Towards the end of my summer semester, in late June/Early July, I was doing bent-over rows when I experienced almost a popping sensation and immediate, intense pain in my lower back. It took my a full minute or so to fully stand upright from my bent forward position and decided that further lifting would be painful and impossible. Instead of my normal light jog after my lift to cool off, I decided to walk back to my house. The pain became much more severe and I decided to take a week or so off of lifting, but continued to try and jog a few days later, which proved to cause a slight pain in my lower back. At this point, I felt the injury was minor and only a pulled back muscle.
When I returned to the gym a few weeks later I felt OK, not great, but definitely in good enough condition to return to my routine. While there, I idiotically did the same lift and experienced the exact same pain in the same spot, this time with more intensity. I was in agony at this point and decided to walk home again, this time taking some more time off lifting. I could barely walk out of my room and coming down the stairs was a burden. Even laying in my bed was a problem because of how soft it was, coughing and breathing caused slight discomfort.
After a just a week or so, the pain in my back subsided considerably and I decided to return to running. At this time I was constantly continuing swimming since, although much discomfort came from back, it was not painful and actually felt better afterwards.
When I began running I noticed a higher level of discomfort in my lower back, as well a tiny amount of pain in my right buttock and IT band and hamstring area. After the run, I went to get dinner where I experienced what can only be described as a full-body cramp. Every single muscle I had plus some I didn't know I had, including muscles up my neck to my skull and face fully cramped for what was probably 30 seconds to a minute but felt like an eternity. My friends wanted to take me to a hospital but I thought it was probably just lack of water/nutrients from getting back on my rigorous running routine (though I make sure to keep very hydrated and take vitamins). My entire right leg would not stop cramping on and off for hours, I chugged Gatorade, ate a banana, and iced and massaged my leg, and got relief about an hour or so later when the cramping and muscle facillation subsided.
A Random X-Ray of my ok knee a few months after the injury just for some imagery:
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