Back pain is a common condition affecting many individuals at some point in their lives. Similar to the general population, back pain occurs frequently in the athletes, both young and old.
The National Health Committee in the U.S. has shown a high prevalence of low back pain among the general population, including athletes and runners, especially having lumbar sprain/strain, back pain with radiating symptoms, arthritic changes of the spine or slipped disc (Non-specific low back pain or mechanical low back pain). A small population encounters lower back pain due to underlying pathology, without trauma, or possible referred pain from internal organs. What we don’t realise from these diagnoses are that they are names for the damages of the spine, that could be contributed/ accumulated from postural stress. Postural stress happens on the spine and joints when we have a history of slip and fall, whiplash during a motor-vehicle accident, walking one sided after an ankle sprain, repetitively doing a same motion for long hours or many years. The most common in this current era is sitting in a slouching posture in front of the computer at work or texting with your head bent forward.
Imagine how much the average person actually slouches on a day. Slouching during breakfast, then hunch over the sink while you brush your teeth, slouching while driving a car, doing house chores, and then slouching while sitting at work, studying or watching TV. Don’t forget when you are not slouching, you are bending over to clean up or carrying a load off the ground. The list of slouching possibilities is endless!
DO YOU KEEP YOUR BACK STRAIGHT WHEN YOU CARRY A HEAVY LOAD OFF THE GROUND?
Now envision your running posture. Many of us run in a forward head and rounded shoulders position – that’s a slouched posture! Upper back and neck pain is a common occurrence. The most typical cause is almost always the poor posture. Slouching is also often associated with posterior pelvic tilt, over time causing a reduction in the normal lower back curve that increases the risk of developing low back pain (LBP). When the spine is not in their proper alignment, mechanical stress overloads the spine. As runners’ pound mile over mile, this creates even more pain and dysfunction.
Hence, for beginners, there’re more to knowing how to run than simply lacing up your sneakers and hitting the road. Research shows that proper running form puts less stress on the body and decreases the risk of injuries, allowing runners to go longer, train harder and get faster.
The anatomy of the athlete’s back is no different from that of the non-athlete. The biochemical and physiological processes that occur when the back is stressed are identical between those who run and those who does not. Studies have not proven the athletes have stronger back muscles than those general populace, neither have they found any strong evidence showing that athletes are more prone to back injuries compared to non-athletes. There are multiple reasons that this can occur to runners, some are more common than others.
- New activity (fatigue)
- Running long distances without proper warm up
- Postural abnormalities
- Previous or current injuries elsewhere in the body
- Weakness in the core and hip muscles
- Restricted motion on lower extremity and lumbar (low back)
- Poor running form
- Frequent uphill running
Larson, a gait analyst at Performance Health Spine and Sport Therapy in Concord, NH shared his advice saying “the way you run affects the forces being applied to your body’s muscles, tendons and joints”. Now you may put your smartphone to good use and get your running buddy to take a video of you running. Yes, you, watch how you run and be your own analyst! You might realise things that you have not noticed or felt.
