Athletes: How to Prevent Back Pain

What Causes Back Pain?

A quick jerking or overextension of back muscles when weight lifting can lead to a tear of the muscles. If you return to the gym before you are fully healed and continue to lift, it could lead to chronic back pain. It is important when dealing with a sports’ injury to consult your doctor or physical therapist before continuing with your workout routine.

Another cause of back pain is a herniated disc. If you fall, strain your back repeatedly, or twist your back suddenly when playing sports like football or tennis, it can result in one of the discs in your spine slipping out of place. This puts pressure on a nerve and causes pain. You can usually treat this without surgery. Your physical therapist may recommend to you core stabilization exercises and anti-flammatory medication. Rest as well as hot or cold packs can also be useful. Steroid injections can also reduce pain and swelling.

Another typical issue athletes deal with is stiffness and restricted motion. If you do not allow injuries to heal properly, practice poor posture, and don’t condition well, it can lead to this situation. Athletes who are dealing with this will not engage those muscles to avoid pain. This will make the issue even worse. Going to physical therapy and rest can help with this.

Spondylolysis is a painful spine condition that can cause back pain. It is most common in kids who engage in sport activities like football and gymnastics. Overextension of the spine, especially in a growing child, may cause stress fractures in the spine. One bone may slip out of place due to the bones weakening. Symptoms involve chronic back pain spreading to the lower back and worsens with activity. In this situation, you may have to refrain from sports until the pain subsides. You should also engage in regular physical therapy.

How Athletes Can Avoid Back Pain?

If you want to avoid back pain, don’t skip the warmup. Muscles and joints are stiff and inflexible when they don’t have enough blood flow. Keep the warmup gentle because overdoing it can also lead to injury.

Another way to avoid back pain is to strengthen your core. When the muscles surrounding your spine are strong, they protect your back against impacts which leads to less injury. Your doctor or physical therapist can give you recommendations on core exercises you can do.

Crosstraining can also help to prevent back pain. If you only do one type of sport or exercise constantly, you run the risk of injuring overused muscles. Pick up different activities and sports you can do to change up your routine. They can be competitive or just for fun.

A good way to protect yourself when playing sports is to wear protective gear. If you are playing a contact sport, it is especially important that you wear your protection. The gear is to protect you and lessen your chance of injury.

The last way to protect yourself from back injury is to practice a healthy lifestyle. Muscles grow with proper nutrition. Proper sleep and hydration will lead to regeneration and flexibility in muscles and tissue.

How to Maintain A Healthy Back?

Having lower back flexibility is a great way to maintain a healthy back. Stretching reduces tension in the muscles that supports the spine. It improves range of motion. Stretching also helps to prevent disability caused by back pain. Hamstring and hip flexor flexibility are also an important part of preserving a healthy back. Flexible hamstrings prevent your hips and pelvis from rotating back. This can help stave off back pain and sacroiliac joint pain.

Hamstring flexibility also gives you a better posture. Flexible hamstrings allow proper blood circulation and help you perform at a higher capacity.

Abdominal strength is so important. Weak abdominal muscles strain the back extensor muscles as a result of an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt. Strengthen the back extensor to stabilize the spine. Having weak back musclescan add stress to the spine, causing compression.
