The connection between low back pain and walking may seem an unusual one. We often associate prolonged sitting or standing with low back pain and until recently, I certainly would have questioned the link if I had not worked out the cause to my own chronic back stiffness.
We all get aches and pains from time to time but sometimes these aches and
pains hang around. Muscles that are chronically stiff, tight, achey, or weak can cause ongoing pain for an individual.
I don’t know how many times I hear people say, “I really need to work on my core strength,” or “my trainer says I need to activate my core more.”
Do we really need to be so obsessed with our core? How important is a strong core and good posture in avoiding back pain and stiffness?
Recently I had the pleasure of treating a lovely 86-year-old post-polio survivor. For as long as she could remember she had been experiencing debilitating muscle cramps all over her body which have become progressively worse as she has gotten older. The cramps had become so bad she had become afraid to leave the house.
You’ve had an annoying pain or discomfort for quite some time but can’t pin point when you first noticed it. It’s now been weeks or months; and continues to niggle during certain activities, movements or positions. The pain is not always there, but it’s distinct in its location and enough to be a nuisance or worse. Of late it’s starting to impact on things you enjoy doing or need to do, exercise, sitting, driving, sleeping!!
Lower-back pain is so common in our population that according to leading researcher, Professor Buchbinder, "we should treat it like the common cold," it’s VERY common. In contrast to the common cold, rest is not recommended for low back pain, getting up and moving is. One of the best things for low back pain is walking.
There is a certain amount of cross-over with all 3 therapies, each will assess, treat and manage your condition with the goal of finding a solution to your pain or condition and assisting in getting you moving again. How this is done depends on your therapist, what they specialise in, and how they treat.
As a masters squad swimmer I have found myself and many of my fellow squad swimmers suffer from painful leg and foot cramps towards the end of a training session. Exercise-associated muscle cramps (EAMC) are painful and disruptive for those who experience them, and can become debilitating if they occur regularly.
Cramping during exercise is very common, cramping is more likely to occur when muscles are in a shortened and contracted state. But why do they occur and what triggers them?
