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What should I do if I run and I am getting back pain?

Running is one of the most effective ways to improve cardiovascular fitness and burn calories. The issue for most people is how challenging running is on the body, especially if you are predisposed to back pain.

In this article we will break it down into different sections to best guide people concerned about their back, yet are keen to achieve or maintain the great benefits running provides. Please read through the different segments and establish which scenario best describes your situation.

1. New to running, starting to get back pain

Running requires both core (trunk) and gluteal (gluteus maximus) strength and conditioning. For many people their reason for getting into running in the first place is due to carrying excessive weight and or being unfit. It is fair to say that the majority of people with the goal to lose weight and get fit have a very weak core and very weak gluteal muscles.  This leads to problems, and most often the back becomes one of these problems for new runners. If the running technique is not supported by the trunk and gluteal muscles, the back becomes overloaded, fatigued and tight which in turn causes pain either during or after running. This is not a major concern in the sense that any damage is being done, however it is significant enough to end the new found goal of running to lose weight and get fit.

Below are some tips to guide you in the right direction.

• Try to reduce the distance you are running. Most people feel fine for the first 5 mins or 1-2 km of running, with back pain commencing post this. Start off with shorter runs, and work on getting faster over that speed before you increase the distance.
• Commence exercises such as squats and deadlifts to strengthen the muscles that support the lower back when running
• Commence sprint training to strengthen the muscles that support good posture and running (refer relevant articles on sprinting on this site)  

2. Haven’t ran for a prolonged period, starting to get back into running and experiencing back pain

Most likely the muscles that were once strong and conditioned when you were constantly running have atrophied during your hiatus. You will still be able to run quicker and longer than a new time runner, which places even more load on your back, due to the lack of support from your once conditioned trunk and gluteal muscles. No different to new time runners, you need to re-condition yourself first and gently build up to what you were once able to achieve.

Below are some tips to guide you in the right direction.

• Try to reduce the distance you are running. Most people feel fine for the first 5 mins or 1-2 km of running, with back pain commencing post this. Start of with shorter runs, and work on getting faster over that speed before you increase the distance.
• Commence exercises such as squats and deadlifts to strengthen the muscles that support the lower back when running
• Commence sprint training to strengthen the muscles that support good posture and running (refer articles on this site)  

3. You are a seasoned runner and have started experiencing back pain.

Of the 3 scenarios this is the one we tend to take more seriously. For new runners your back is not supported due to prolonged periods of inactivity that leads to postural weaknesses.

If you are and seasoned runner and you have only just experienced back pain we suggest that you seek quality myotherapy (massage therapy) to work deeply through the muscles of the hips and lower back. For some runners, tightness can occur in the muscles of the lower back and hips either over a period of time or from slight overtraining. For many seasoned runners experiencing back pain, a series of treatments resolves the issues and myotherapy becomes a maintenance strategy against recurrence.   

For the seasoned runners experiencing back pain who are not getting relief from treatment then another approach needs to be taken.

Over time a runner’s posture can change, weaknesses can set into the posterior muscles (gluteus maximus, hamstring, adductors), which in turn places a greater load (especially when running) onto the anterior muscles (hip flexors). This muscular imbalance causes the pelvis to anteriorly tilt, which creates an excessive curve in the lumbar spine (hyperlordosis). The excessive curve shortens and compresses the structures of the lower back. The major gluteal muscles and posterior muscles not only support the lower back when running, the act as a cushioning or a shock absorption for the spine and lower back structures. So with the lower back structures already compromised and the cushioning removed with each step of running pain sets in very quick for the runner.

Below are some tips to guide you in the right direction.

• As best as possible rest/ or reduce running load to allow back to settle down
• Seek quality treatment to free up the structures of the lower back
• Commence rehabilitative program to elongate the anterior muscles and the strengthen the posterior muscles
• As you commence running, shorten the distance and work on speed/ not endurance. The faster you run, the more the posterior muscles need to work, so this will complement your rehabilitation progress.
• Commence sprint training to strengthen the muscles that support good posture and running (refer articles on this site)  

You don’t need to lose weight in order to fix your back pain!

One of the most common things people are told with lower back pain who also happen to carry some excess kilos is that in order to fix their back, they need to lose weight.

