Spinal Health Week: Why am I getting back pain?

Our team of physios in Richmond are seeing an increase in back pain presentations since the COVID lockdown!

Spinal Health Week raises awareness for the importance of spinal health, which can have a huge impact on improving our overall health and wellbeing. At some point in your life it’s likely you will experience back pain.

Let’s talk about the Spine

An interconnected system of bones, nerves, muscles, tendons and ligaments – your spine is central in how the body operates. With 31 segments, your head at the top, your pelvis at the bottom, the spine is immensely pivotal in normal human functioning. It is involved in everything we do! This week is Spinal Health week and we would like to share with you what we are currently seeing in our clinic and how we can best help you to optimise the functioning of your spine and in turn help to improve your overall health!

The spine continues to be a major cause of grief for individuals. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports the following:

• Over 4 million people reported significant back problems in 2017-2018
• Back problems are the 2nd leading cause of disease burden in Australia
• 86% of the population will experience pain at least once per week.

During this unprecedented time of COVID, self isolation and social distancing, we have seen varied presentations of spinal pain.

These include:

• postural related injuries

• osteoarthritis flare-ups,

• disc degeneration,

• neural compromise

• and many more…

What can cause back pain?

There are so many factors that contribute to these presentations. Age, physical fitness, weight, type of work are a short list of things that can influence an individual’s spinal pain. What we see clinically is that most people who present with spine-related pain have a significant inability to function. Whether it is getting a good night sleep, applying themselves to work or study, exercising or simply doing daily chores, spinal related problems have a significant effect on our day to day lives.

A little insider tip for you – your spine is a robust structure of your body. If you really think about it, if it is involved in everything we do then surely it is built to withstand quite a bit of stress. The key is figuring out what we need to do to build this robustness. To put it simply we may need to work on one (or a combination of the following):

• How can we get you managing your pain better so your day to day activities are not severely affected?
• Can we get you moving better so you can actually do the things you want to do?
• Do you have enough strength and stability in key muscles and joints so that your movements are optimal and not placing too much strain on your spine.

Whether it is one on one physiotherapy, group rehab sessions incorporating clinical pilates or strength and conditioning principles, we are here to support your overall spinal health and ensure you can continue to function to the best of your ability. If you are experiencing back pain and you think it’s your spine, book in to see one of our team members here

KP is the Head Physio at Harlequins Rugby Club, Scotch College Rugby and the Physiotherapist for the Melbourne Rebels Under 18’s.

KP treats a wide range of conditions and is incredibly passionate about helping people understand why they are experiencing pain and how to overcome it.

KP has a special interest in tendon conditions.

In his spare time KP enjoys coaching basketball!

Reducing your chance of injury when community sport returns

We are two weeks away (fingers crossed) from restrictions being lifted in VIC and the return of community sport has already been flagged as an agenda topic for the National Cabinet. At Optimus, we are heavily involved with footy, soccer and rugby and rumours are fast circling around potential training and match dates. Although these are just rumours, there is enough substance behind them to take them seriously and start thinking about your preparation for returning to sport.

The return of elite sport - NRL.

Consider the elite environment. The NRL is aiming for May 28th as the start date for matches. Even with online access to the best health and fitness professionals during COVID, with 4 weeks preparation, the players will not be at the physical standard required to play. Injuries will be higher, both contact related and muscular injuries which will reduce available players putting pressure on players to play through injuries or come back too soon due to the shortened season.

So what chance do community athletes have for remaining injury-free? How ready are you to return to play?

 Speaking to our community we’ve identified 3 COVID fitness levels -  ask yourself which category do you fall into?

1.     You’ve probably been hitting the drink a bit harder than what you should have been. You could audition for Masterchef with your banana bread skills but you have managed a bike ride and a few walks around the block.

2.     You’ve been trying, you’ve stayed involved with your club by taking part in online workouts, you’ve downloaded (and used) all the latest fitness Instagram workouts and have been using those wine bottles and your dog for weight training.

3.     You’ve had a structured periodised strength training program and have followed a fitness running program.

3 is better than 2, 2 is better than 1 and if you’re a 1…well you might need to put down that spatula and start paying attention. No matter what category you fall into, if you strapped on your boots and walked out onto the oval/field tomorrow a lot of people will be a ticking time bomb for preventable injuries.

Being a Strength & Conditioning Coach with experience in working with both elite and community athletes I know that physiologically it takes 6 weeks to adapt to a training load. That’s a 6-week structured, progressively loaded training plan that encompasses the technical, tactical, physical and psychological skills for sport. How can we expect both elite (NRL) and community athletes to hold up to the rigours of playing with potentially only 4 weeks of a gradual build-up to play?

Those who fall into Category 3 will be in the best possible position (but there is still work to do), but my fear is, most people will not fall into this category and it is my worry that the majority of people who will complete 4 weeks training and then go back to the field will come unstuck on the injury front.

So what should I be doing and when should I start doing it?

NOW!!! Get started on some basic plyometrics (exercises in which muscles exert maximum force in short intervals of time with the goal of increasing power). You’ll find some examples of plyometrics below:

Next up is high speed running (sprinting) WITH change of direction at high speed. If you’ve been pounding the pavement on a regular basis you will have been improving your general fitness BUT with no change of direction at a fast pace, you will leave your body vulnerable for hamstring, groin or achilles overload which is where we see tendon rupture injuries. Grab your annoying little brother or sister, or convince your flatmate that if they can catch you, you’ll let them pound you into the ground at your local park.

See below; After a period of no training during the 2011 Lockout, there were 12 achilles ruptures in pre season! This is compared to an average of 5 per full season…

Let’s talk about contact….

Tackling, bumps and scrums (scrums happen in Rugby for you footy fans). IF there is an accelerated return to sport you may only get 4-6 sessions involving contact before your first practice/trial match (compared to at least 12-16 in a normal pre-season). Remember how much it hurts after your first real contact game of a season? Get a head start by incorporating some isometric body positioning to a resemblance of match positions during a game (once again use your bro/sis/mum/grandad*/flatmate) (maybe only grandad if he is still a wrestler/BJJ coach)

So…in summary I should be?

• Completing high-speed running drills

• Implementing plyometric exercises into your home workout routines

• Getting your flatmate or sister chasing you around the park (short, fast, multidirectional sprints)

• Keeping those muscles in top shape by stretching (Pilates is great for this), foam rolling and regular Remedial Massage

• Getting on top of any niggles, tightness or pain and see a physiotherapist that understands sports, like my colleagues at Optimus Health

And finally….work with a strength & conditioning coach and START NOW. Based off what we have heard we may only be 8 weeks away from community sport kicking off again…

Want to know the good news?

Optimus Health will be releasing a training program designed for the community athlete for category a, b or c individuals. Our belief model is that everyone requires a tailored program- but if you aren’t in a position to get one made up this will be the next best thing. If you would like a copy of this when we release it fill in the form below.

Even if we only get 6 rounds this year put yourself in the best possible position to not get an injury that could impact you into 2021.

Jake Leslie

Jake is the High Performance Manager at the Optimus Performance Centre, his qualifications include Sports Therapy, Remedial Massage, Personal Training and Strength & Conditioning.

Jake is currently the Head Therapist at Kew Football Club. His previous experience includes the Western Bulldogs and Head of Medical and Rehab for NRL VIC Junior Representative Program.