Relaxing after vigorous activity.
Over the years I have heard many people complain that they develop back pain after engaging in activities such as gardening, laying concrete, or even running. It is easy, even logical, to attribute the pain to the activity. After all, one has followed the other. In many cases, one has followed the other repeatedly: every time the person gardens, he or she has a sore lower back afterward. In fact, however, very often it is not the strenuous physical activity that is the culprit.
Very often, following such an activity, we sit and relax. We may collapse into a slouched position in a chair. We may sit on the grass, bent over at the waist. We may stand, out of breath, bent forward at the waist, supporting our upper body by placing our hands on our knees. After a while we feel pain, and we automatically blame the activity that we have just completed.
Instead, we should consider the likelihood that the pain has begun as a result of the posture we have adopted since the exercise. If the activity itself had been responsible for the pain, we would have felt some discomfort or pain during the activity. This would have been due to overstretching or injury occurring during the activity. If we had hurt ourselves during exercise, pain would not likely have arisen significantly after the activity (often, pain following exercise takes an hour or so to arise). Rather, it would have occurred immediately, during the activity.
After activity, the joints of the spine undergo a loosening process. If, after exercise, we place the back in an unsupported position for long periods, distortion within the joint readily occurs. This is true whether we sit in a slouched position or whether we stand, bending forward with our hands on our knees. Thoroughly exercised joints of the spine distort easily if the spine is placed in a slouched position for long periods. For more on how pain following an activity often is not caused by the activity itself, see Chapter 8’s discussion of sports-related injuries.
