Sportsmen and sportswomen
In general, sport is recommended as good for your back
and your general health. However, some sports increase the risk
of back pain, especially if practiced intensively or competitively.
These are basically sports which
a) entail flexo-extension of the spine, especially associated
with loading and sudden or sustained twisting;
b) subject the spine to vibrations; or
c) tend to develop the muscles more on one side than the other.
In the long term these generate an imbalance in the dynamics of
the spine, in the spread of loads and even in appearance.
However, a program of exercises that sufficiently develop the
muscles of the spinal column and the use of suitable sporting material
reduce the risk entailed in some sports.
You need to be examined by a doctor before starting a new sport.
This is not only to assess your back, but also your cardiovascular
system and your general state of health, in order to be able to
recommend the most suitable levels of exercise. Moreover, if your
spine hurts when doing any sport or exercise, you should stop and
visit a specialist.
The back muscles also work in movements for which they should
not apparently be used, given that they help maintain balance when
moving different parts of the body. It is therefore recommended
that before doing any sport you ensure that your back muscles are
well developed. The more developed they are, the less risk you run
of suffering back injuries when practicing any kind of sport.
For that purpose it may be advisable to do specific
exercises for a time to develop your back muscles before taking
up any sport. Exercises that are suitable for one person may be
counter-productive for another, and so you need to see a specialist
who will carry out a physical examination and a muscular balance
to determine what exercises you should do and how intensively.
What increases the risk of back pain in sportsmen and sportswomen?
Because of the postures and movements that they entail, some sports
increase the risk of organic disorders of the spinal column, such
as:
- Scoliosis
and Spondilolysthesis,
which have been shown to occur frequently in growing girls who practise
eurhythmics at competition level.
- Herniated
discs in sports involving flexo-extension under a load, like
some styles of weight-lifting, exposure to repeated jumps and vibrations,
as in basketball, or sudden and repeated twisting, as in golf or
squash.
However, for a sport to actually cause an organic disorder of
the spinal column, it must be practiced with a high degree of constancy
and intensity. It therefore only normally occurs in professional
sportspeople.
Other sports can readily produce muscle spasms because they entail
very intense efforts. Lack of training and incorrect style render
one liable to spasms with less intense efforts, and these therefore
also occur in amateur sportspeople.
Finally, other sports expose practitioners to other factors that
increase the risk of back pain, such as vibrations.
Can back pain have harmful consequences for sportspeople?
Yes, It can even prevent people from practising some sports
or it can spell the end of a professional sporting career.
The possible negative consequences are:
- The pain can become chronic. If the right treatment is
not applied and the person continues to practice the sport that
brought it on while in pain, thus exposing him/herself to the same
risk factors, then the pain can become chronic. There is a neurological
mechanism that makes the pain harder to cure if it persists for
a long time.
- Inappropriate treatment. . Some sportspeople overdo symptomatic
treatments, which may be exceptionally indicated in the short term
for some cases but can have undesirable long-term effects. Cases
in point are the administration of corticoids or other pharmaceuticals.
- Interrupting the practice of a sport. Most sports require
the back muscles to be powerful, to function correctly and to be
well coordinated in order to maintain the various postures, keep
one's balance and execute rapid body movements. Besides the fact
that the pain itself may cause someone to abandon the sport, there
are a number of neurological mechanisms that can cause the muscles
to spasm or malfunction when there is back pain, thus making it
difficult to practice the sport properly.
The good news is that with the right training, effective prevention
measures and proper treatment, you can easily practise a sport all
your life without limitations due to back pain.
How to prevent and treat back pain in sportspeople.
There are a number of measures that have proven effective in preventing
back pain in sportspeople:
The appropriate training, applied progressively with a
preliminary warm-up period.
The development of the back and abdominal muscles before
practicing sports in which they are involved. This site contains
a section showing specific exercises for this purpose.
Use of the correct style when practicing a sport. This
includes complying with the rules of postural hygiene for each sport.
If you experience pain, you must apply the right treatment. This
site contains a section that lists all the existing treatments for
back pain, and there is another that indicates the common patterns
of treatments that have proven effective.
|
Back Pain Research Network 
Webmaster
Cases studies 
