Low back pain and stiffness are common among runners. Running is an excellent exercise, but involves a repetitive impact on your joints. People with lower back pain can find it difficult to run or jog for any distance or length of time, often leading to additional pain like sciatica.
If you’re a runner and experience worsened or additional pain in your back, it’s important to know when treatment or therapy should be administered, and how to prevent stress on your back during a long run.
4 Ways to Keep Your Back Safe While Running
Stretching Your Hips
Hip flexors need to be flexible to allow adequate hip extension. Stretches like forward lunges, seated butterflies, and the garland pose can loosen up your hip joint and improve your running performance. Be sure the stretches combine flexion, extension, and abduction while still being mindful of your lower back.
Wear the Proper Footwear
Wearing the proper footwear ensures sufficient shock absorption while running. The right shoe can change your contact with the terrain, reducing the chances of injury. When your muscles feel less stress and shock patterns, you will be relieved of pain while strengthening your muscles.
Hinging at the Hip
Maintaining forward-trunk momentum is important to prevent lower back pain while running. Hinging at the hip involves leaning slightly forward at the hip for a proper running stance. This allows the hips to power the body while eliminating a large amount of stress upon landing.
Stability and Strength Exercises
The lower back plays a large role in the kinetic chain that operates your running mechanics. Your core muscles wrap your whole midsection to support your spine and lower back. Exercising to strengthen and stabilize these muscles can help you prevent injury while running. Any weakness in one area of muscles can cause others to pick up the slack, forcing strain and stress on other areas.
If you are a runner and experience lower back pain, talk to the doctors at First State Spine to learn more about prevention and treatments available.
