If you are an athlete
Often, the true cause of pain in athletes is that they adopt a slouched position after they have, in their athletic endeavor, thoroughly exercised their joints. After exertion, we usually sit down and relax: because we are tired, we almost immediately adopt the relaxed sitting posture. In other words, after vigorously exercising, we collapse “in a heap” and slouch badly.
During vigorous exercise the joints of the spine are moved rapidly in many directions over an extended period of time. This process causes a thorough stretching in all directions of the soft tissues surrounding the joints. In addition, the fluid gel contained
in the spinal discs is loosened, and it seems that distortion or displacement can occur if, after exercise, an exercised joint is placed in an extreme posture. This is very often the cause of back pain in athletes, and the cause-and-effect relationship can be proven rather easily, as will be explained.
If lower back pain has in fact occurred as a result of participation in a sport, it would be appropriate to recommend rest from the activity. But if the pain has appeared after the activity has been completed and as a result of adopting a slouched sitting posture, resting would be entirely inappropriate. To advise an athlete to cease participation in his or her favorite pastime can have serious consequences, both emotional and physical.
If you are an athlete, or if you participate in vigorous non-athletic activities, and you have recently developed lower back pain, it is necessary to discover the true cause of your problem. In order to treat your condition correctly and successfully, we must determine whether your pain appeared during the particular activity or afterward.
If the pain appeared during the activity itself, your sport may well be the cause of the present problems. You may remember something that happened at the time of the activity and can describe what you felt at that moment. But a very large percentage of people who have back pain and participate in a sport never feel discomfort or pain while they are participating; their pain appears after the activity.
It’s easy to determine iif your lower back problems are the result of slouched sitting that has occurredafter athletic or other activity. From now on, immediately after the activity, watch your posture closely and sit correctly with the lower back in moderate lordosis and supported by a lumbar roll
