Common Causes of Back Injury and How You Can Prevent It

In the United States, back pain is the second most common cause for a visit to the doctor’s office. It’s also one of the most common injuries among athletes. Injuries among athletes are to be expected considering the repetitive movements and physical contact with other players.

However, with proper technique and preventative exercises, athletes can help keep themselves safe from potential injury. Here are some of the common causes of back pain in athletes and how you can keep yourself from experiencing pain and discomfort.

Causes

• • Poor Posture and Technique
    Many injuries experienced by athletes are caused by overextension or overuse. When an athlete makes the same motion over and over again, they cause stress to the muscles, tissue, and ligaments in a particular area of the body. Without proper rest, this stress can cause a tear in the affected area.

    The same is true for your back muscles and spine. Excessive use of poor posture and incorrect technique on the field or court over a long period of time can cause damage to your back muscles or a herniated disc. A herniated disc is caused when pressure is placed on the spine, causing the supporting ligament to be pinched.

• • Prolonged Standing
    While athletes often move quite a lot, lower back pain can be caused by a series of static activities such as standing or sitting for too long, activities of prolonged leverage such as vacuuming, and levered postures such as bending forward.

• Overextension
  Another source of injury for athletes regarding back pain is overextension. This is often the cause of many injuries when an athlete lands incorrectly or jerks abruptly so as to cause damage to affected muscles. Because this kind of injury is often caused by accident, there isn’t often a way to prevent it aside from ensuring that you are using proper technique during games and practices and that you are partaking in the proper stretches before and after activity.

Prevention
In order to avoid back injuries and damage, it’s important to ensure that you are using proper technique on the field or court. Consult your coach to find the best technique for your sport to reduce your risk of back, or other muscular, injuries.

Stretching and warming up even before short-term activities can also reduce your risk of injury. Your muscles will be well-prepared for activity and less likely to experience strain or stress, which can cause tearing.

Using proper posture can additionally keep your spine from experiencing stress when sitting or standing for long periods of time. The lower back can become aggravated during long levered activities and so it’s important to walk routinely rather than simply stand. Walking balances out the pressure on the spine by directing the pressure to multiple areas.

Treatments
If you’re experiencing lower back pain, there are multiple treatments available to you with the consultation of sports medicine specialists. One of the common treatments for back pain and lower back rehabilitation includes the visit to physical therapy clinics or a sports rehabilitation facility.

At a sports rehabilitation facility, you may undergo lower back rehabilitation exercises and stretches in order to gradually build up strength in your back and reduce pressure on your injury. Professionals at a sports rehabilitation facility will help you achieve a lifestyle of reduced or eliminated back pain in order to ensure you a quicker recovery and to get you back to peak performance.

Back injuries are one of the most common injuries among Americans and many of those Americans are athletes. Prevent these injuries from happening by using proper posture, technique, stretches, and treatments and you can spend more time on the field and less time in the doctor’s office.