor sleep. 

Nine times out of ten, it’s not one bad lift run or workout that causes pain. It’s an accumulation of added stress and load on the back over time. 

The good news?  Once you understand how load and capacity work together, back pain becomes something you can easily control. Not something that feels like it controls you. 

2. Strength Deficits That Contribute To Lower Back Discomfort 

The second most common reason active adults experience back pain is strength deficits in key muscle groups that help to support and stabilize the spine.

If you search online for exercises for back pain, you’ll almost always be told to strengthen your core. And while core strength does matter, it’s often not the missing piece for most people. 

For many active adults, the lateral hip stabilizers are just as important, and sometimes even more important, than traditional core work.

These muscles help control the hips and pelvis, keep you steady during single-leg movements, absorb force when you run or hike, and help your spine manage load efficiently.

When these muscles aren’t strong or aren’t firing well, the lower back often takes on more stress than it was designed to handle. Over time, that’s when pain starts to show up. 

Strengthening these smaller, supporting muscles builds the foundation your body needs to lift, run, play sports and move confidently without pain.

It’s not flashy work. But it’s often the difference between a back that feels irritated and a back that feels strong and supported.

3. Mobility Restrictions That Can Lead to Lower Back Discomfort 

The third most common reason active adults experience lower back pain is due to restrictions in mobility.

When joints can’t move through their full, available range of motion, it changes how load is distributed throughout the body. It also affects how efficiently the muscles that cross those joints are able to do their job. 

For active adults, this often shows up as restrictions in the hips, lower back, the middle to upper back, or even the feet and ankles.

When those areas aren’t moving well, the lower back often ends up picking up the slack. Over time, that extra stress accumulates, and pain begins to show up.

This is why back pain isn’t always about the back itself. Sometimes the solution is restoring movement where it’s missing so your body can share the load more efficiently and muscles can fire more optimally. 

4. Poor Loading Progression or Program Gaps 

The fourth most common reason active adults experience low back pain is due to poor loading progressions or gaps in their training program

Progress matters. Adding new activities, increasing intensity, or changing your program too quickly can overwhelm your body if capacity hasn’t been built gradually. 

This might look like jumping back into training after time off and picking up right where you left off, or increasing running mileage and speed at the same time. Even small changes can add up quickly if recovery and progression aren’t considered. 

It also means recognizing that new activities like running, skiing or hiking still count as load on the body even if it doesn’t feel like a traditional workout.

Alongside progression issues, many active adults also have gaps in their programming that leave the back under-supported during day to day movement and heavier activities. 

Most traditional strength training programs focus on movements in the sagittal or front to back plane of motion. But real life doesn’t happen in just one direction. We rotate, bend and move in multiple different directions.

When our training doesn’t prepare the body for these demands, areas like the lower back can become more vulnerable during unexpected movements like twisting, lifting or reaching  

Programming that includes rotation exercises, lateral movements, controlled eccentrics and plyometrics help to strengthen the back in all directions supporting both everyday life and the activities you love.

5. Lower Back Discomfort That’s Driven By Inadequate Recovery and Lifestyle Load 

The last most common reason active adults experience lower back pain is because of lack of adequate recovery which causes added stress on the body over time. 

Even the best rehab or training program can fall short if your body isn’t supported outside of the gym.

When we talk about recovery many people think first of things like massages, foam rolling, cupping or dry needling. These tools can feel good and may provide short-term relief. But on their own, they rarely create lasting change. 

Sleep in particular is when your body does most of its healing and repair work. Without enough quality sleep, pain receptors can become more sensitive, making movements that once felt fine start to feel more irritating. 

Stress also plays a major role. While exercise can be considered a good form of stress on the body, your body doesn’t differentiate between “good” stress and “bad” stress. It simply just responds to the total load it’s under. 

So if you are bombarded with demanding work projects, family or relationship stress, travel, or a packed schedule, those are all stressors your body is trying to process. When you layer high intensity training or activity on top of that multiple days per week it can sometimes push your body beyond what it’s currently able to handle. 

Supporting recovery isn’t about doing less, it’s about making sure your body has the resources it needs to adapt, heal and stay resilient. 

What To Do If You’re Experiencing Lower Back Discomfort 

Once you understand these five common drivers of lower back discomfort, the next step is figuring out which ones are actually showing up for you, and how to address them in a way that fits your life.

If this article helped you see your back pain in a new way and you would like support applying this to your own life, I want to invite you to book a free call with me.

We’ll talk through what’s going on, what I’m seeing and what would help you move forward.