Have you ever suffered from back problems?

Over the last few weeks I’ve had one client off with a lower back problem plus have had a large number of people book in for a sports massage because of it.

The pain and problems can vary from slight tension in the lower back to actually not being able to move from bed!

So being the guy I am I thought I’d help my readers who suffer out. If you haven’t suffered before with back pain I’d still say this article is still worth a read. You may pick up some tips which could help friends/family or you out in the future, plus I’ll teach some strategies which will help to prevent you from getting back problems.

I know your time is precious so you may have noticed that my articles are a bit shorter and easier to read. I understand a lot of people don’t have time to read essays, I also struggle to find time to write one every week! So I’m going to spread this long article over the next few weeks in 3 parts.

In this article I’m just going to talk about symptoms and causes for you to look out for. Part 2 I’m going to look at stretches for lower back pain and then in part 3 I’m going to show you how to strengthen your lower back.

Okay so most back pain is musculoskeletal.

It can be caused by many things, commonly poor posture, twisting awkwardly or incorrect lifting technique.

There are many different causes of pain in the back such as bulging disks, sciatica or spinal stenosis but I’m going to stick to strictly muscular pain for this series. Not to say that some of the tips won’t help with the other causes.

Normally people aged between 30-60 will suffer the most with this.

These are the typical symptoms experienced:

• Limited movement, can be too painful to walk or stand
• Pain is often felt like a dull ache
• Sore when touched
• Sometimes severe muscle spasms
• The pain can sometimes be felt around the upper thigh, groin and gluteal muscles (bum!)

When you injure yourself it is usually a muscular strain or ligament strain. A strange movement can force the muscle or ligaments to overstretch or develop microscopic tears.

If you suffer badly the first thing you should do is get seen by a doctor.

If you have a few of the symptoms mentioned above but they aren’t severe then you need to do something about it. In the next two articles I’ll show you some good stretches and strengthening exercises for your back.

A good option would be to book in for a deep tissue sports massage. You can book in with me or a member of the team here.

Here are a quick 5 tips to help you with lower back pain:

1. Keep moving. Obviously you’ll need to cease anything too strenuous if you are suffering badly but try and keep moving rather than bed rest.
2. Paracetemol or anti inflammatory drugs can help
3. Hot and cold treatment
4. Changing sleeping position. Try drawing the knees up when you sleep on your side towards your chest with a pillow in between your knees.
5. Read article 2 and 3. Sorry you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for these ones 😉
6. Okay I’ll give you one more. Be careful when lifting! Make sure that you use safe lifting technique, use your legs, head forward and back straight.

Catch you next time!

Jamie Stedman