Squats - Upper/Middle back muscle

Starting squats the other day I think I pulled a muscle somewhere in my upper/middle back.
I was a bit taken back because if anything I was expecting my lower back (or knees again) if anything.
I try some stretches beforehand - legs, knees, hips, arms, but generally not upper back. I was hoping to go close to 70kg squats (currently doing up to 65kg). I stretched, warmed up with 5x20kg squats, 5x40kg squats, then on 60kg I lowered a little bit then something felt like it 'let go' and immediately stopped. I do squats first, and hadn't done any other exercises. That was Monday, and have been resting ever since. Still sore, but getting better. Definitely not lower back and feels like in the middle of my back towards the spin, but off to one side a bit.

My main questions are really an advice on stretching the back? I was caught off guard a bit, so aim to stretch the whole body to be safe now (is this overkill?). And also any thoughts from other people on warming up and stretching prior to squats.

Also, on a side note - any ideas on what muscle this may be? how long it would take to recover (or how long I should wait before doing exercise again)? Do you think it could have been more of a form issue rather than warming up issue. I know hard to say over the internet, but perhaps just take it in a general nature.

Any before anybody says see a physio... I know, I know... but I think I might just go for the rest and try again later...

Could be anything. Commonly it's the erector spinae, the muscles that run either side of your spine from your bum to your neck. People tend to have weak glutes, when those don't engage to get you off the ground, the erector spinae kick in to take the load. At some point this is too much for them, and you get a strain.

So long as the pain's not hindering your daily life, it's not brilliant but not crazy to wait a week for things to settle down before going to the physio. But if it still hurts after that, do go.

And after that, have someone experienced check your squats to see if you're using your glutes. Probably you're not, will have to halve the load and work up again using your glutes properly.

Where does the bar sit when you squat?

The Bar sits on my shoulder-blades/back, not on my neck.

Kyle, 'if' I do have weak glutes as described, how would I change my form? What should I be doing???

Basically, you stick your bum out the whole way up and down. It's a hip exercise, not a knee exercise, so you should break first at the hips as you go down, and straighten first at the hips as you go up.

Go to the physio, and go find someone to train you in person

A lot of things happening when squatting and although visual feedback from the mirror is better than nothing, if it helps that's great.it is easy to miss things in the mirror, or think you're straight when you're not. It's also bad if you alter your head position from where it should be, to look at the mirror. Some people feel that looking in the mirror is good head position, I personally prefer the head pointing down. Now if you hold your head where it should be and move your eyes, not your head, so you can see the mirror - that should be okay.

Another thing I thought of, this may ssem so obvious but are you lining up your feet evenly? I found I was setting up with the right foot back about two inches. Felt perfectly square! But the tightness on the right side was doing this. So I was twisting just a little to keep the shoulders and bar square. Could never see this in the mirror.
Seeing a physio is wise.

This might seem like a strange or perhaps stupid question (not trying to be a smart a#$%), but why would I see a physio?

I'm sure he/she might be able to tell me in detail what I have done wrong, but aren't they just going to tell me to rest? (thats the impression I get from doctors anyway)

Doctors tell you to rest, because no-one ever got an immediate and more severe injury from resting. They might get weak and stiff over 20 years or so, but they never got injured. Whereas lots of people got injured actually doing stuff. Doctors aim to stop you getting worse, rather than making you better.

Physios tend to aim at restoring function, actually making you better rather than just not making you worse. So they prescribe exercises to strengthen, stretches to loosen up, and suggest different ways of doing your workout to get the best out of it.

So go to the physio. Alternately, you could just judge without any experience of the thing, and continue doing things that get you poor results and pain. Lots of people do.

A physio will go through a series of questions to target whether the injury is referred or local.
Most people make the mistake of self diagnosing.
More often than not pain is referred in that the source of the pain is caused by something else.
In my case I felt pain in my arm- visiting a physio found that the pain was a result of nerve impingment under the scapula.

I further suspect this is a result of a leg injusry I sustained while coming off my pushbike years ago.
When I squat I find if Im not careful I tend to compensate.

i reckon you have done what i did. go to the physio matey. i did and she gave me a whole lot of excercises to do and you would not believe how much they help. just need to mend now!!

Yeah, I reckon I might go if I can find somebody available...
Feeling a bit better, but might ask about some other injuries too

Thx guys, really, really helpful site!

Regarding the squats, I would love for somebody to help me out locally but being a small country town I don't like my chances. I visit YouTube a lot. Anyway, so in theory (please correct me if I'm wrong) when doing a squat I stick my bum out, push out my chest and pull back with my shoulders/back, don't lean forward too much, go at least to parallel, look forward, don't point knees in, and don't have toes too far out.... hows that?