Sore back

I have recently started up running again, not for a particular race just for fitness.  I fell on my back about 5 years ago now and if I stand for a while my back can get quite painful, I have been told by my physio I can start running again but does anyone know of any particular back supports you can wear to maybe help posture or just for support? thank you

The big danger there Helen is that if you rely on a support to aid your posture, the muscles that hold your posture will rest off, eventually causing them to weaken, meaning ever increasing reliance on the support, and ever increasing pain when you are without it. Thats not to mention the complications a support may bring about with rubbing, chafing, sweating etc.

If you are already under the guidance of a physio, have a good talk to them about suitable exercises to strengthen your postural muscles so that infact they can hold you in the correct, biomechanically efficient posture as you run. It is quite tempting to recommend exercises such as "the plank" or an exercise method such as Pilates, which will do a good job of strengthening those postural muscles, but, as you already have a physio, it is well worth just checking with them exactly what they think is suitable, as there may be specifics relating to your injury which none of us are qualified to advise you on.

It may also be a very worthwhile exercise for you to read up on barefoot running technique too. You don't actually need to cast aside your shoes to run the way the barefooters do, but this is the most likely source of correct information. If you are striking the ground with your heel, this will be sending shockwaves up into your back which isn't going to help. Barefoot technique is all about a fast leg turnover and landing with your feet directly under your hips, which naturally pitches you onto the fleshy pad of the ball of the foot, and the reduction in impact is amazing. 

good luck .

Hi Rob, that's great thank you for your advice, will take it on board!

When I had a sore back I asked my physio if it was okay to run and she had said to help your back you could run on a softer surface like grass and as long as I took it steady I eased myself back into it, it might be different for you though but that's what I did!

There's some great advice on here. Make sure you get the right kind of trainers too.  It's amazing how much the right trainers can help.

For immediate relief you should cut back on your  mileage and uphill running. It is common for cross country runners to experience   lower back pain. Running up hills can lead to postural changes which demands greater stress on your back muscles. Maybe also try using a steam room, massages or back rubs to relieve the pain? I hope you get better soon!

I'm not sure I can agree with that Lucy. The postural changes I believe you are referring to arise out of imbalance between the muscles of the front of the body (anterior) and posterior muscles (rear of the body). These changes happen over long periods of time as one group of muscles becomes tight, and the opposing muscles stretch and weaken. The hours every day that people spend sitting in chairs (whether thats watching TV or unavoidable because of their work) do far more damage than the few minutes spent running up hills. It may be easy to blame uphill running, but the real truth is that the pain it might cause is far more likely to come from a pre-existing muscle imbalance caused by our years of modern daily living.

Either way, the stress on the back muscles is going to best be dealt with by an appropriate programme of stretching and strengthening all relevant muscle groups to help maintain balance around all the major joints. Most commonly these days, because we endure so much time sitting, hip flexors and hamstrings are tight, which tips the pelvis forward and arches the back (lordosis), that arch means the opposing abdominal muscles become ever so slightly lengthened and therefore weakened, as do the glutes.

I'm not saying it's this way for everybody, it isn't, but it is certainly the most common postural problem, and it exists in far more people than those who run up hills. A balanced exercise programme would benefit not only those cross country runners (the back ache sufferers are most likely the ones who run and run and run, never stretch, rarely cross-train...), but great swathes of the wider poulation too.  

Hey Rob. Thanks for your advice. xxxx

I fell on my coccyx a few years ago and since then I have struggled doing certain activities as it begins hurting. I have never thought of seeing a physio or chiropractor, but would you recommend I do this?

Rachel,  So many of us suffer with back pain and never get proper treatment.  It is extremely difficult to get specialist treatment on the NHS, but if you are willing to pay for a physio or chiropractor then you can say yourself years and years of discomfort and unhappiness.

I've been seeing a chiro, on and off, for about a year.  Prior to that I had been getting sports massages and seeing the physio for a whole range of problems - PF, achilles, calf tears, ITB, upper back tightness, trapped nerves in my arms, sore neck causing headaches...  The physio in my case was treating each problem in isolation, but the chiro looked beneath this and saw the root cause as a twisted pelvis.  Three simple treatments corrected it and it did affect my gait so I had to reintroduce running gradually, but now I get a lot less aches and pains than I used to.

He also talked to me about doing specific exercises to strengthen my trunk muscles and glutes to prevent the problem reoccurring.  I have a PT so my chiro and PT work together to make sure that I do the right exercises, but there is no reason at all why you can't do them on your own at home or at a gym.

So which would you rather have:  Pain and discomfort all your life, or to sacrifice something in the short term to pay for the cost of treatment?  I know which I would do.