Returning to sport
2008 Author: Rosy Hyman
Exercise is known to be beneficial in the rehabilitation and management of back pain. However, deciding which type of exercise is best for you can be confusing.
If you are aiming to get back to a particular sport, it is important to first prepare your body. This is much easier if you have a general understanding of your injury and the type of movements that may aggravate it.
Acute back pain can be the result of damage or injury to one or more of several different structures. Establishing which structures are involved, and their position and function in the back, will provide vital information when designing a rehabilitative exercise programme.
Example 1:
A disc bulge/prolapse (‘slipped disc’) will be aggravated by exercises involving bending forward of the trunk. |
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Example 2:
If the joints between the vertebrae are involved then arching backwards or side-bending movements may cause pain. |
Before you start exercising, it is strongly advised that you seek professional medical advice from an osteopath, physiotherapist or chiropractor.
Ask them to explain your condition and to advise you which exercises or actions you should avoid. They will usually recommend specific exercises to aid your recovery. These will be designed to get you to the point where you can safely return to your pre-injury exercise routine.
In the early stages of recovery from back pain, you may be advised to only do exercises involving small, gentle movements. This may be all you can manage initially, but these can have a dramatic effect on your recovery.
Gentle movements will help to squeeze out the waste products that build up around the site of the injury and encourage fresh blood to enter the site in order to continue the repair process. In addition, they aim to improve the range of movement of the joints and gently stretch the muscles. Returning to sport
Whilst you are recovering from your back injury it is often possible to continue with gentle cardiovascular exercises, such as walking. Again, you are advised to check which exercises are suitable for your condition and stage of recovery.
Once you understand what you are able to do, you can now try to work out what you will be required to do during your sport.
Take a close look at your sport and try to break it down into the different movements and skills required.
There are some requirements that are common to all sports.
As with any form of exercise, before participating in any sport it is essential to warm up sufficiently to prepare the muscles for activity. It is just as important to cool down and stretch afterwards to prevent future injury.
All sports demand a good level of general cardiovascular fitness.
Depending on the severity and type of back injury you sustained, you may have managed to maintain some level of cardiovascular fitness. Otherwise this must be improved gradually and safely.
Each sport will...
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