Let’s look at how absurd this common statement is:

• Many people with chronic back pain can not exercise, and as a result they put on excessive weight. They had the exact same level of back pain at a healthy weight, as they do when they seek advice from their practitioner.
• Advising the cause of their back pain is from carrying excess weight.. Wouldn’t that imply that all overweight people have back pain??
• And what about all the skinny people out there who suffer from back pain? Is losing more weight going to help them too?
• Many people told to lose weight by their practitioner, adhere to their every word and regain a healthy physique, only to still have their debilitating back pain.. Now what??
• Most people are as desperate to lose their excessive weight as they are to fix their back pain, however they cannot exercise due to their pain which makes the incorrect advice even more frustrating to the back pain sufferer.

How about we change the paradigm:

• Fix the back pain and strengthen the body so it never returns.
• Then focus on losing the excess weight when been able to do quality exercise becomes an option to the now pain free, former back pain sufferer.

Being overweight has nothing to do with lower back pain. I will admit there are many other health concerns that come with carrying excessive adipose tissue, however the point we are making is that you need to address the cause of chronic back pain and often times being overweight is just a symptom.. Yes a symptom, where people put on extra kilos as a result of being inactive and comfort eating due to the pain and stress in suffering from long term chronic back pain.  

Regardless of your age, weight, sex or race, chronic back pain is brought on by muscular imbalances that lead to postural asymmetry. Address the muscular imbalances made up of muscle groups that are over dominate, tight and shortened (anterior muscles groups) and weak, lengthened (posterior muscle groups) then the lower back pain will be eradicated.   

With a new found symmetrical posture, not only will the patient have a pain free back, their body and mind will be well prepared to commence the task of losing the excessive weight often accumulated over years of chronic back pain.

Despite what you’ve been told, a large percentage of back pain can be helped!

97% of chronic back pain is curable.

For the vast majority of people suffering from chronic debilitating back pain, they go from doctor to doctor, practitioner to practitioner in a desperate attempt to find a lasting solution to their pain.

As each appointment hands out more conflicting information on ‘the why I have back pain’ and the lack of lasting relief offered, confusion sets in. Everybody knows of a ‘guru’, a practitioner who you as a back pain sufferer just has to go and visit. Each and every time, more of the same. More temporary relief only for the pain to return, and worse still more confusion and a feeling hopelessness.

The concerning part is that this is the norm, not the exception. Patients spend thousands, often tens of thousands of dollars seeing specialists, getting scans, trying new therapies in a desperate attempt to rid their back pain and resume a normal healthy lifestyle once again.

After months, more often years and decades without a solution to their pain, the reality or more accurately the reality of the back specialists kicks in. ‘You are going to have to live with the pain’, ‘we recommend you go to a pain management clinic’, ‘here is this medication to ease the pain’.   

The healthcare industry fails chronic back pain sufferers by focusing and treating purely on the symptoms of back pain and not the underlying cause. The vast majority of chronic back pain is caused by the muscles, tendons and fascia of the lower back which is confusing given that all the specialists, doctors, practitioners refer to wear and tear of the spine and intervertebral discs.

X-rays and MRI scans show signs of wear and tear or degeneration of the spine and it’s discs, however up to 40% of adults have herniated discs, with the vast majority of them not experiencing pain. Up to 70% of adults have disc degeneration, once again with the majority not experiencing pain.

Wear and tear of the spine and or disc degeneration is rarely ever the true cause of chronic lower back pain, it is just a natural process of ageing. If the muscles that support the structures of the lower back are strong, balanced and working together then the person will not have back pain, regardless of the what the scans show and how the specialist has interrupted them.  

Show us someone with a perfectly symmetrical musculoskeletal system who has chronic lower back pain? In over 15 years, treating over ten thousand patients with chronic lower back pain, we have not seen one patient present to our clinic with sound posture, with muscle symmetry adequate to support their lower back.

Forget the symptoms of lower back pain and focus on the cause. Help the back by i) strengthening the atrophied muscles integral to its support. ii) Free up the restricted muscles that are placing it under load. iii) Restore functional, fluent movement where all the muscles of the body are working synergistically as they are designed to.

So regardless of what any specialist has told you – You can fix your chronic back pain for good,  regardless of whether you have suffered for months, years or decades if you focus on the true cause of your pain, not distracted by the symptoms.

Neuro Muscular Power Training:

The purpose of Neuro-Muscular Power Training (NMPT) is to force every fibre of the body to activate.

