Imagine having back pain every time you try to do your sport. It’s annoying. Especially when you need it to de-stress. This is what happened to a recent client of mine.
In the weeks before seeing me, she started to get back pain. It slowly started at the end of her session, then started to bother her sooner.
It was frustrating. She used it to de-stress after a long day.
Now she wasn’t even able to finish. She would stop and try and stretch her back. That would help but not long after, her pain would start again.
Eventually she did stop and took a break. This helped for a bit of time. The pain came back when she started adding more mileage. She was discouraged.
Could this mean she would never have a carefree run again?
When I did meet with her, I noticed that her hips were tight. Since having to work from home, she realized she was sitting more than before. This meant she spent most of her days in bent hip position.
I noticed she had difficulty extending the hips, they also felt tighter to her. This meant that her strong glutes were not able to push her further and she had to use her back muscles instead.
To help her get back pain free, we did the exercises below to help her.
Quad stretch: Adding this stretch will help to loosen the tension in the quads so the next exercises have more effect. Remember that contracting the abs slightly and making sure posture is straight will make the stretch more effective. Repeat 3x30sec.
Bridge: This exercise helps to teach your body to extend at the hip. It helps to “wake up” the glutes and hamstrings. If you feel lower back soreness, you are using your lower back to do this exercise. Try bracing the abdominals on the way up and down. Repeat 3x8.
Clams: Another glute exercise that will help lower the back pain. While keeping your feet together, separate the knees. If you don't feel anything in the glutes then try contracting the abdominals. 3x8 per side
What I love about this routine is that your performance will improve as well. It’ll feel effortless so that you may be able to do more mileage with ease.
Give these exercises a try and let us know how you feel.