Back issues can result from all manner of activity and inactivity. While
some runners experience lower back pain, it may more often be a result
of sitting hunched in front of a computer screen all day than from that 5
miles you ran before work.
In fact,
research published in the journal Spine, which surveyed 937 former elite athletes from different sports and 620 control participants, discovered that lower back pain was actually less of a problem for athletes than the general population. When the researchers honed in on runners in particular, they didn't find any correlation between lower back pain and higher training mileage.
More: 10 Tips to Extend Your Running Life
While
those results are comforting for runners who don't currently have
issues with back pain, there are still plenty of harriers out there who
struggle with this issue. The pain generally materializes as an ache in
the lower back muscles before, during or after running. While the
culprit of this ailment isn't always running related, there are a number
of potential links.
"Oftentimes it is an overuse issue due to a
lack of hip mobility and inappropriate core stability," explains Jim
Beversdorf, a licensed athletic trainer and certified strength and
conditioning specialist at
Bellin Health Sports Medicine
in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "Core is a very generalized and often overused
term by many today, so to get to the root issue takes an in-depth
understanding of what needs to be corrected with regards to
stabilization of the core."
More: 9 Core Exercises That Improve Running Form
One of the main trouble areas of the core that may be a partial cause of lower back pain: the hips. In particular,
research
has shown that runners often lack hip mobility, meaning they are less
flexible in this area. Many experts believe that, along with tight
hamstrings, the pelvis can end up rotated too far forward or backward,
thereby placing undue strain on the spine.
More: Hip Strengthening and Mobility Exercises for Runners
Poor
form, which can be correlated to decreased hip mobility in some cases,
can also be one of the root causes of lower back pain in runners. If you
suspect this may be your problem, Beversdorf suggests going to see an
expert.
"Educating a runner on proper form and, more
importantly, teaching them the corrective exercises that influence their
form, is the important part," Beversdorf says. "Simply telling someone
to change [his or her] posture isn't going to do it for most runners;
their current posture position has been trained for long periods of
time, and it takes specific corrective techniques to positively improve
posture."
Continue reading the rest of the article here:
https://www.active.com/running/articles/how-to-treat-and-prevent-running-injuries-lower-back-pain
Related Article:
Return to Lexington: A Team Through Time
