Welcome to another stop at Chris' Corner. This week my educational ramblings will cover a subject near and dear to many of us out there, including yours truly......low back pain. It's safe to say that the majority of us have experienced low back pain at one time or another. It's frustrating, it's debilitating, it affects almost everything you do. Lets look at some of the root causes and a relatively easy solution to this all too common problem. In the minority of cases pain is caused by a congenital abnormality in the spine, think scoliosis. Such abnormalities result in forces being distributed along the spine in a way that places too much stress on particular segments of the vertebral column. No matter if the structural problem is in the lumbar, thoracic or cervical area it can effect other segments of the spine. Conversely, all too often low back pain results from our placing too much stress on the lumbar spine through our own actions, think bending at the waist rather than bending the legs to pick something up. Such activity places a tremendous amount of stress on the extensor muscles, vertebra and disks in the lumbar (low back) region. The end result being a muscle strain, ligament sprain (see previous Chris' Corner for a discussion on strains vs sprains), disk herniation or vertebra being pulled out of alignment. An easy prescription to solve low back pain is core exercise. Any of my athletes who have taken part in "Camp Chris" know that I love core exercise! Core exercise solves low back pain by promoting stability in the pelvis and lumbar spine through strengthening the core musculature (i.e. transverse abdominis, internal and external obliques, multifidus and quadratus lumborum). This stability allows the pelvis and spine to stay in proper alignment meaning forces are distributed in such a way that prevents injury. To learn specific core exercises Google "core exercise" or ask your Certified Athletic Trainer.
On the court this week was great. The team went to 4-0 in the conference and it was parents weekend. It was nice to meet some of the parents of the athletes I provide care for. After our thrashing of Barry I got to break bread with the team and their families. Little things like that are a big reason I love working with volleyball so much. It might sound insignificant but as an Athletic Trainer you are not always included in such things. It's easy to see why this group is chock full of quality people. No road trips this week so no down time to settle the score with LP. No worries though, soon enough the rivalry will be renewed.
Remember to lift with the legs and do your core exercise. See you next week at Chris' Corner.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment