[New Straits Times] Get to the core
While athletes and weekend warriors practise healthy and active lifestyles, they are often not spared from back and pelvis injuries.
Physiotherapist Genevieve Chan explains back injury, and how to protect the spine and hip
IF you’ve experienced sharp pain or persistent soreness in your back, whether after a period of inactivity or after some exercise, chances are you may be suffering from back injury.
In fact, back and spine injuries are more common than you think. According to Mayo Clinic, approximately 80 per cent of all Americans will have lower back pain at least once in their lives.
According to the National Health Service, UK, back pain is the largest cause of work-related absence in the United Kingdom.
Aside from possible medical conditions such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, sciatica, or cancer, more often than not, back pain is caused by lifestyle factors such as poor posture, lack of exercise, excess weight, occupational hazards, as well as ageing and genetics.
Today’s increasingly sedentary lifestyle, perpetuated by the use of mobile devices and tablets that encourage users to lounge while they work, only adds to the problem.
The spine-pelvis works in synergy to form the core from which our body works. Our extremities extend from this core to produce all forms of force and motion.
The hip joint is the first joint attached to the spine-pelvis complex, housing many of the powerful muscles and tendons that stabilise and protect the spine and hip during activities and sports.
The main function of the spine-pelvis-hip group is to give you a solid base that will allow your legs to produce strong powerful forces.
If any part of this group fails then activity at the lower extremity becomes less efficient and injury-prone. The two basic causes of failure are weakness of the core, and lack of flexibility.
NOT SPARED
While athletes and weekend warriors practise generally healthy and active lifestyles, they are often not spared from back and pelvis injuries.
A majority of spine and pelvis injuries that happen during sports are due to repetitive overuse, improper body mechanics, poor technique in sports, lack of proper conditioning for the particular sport, lack of flexibility
and trauma.
Whether we are in front of the computer, watching TV or driving, our posture is often not right. That encourages us to have tight muscles in the wrong places, and even worse, strong muscles in the
wrong places.
Then at the end of the week, we go out and play badminton, and that’s when things go wrong.
In some sports, like golf and tennis, it is more common to see back and pelvis injuries than in others, simply because of the kind of movement and force required in the sport, such as a lot of rotation and flexion movement.
Because we are sedentary, and have no choice but to be sedentary these days, we must make sure we mobilise all the right muscles
and joints.
So what should we do?
We should do rotation, side flexion and extension to work our back muscles. For the hip, there are more movements, so we must ensure every movement is well-coordinated, and our joints and muscles are flexible.
There are also muscles coming from the spine to your lower limbs, like your thigh muscles and hamstring.
The moment they are tight, like if you can’t touch your toes or the floor while standing (without bending your legs), then your whole pelvis tilts and you become injury prone.
But if we maintain the flexibility and strength of our joints and muscles, then there is nothing to worry about.
SPINE AND POSTURE CARE
Physiotherapy helps those suffering from injury to recover.
Basic spine and posture care can take you a long way in protecting your spine when you exercise.
• Avoid sitting in one position for prolonged periods of time
• Prepare the back for the movements needed by the sport
• Avoid slouching
• Use proper lifting techniques at all times
However, as they say, doing the right thing is hard work. In the case of practising the right posture when standing or sitting, it can be an uncomfortable and even painful experience for those who are not used to it.
You have to first stretch those muscles, and get into that position. Then you have to use the muscles you’ve never used before, to hold the position long enough, until the position becomes normal for you.
It is also important to ensure our muscles are well-balanced and well-stretched before beginning any sort of activity.
When you are stretching, the muscle that is uncomfortable, painful or the one that you hate doing, is the one that is tight. Most people avoid stretching the painful or uncomfortable muscles, but actually these are the ones you need to focus on.
In summary, the keyword in spine and hip health is stability and muscle balance.
To prevent injuries to the spine and hip, you basically need a strong core — meaning the correct muscles and joints must be strong and flexible. These are the basics.
The writer is chief physiotherapist at Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre. For more information on KLSMC visit www.klsmc.com
Stay in the game
SOME basic exercise pointers which can help reduce injury risk while you play your favourite sport:
• Strengthening the right muscles for your sport.
• Stretch the right joints and muscles for your sport.
• Ensure optimal joint flexibility.
• Ensure good postural control especially at the spine-pelvis complex.
• Improve your body mechanics.
• Correct any gait abnormalities.
• Progress a new sport slowly and progress accordingly.
• Avoid overuse. Cross train.
