Lower back pain while squatting

[GTTofAK]

It's highly possible and maybe even probable squats weakened your hips before the injury finally happened.

No I'm pretty sure that it was injury in the field that caused it.

I do agree that many powerlifters have problems because they never stretch. But their problems are not unique to powerlifters and are common with almost all athletes. Also many people even some powerlifters and most bodybuilders try and maintain too much of an upright posture when they squat. This puts a compressive force on the back. Counter intuitively if you want to avoid back injury you want to move the load from the spine to the spinal erectors in the back by having a very horizontal back angle. This might seem dangerous but its only dangerous if we try and lift more weight than your spinal erectors can hold.