This allows the body to move with synchronicity, enabling strong, natural functioning movements.

The body is designed to use all muscles together with each movement, however in this modern day society this is often not the case. As most of our time is spent sitting, our bodies have become less efficient in holding us upright, resulting in negative postural habits, asymmetry and pain.   

Neuromuscular Power Training addresses every issue that inhibits the patient in being restored to a pain free state.

• It completely stretches all the tight muscle and connective tissue
• It strengthens (hypertrophies) all of the weak muscle
• Most importantly, it hypertrophies and restores the neural pathways to the muscles integral to restoring the patient to a pain free and functional state.

It incorporates a functional compound movement with enough resistance to facilitate (arrange/organise) both the nervous and muscular systems in an unconscious manner.

NMPT works within the ‘power’ range of resistance exercise. Power Training is dedicated to the nervous system as much as it is to the muscular system. Therefore this unique form of rehabilitative training forces the patient to break their compensatory pattern. The intensity of the training forces the body to share the load evenly throughout their muscular system and all of the muscles integral to maintaining one’s posture – the weak ones – start to fire.

Physiological adaptations start to occur, muscles with their new innervation begin to hypertrophy and gain muscle mass. The neural pathways start to strengthen with the myelin sheath around the neural axons thickening in size and the increased production of myelin fluid creating increased conductivity.

Every time the patient carries out the NMPT, the neural pathways become stronger and stronger, and their compensatory pattern is quickly eradicated.

Once symmetry is restored, the patient no longer has a discrepancy between tight muscle taking on the entire load and weak ones getting an easy ride. Every single muscle carries out its dedicated function and shares the load.

All movement post rehabilitation ensures that all muscles and their neural pathways throughout the body remain strong.

Metaphysically, NMPT can have a big impact on someone’s mental state and well-being. The exercise will challenge a client’s confidence and trust within themselves and other people. This may be shown during training when a client refuses to attempt a lift due to ‘guarding’ an old injury for fear of bringing up previous pain and associated turmoil. In this situation it is extremely important to support and encourage the client at all times.

A lot of times this particular element of NMPT can be the most difficult, as finding the confidence to move forward, free from pain can sometimes be foreign. People become complacent with pain and the limitations it puts on their life, using it as an avoidance strategy in other aspects of life i.e exercise, social, happiness etc. Therefore NMPT has endless benefits on a person’s body as well as opening up their own lives to endless possibilities.

Let us at  Back Pain Solutions Melbourne, help you reach for those possibilities.

A Closer Look At Our Treatment Techniques

At Back Pain Solutions Melbourne Clinic  we use a unique hands-on technique called Solidified Myoneural Manipulation (SMM) . It is a very effective way to melt through the many different layers of connective tissue.  SMM is specifically tailored to every persons treatment, focusing on areas of the body that hold tension. Muscle tension produces pain and areas of stagnation that reduce blood and essential nutrients from flowing freely throughout affected areas of the body.

SMM should be applied over a period of time, working through the restricted fibrous tissue in order to restore it back to a full functioning and pain free state.

Some factors that may determine how readily the tissue will soften and release may include:

-How long you have been in pain for.

-The client’s ability to be consistent and compliment with treatment and exercises.

-Diet (bad diet’s can cause toxicity in the muscles and the body)

-Willingness to ‘let go’ (could identify with pain)

-Practitioner going too deep, too soon

SMM is usually formed by guarding/protecting a weakened area of the body. When you first sustain an injury, the ingenious healing mechanism that occurs within the body is to patch it up with added tissue (cement), a structured compensation, while the area begins to heal. Due to this, the biomechanics compensate resulting in decreased neural and muscular innervation, lack of nutrients, oxygen, blood flow, holding onto waste products and allowing weakness to set in.

Using the SMM release over a period of time, the hardened tissue will start to melt. Our soft tissue massage clinic in Richmond, can offer expert remedies for this situation. It is important to find all the hardened areas that are guarding the muscle or joint and break them down to a soft, supple state. This will allow the tissue to function naturally, promote flow resulting in increased nutrients and ultimately a pain free state. An unblocking occurs, physically, emotionally and metaphorically. It integrates the muscle or joint to work innately with the rest of the body. Bringing the dead tissue back to life allows us to move into the next phase of treatment, which consists of rewiring the body to hold it’s newly strong position.