LOWER back pain is an epidemic in the United States. Unfortunately, this epidemic does not escape swimmers, divers, or synchronized swimmers. Excessive extension or hinging from one segment of the lumbar vertebrae causes spondylolysis (making you a spondy), better known as stress fracture to the pars interarticularis. Spondylolysis is the most common form of back pain in adolescent athletes plaguing many athletes with pain and inhibiting their range of motion.