POSTURE AND SPINAL INJURY
IT’S A HUGE CONCERN FOR BUSINESSES
With a reported 80 per cent of office workers not leaving the office all day and only 28 per cent taking a lunch break*, Londoner’s are experiencing heightened stress, back pain, weight gain and postural weakness. Learning the why and how of strength training is vital to pain-free and healthy living.
Musculoskeletal problems are the second most common reason for work absence (including back pain, neck and upper limb problems) a total of 30.8 million days** If you manage a business it’s important to invest in your team’s health and wellbeing whilst helping to reduce absence due to back pain.
Whether you’re into your fitness or not it won’t have escaped many of us that poor posture is one of the biggest causes of back pain amongst the modern office dweller.
TYPES OF PAIN EXPERIENCED FROM POOR POSTURE
At one end of the spectrum we have mild lumbar pain caused by sitting incorrectly. At the other end of the extreme we have poor posture feeding into lumbar disc degeneration causing all sorts of unpleasant referred pain down through the glutes and legs. If we add long term disfunction you could end up on the operating slab undergoing everything from a discectomy, whereby they trim a bulging portion of a disc, all the way through to spinal fusion.
We are not suggesting slouching in your chair at work is going to lead to surgical intervention, but it may start you on the road to some troubles. Similarly, if you’re a gym goer it’s important to have good form when lifting, and bracing the trunk correctly etc to avoid long term problems.
HOW CAN WE HELP AT FIT4FUNCTION
Here at FIT4FUNCTION our Head Coach is not just an experienced personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach & athlete himself. But also a trainee Masters Physiotherapy student. As such, we can provide an integrated approach to rehabilitation back into strength based gym work as well as ensuring day to day you’re in a correct position at your desk by carrying out an ergonomic work station assessment.
There is no one size fits all when it comes to the management of back pain, there however are some very well researched protocols that form the foundation of most of the work we do with clients with recurrent back pain. As prescribed by Professor Stuart McGill a leading researcher in pack pain and its prevention and rehab, FIT4FUNCTION use the basics; side plank, Deadbug and Bird dogs. This sounds simple, but executed using the correct protocol we can induce huge amounts of fatigue and start to build the strength endurance that your trunk needs and in most cases has lost due to bad posture or sedentary living. Use the exercises below as a guide to getting you started on your way to being pain-free
Perform 3 x 10
In conjunction with the basic protocols to start building strength in the trunk, which in itself will go a long way to attenuating back pain, we also start to look at the thoracic or upper spin. Often slumped and over arch forward, known as kyphotic, the thoracic spine and its position exerts a big influence on everything that goes on below it. As such we will start to mobilise the thoracic spine into extension using simple exercises such as cobras, lying over a roller and arm sliding drills on the wall. The wall sliding drills will also help to create the correct coordination between arm and scapular. With improved mobility we also use pulling exercises that will get the musculature on the back (posterior chain) working and getting stronger. This in turn helps to hold us upright and in good posture.
With bad posture and back pain there is rarely a quick fix. However, with just a little dedication and persistent consistency outcomes can be very good. The default position for most people with back pain is ‘do nothing’ and ‘don’t move’. Sometimes this is the initial course of action but in most, correct movement with appropriate exercise will get things on the right path.
So as you can see there are quite a few links in the chain BUT they are all very straight forward and simple to execute, they just need to be done. Obviously if an individual , for example, is suffering a serious degeneration of a lumbar disc surgery may be necessary however avoiding surgery by giving a full rehab programme a go first is always worth trying.
CASE STUDIES AT FIT4FUNCTION
Below is a client who have worked with the team here at FIT4FUNCTION to overcome their back issues.
Alex had been suffering with low level pack pain for years, but it had progressively worsened over a period of six months.
Alex reached a point where he couldn’t even tie his shoe laces, exercise or stand for any length of time. He was experiencing pain down the back of his left glutes and the back of his left leg. This was sometimes very acute. His only relief was to lie down so his day to day, work and family life were all starting to prove a real challenge.
Lower back pain physio
The initial assessment from the clinical team at OCP indicated degenerative discs (possibly at L4 and L5), with the high likelihood of a posterior disc bulge. This initial assessment was subsequently confirmed through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
From there, the OCP team were able to bring Alex’s acute lower back pain symptoms under control relatively quickly through the correct exercise prescription, massage and manipulation. At this stage, Alex also used some painkillers to help control the pain. This enabled him to complete the necessary initial rehab and get things under control.
After several weeks, Alex was ready to take his recovery to the next stage. It was at this point he started with the team at PerformancePro.
Lower back pain rehab
Alex worked closely with Bradley, our Head Coach on our one-to-one coaching service, who explained how it would all work. Understandably, Alex was quite nervous,
“Initially I was very nervous about starting in the gym, it just didn’t seem possible knowing the lower back pain I had felt. Lifting weights just seem counter intuitive given the pain I had been in. But, Dan explained we would be starting with some very low level exercise aimed at building endurance within my trunk and core. It was reassuring that he also highlighted that we would build slowly.”
When suffering with the lower back pain and issues Alex was encountering, the primary aim is to get stronger, helping to improve spinal posture, thus unload the affected disc and therefore reduce pain. Years of sitting at a desk often plays a large role in poor and weak posture.
“Bradley taught me to follow a particular protocol. It was quite simple but very focused on perfect postural form and a build of volume and intensity. From the very first session, things felt different, it felt as though I was gaining control of my core and trunk.”
Following this initial phase of lower level floor work, Alex started to learn how to pick up weights using good form. This allowed him to load the structures of his back more and subsequently improve his strength.
“Once I started to pick up weights correctly and without pain, my confidence came back. I haven’t really looked back since!”
And now?
Through carefully structured training and consistent progression, we’re delighted to confirm that Alex is now generally pain free,
“The FIT4FUNCTION FAMILY have been fantastic. They’ve helped me deliver a result I didn’t think was possible! They have explained that the degeneration is there to stay BUT by exercising correctly and staying strong in my trunk and core, I have learnt to manage the issues to a point that I don’t notice any lower back pain day to day.”
Alex now trains with the team at PerformancePro regularly and has also taken up swimming.
FIT4FUNCTION approach to physio and rehab
FIT4FUNCTIONs approach to physio and rehab is informed by science, the breadth and depth of Bradley’s personal experience.
If you’re recovering from surgery, an injury or simply dealing with everyday aches affecting your quality of life, we can help.