One of the most irritating things which can happen to an athlete is suffer a back injury! Not only can it be excruciating it becomes near impossible to ‘work around the injury’ as maybe you would if you suffered from mild tendonitis in the elbow joint for example. Your back is part of the core and if that is injured the chances of you having a decent workout, whatever the body part is very unlikely! Learn a little bit about back injury prevention here!
As well as injured muscles within the back muscle groups, other muscle groups can also stimulate back pain if you are out of balance for example. This is one of the reasons why purely from a functional perspective you need to ensure you keep your body well balanced by targeting each and every muscle group! Another common cause of an injured back is poor form during heavy lifting. If you are squatting with poor form it is likely you will at some point sustain an injury to your lower back due to the weight being directly transferred on to this area! Also avoid excessive ‘body swing’ during bicep curls or any other movement for that matter as this can also put your back under unwanted levels of stress! Something else too many people don’t focus enough on is warming up! If you are training back and you decide to do heavy deadlifts you should do at least 5-6 sets just to warm up because the strain an exercise like this places on the body is immense!
Whilst there are some of the most common causes of back injuries due to training, here are some tips to increase the durability of your back. Ensure when you train back you stimulate the lower portion as well using exercises such as the deadlift and weighted hyperextensions. From a functional point of view these exercises performed with correct form really help increase your strength in your lower back. They also help develop your stabilizing muscles in the back area which can also help prevent strains in the back from developing!
If you already suffer from a niggle in the back you will have a good idea how difficult it can be to work through any sort of workout depending on the severity of the injury. Exercises like squats and deadlifts should not feature in your workout plans as these do place a lot of strain on the lower back in particular. As a substitute you can perform partial deadlifts with a light weight just to achieve some stimulation in the area although hyperextensions are less strenuous and hit the same area of the back. For squats you will have to use leg pressing instead because partial squats aren’t generally particularly beneficial! If any exercise causes your back discomfort whilst training don’t use it and make sure you are seeing a specialist who can help rehabilitate your back! Without your back you wont go far as an athlete and by ignoring the injury you are sitting on a time bomb, once that bomb goes off you will really struggle to train with any sort of intensity again!
There are some points to consider with back injuries, whether you suffer from one OR you do not take the correct precautions to limit the risk of one occurring!
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