Every day we see people who experience chronic lower back pain. They are often people who sit in front of a computer all day at work, drive a car or truck for much of the day, or shift workers required to perform small repetitive tasks over extended timeframes.
Often people want us, as massage therapists, to "fix" their back problem. Unfortunately it's not that easy. Massage is certainly very good for relieving tight muscles that go into spasm around the affected area, but this does not provide a cure.
Of course there are many causes of lower back pain, but I am going to concentrate on the most common. If you have concerns, it makes good sense to see your health professional first.
Pain in the lower back very often indicates a stiff or unstable joint in the spine.
Firstly, lower back instability is caused mostly by muscles that do not support the spinal joints properly. Weak, lazy muscles allow the joints in your spine to move around too far, instead of maintaining the spine in the correct posture. When these muscles do not learn to do their job, they get even more slack, and the joints that they were designed to support get more unstable.
Second, stiffness in the joints is perpetuated when the joints are not mobilised, and therefore do not move very often, and so become even more restricted.
If you have ongoing lower back pain, chances are that over time, your stiff joints have got tighter, and your unstable joints have become more lax.
Unfortunately, massage therapy cannot fix this cycle. But there is plenty that you can do to reverse the situation.
The joints in our body work with the aid of opposing muscles that ideally operate in sync with each other. When the symmetry of function is lost, the muscles will pull around the joint with unequal force. One muscle may be stronger or tighter than the opposing muscles, or one muscle may be weaker than the others. This muscle imbalance will be problematic for your joints.
Around our spinal joints we have mobilising muscles, and we also have stabilising muscles. The mobilising muscles are utilised consciously for action. They are large and long, and provide leverage for the joint (hamstrings, iliopsoas, erector spinae). Some examples of other mobiliser muscles in our body are our biceps, hamstrings, and deltoids.
The stabiliser muscles support the body, to maintain body position, and also to counter the force of your mobilising muscles during a movement. These are often placed deeper in the body – close to the joint it is there to support. (transverse abdominus, multifidus)
The stabilizer muscles are crucial for posture maintenance and joint stability. These muscles often work subconsciously, and operate with a long, low-intensity contraction.
Our mobiliser muscles often like to take over all jobs, which is taxing for them when they are attempting to do everything, and therefore they become overactive and tight. The stabilizer muscles as a result, do not get the chance to do the work they were designed to do, and therefore become weak and sloppy.
When our stabiliser muscles weaken in this way, they are unable to maintain body posture effectively, the opposing muscle partnership is lost, and our spinal joints become unstable and/or stiff. Over time of course, we develop back pain.
What can you do about this situation? How can you effectively reduce your back pain?
You can retrain your stabilizer muscles – consciously “switch “ them on, and strengthen them, without the mobiliser muscles getting involved in this particular exercise regime.
Meanwhile, your tight, over-used mobiliser muscles need to relax and lengthen.
In summary, to rid yourself of lower back pain:
1. Strengthen your stabilizer muscles
2. Stretch your mobilizing muscles
With this conscious training on your part, balanced function of your spine is restored. Your posture will be supported effectively in natural alignment, and your spinal joints will have normal mobility and flexibility.
Want to know more?
Related links:
Pilates Core strength: Click Here!
Stop sciatica: Click Here!
0 comments:
Post a Comment