Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Back Pain Insights Part 1

    A lot of people, athletes and non athletes alike, suffer from lower back pain. Studies have come to show that as much as 80% of adults suffer from lower back pain as well as 44-45% of athlete injuries being lower back related (Zatsiorsky, and Kraemer 138). The causes are numerous and can only be truly diagnosed after a through evaluation, but I wanted to at least give a brief overview of a few of the causes. The main overall theme of this series will be looking at the issue of Lower Cross Syndrome. 

Lower Cross Syndome

     As you can see from the photo, you can already get an idea of what this series will address. In Lower Cross Syndrome you have a situation where your pelvis is anteriorly rotated (tilted forward) due to muscular tightness and weaknesses which can lead to lower back pain. First off, I just want to say that anterior tilt isn't always a bad thing. It is  though when it is occurring when it shouldn't be or excessively. Anterior pelvic tilt in one quick assessment can be seen where the lower abdomen and butt stick out, there is excessive curvature of the lumbar, thoracic, and cervical spines, as well as the presence of forward rounded shoulders and a forward reaching head. Now while all of these symptoms won't be clear in all situations due to the severity and perhaps other structural issues present, it gives us a base to work from in diagnosing the problem.
  
  Since the information can be hard to digest for some, I am going to break this up into multiple posts. First up, the hip flexors.

Tight Hip Flexors
The Iliopsoas Muscle Group

    When discussing hip flexors and their role in causing lower back pain, I want to focus in on the iliopsoas muscles. The iliopsoas consists of three muscles, those being the psoas major, psoas minor, and the iliacus. The psoas group originates on the lumbar spine (Low Back) while the iliacus originates from the iliac fossa (a part of the pelvis/hip bone). These muscles all group together and attach themselves to the femur (Upper leg bone). This setup allows the muscles to participate in external rotation of the femur and abduction (moving away from the body) of the leg, but for this post we will focus on its main job of hip flexion. 
    Because of their origin and insertion points, when tight, they can create a pulling force upon the vertebrae of the lumbar spine. This pull creates a pressure amongst the disks which can lead to a slight 'bulge' of a intervertebral disc. This in turn can come in contact with a spinal nerve root leading to pain. How do they become tight? For one, being seated all day.  Our sedentary behaviors are a major reason for Lower Cross Syndrome. When seated, the hips are flexed and the hip flexors are thus shortened. When a muscle is in a constant state of shortness, it tightens up, leading to issues.
    • Solution- Stretch your hip flexors utilizing the half-kneeling hip flexor stretch along with its variants.
Standard Hip Flexor Stretch

    Begin by performing 2 sets of 60 secs on each side. In the early going, when anterior pelvic tilt is high, perform this stretch 3-4 times a day. Be sure to work on taking the stretch further forward rather than down. To increase the stretch, tilt your upper body away from the side of the trailing leg.

Knee to Butt Hip Flexor Stretch
   
    This is a more advanced variation to the first example. Due to the adding in of pulling the knee to the butt, we incorporate the stretching of another hip flexor, the Rectus Femoris. Move to this option after flexibility has begun to be restored through the first example.

    While there are other variations and modes to increase the flexibility of the hip flexors, these two examples should go a long way in helping to relieve yourself of lower back pain. 

No Nonsense Function,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS
Owner/Head Trainer
kyle@trainstrive.com
www.trainstrive.com

Source
Zatsiorsky, Vladimir, and William Kraemer. Science and Practice of Strength Training. 2nd Ed.                                    Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2006. 138. Print

No comments:

Post a Comment