How To Prevent Lower Back Pain When Running

But what you have to ask is?

Strengthen The Core To Beat Lower Back Pain When Running

One common culprit of low back pain is weakness through the core muscles, more specifically the deep stabilizer muscles. These muscles are responsible for keeping us upright and balanced with minimal rotation side-to-side or back-and-forth, and have attachment points throughout the spine and pelvis. A strong core also helps us absorb the impact of our daily activities and running in particular. As thousands of steps build up throughout a run, a strong core will provide shock absorption for your body.

Less shock absorption isnt the only downside of a week core. Your posture will also likely be affected. When the core is weak people tend to default to an overextended, mildly arched low back since those stabilizing muscles are disengaged. Not only does this lead to instability throughout your body, it also hinders your ability to engage your glutes. These muscle powerhouses are particularly important to all athletes and runners. Strengthening the core and correcting this arch to find a more neutral spine position is critical to keep running long-term and injury-free.

Lets experiment with spinal positioning and how it affects your glute and core engagement to get a better understanding of how to prevent lower back pain when running

Recommended Reading: How To Aleve Back Pain

Lower Back Pain When Running How To Fix It

Lower back pain is a frustrating and all too common issue amongst runners. If youve been dealing with some discomfort in your back during your runs, youre not alone, and thankfully its probably possible to fix this problem at home without any expensive trips to the doctors office! Today well explain what causes lower back pain when running and show you a few simple exercises that can help you fix it.

Dont Ignore Your Lower Back Pain When Running

In the vast majority of cases, this type of lower back pain isnt something you simply have to accept and put-up with. An appropriate rehab and strengthening plan, alongside your running, will help you run pain-free.

I previously stated that there are many different types and causes of back pain in runners. Not all of the exercises above will be appropriate in every case.

Please do seek the help of a good physio or doctor to get specific advice for your injury.

Recommended Reading: How Much Is Lower Back Surgery

Hamstring Injury As A Cause Of Lower Back Pain When Running

Hamstring injury mostly causes pain in the posterior knee, however, the trica of muscles forming the hamstring can lead to a belt-line like feel in the back.

Research shows that individuals having chronic low back pain have reduced flexibility of hamstrings indicating that hamstring strength is good for back muscle strength.

It is important to keep your glutes and hamstrings strong to keep backache at bay.

New To Running Start Here

If youre serious about running, getting fit, and staying injury free, then make sure to download my Runners Blueprint Guide!

Inside this guide, youll learn how to start running and lose weight weight the easy and painless way. This is, in fact, your ultimate manifesto to becoming a faster and a stronger runner. And you want that, dont you?

to check out my Runners Blueprint System today!

Dont miss out! My awesome running plan is just one click away.

Don’t Miss: What Can Cause Lower Back Pain And Constipation

What About The Role Of Core Strength & Stability In Running With Back Pain

Firstly we need to define what is meant by core strength and core stability.

There are many definitions out there for these generic terms, many of which speak of providing stability to the lumbar spine through strengthening the deep and superficial abdominal muscles.

Consider the fact that the bony and ligamentous architecture of the lumbar spinal segments gives them a good level of inherent stability

If your back pain stems from having truly unstable spinal vertebrae, being able to run is probably the least of your problems.

What we should instead be considering in terms of core strength and stability is this:

The ability to maintain good pelvic posture throughout the functional movements for our sport

Strength, stability and mobility, all in the right areas will allow your core to maintain a neutral lumbro-pelvic posture.

Free Workouts

in addition, having adequate thoracic motion is going to also be a factor in enabling you to be more effective in keeping the lumbar spine in a neutral position through the motion of running.

While typical core activities such as floor-based pilates will be great for getting a feel for the activation of the correct core muscle groups, the real focus for a runner should be to train these muscles to provide pelvic control through functional ranges of motion in load-bearing positions.

In terms of load-bearing exercises, Im a big fan of various plan variations when it comes to building core strength in runners:

Improve Your Spinal Stiffness And Flexibility

Stiffness that runs through the spine can also have an impact on low back pain in running. We’ve discussed why earlier in the article, so perhaps you need to consider doing some yoga style exercises or simple stretches to ease the back pain and reduce the overall stiffness of the spine.

Similarly, poor flexibility of soft tissues can have a negative impact on low back pain, so when you’re stretching in order to ease spine stiffness you can’t help but also be stretching soft tissues such as muscles, ligaments and tendons. So a good stretching regime can also help to ease off stiffness that you may have in the spine the Hips the pelvis and the lower limbs.

Read Also: How To Fix Back Pain Fast

What To Consider If You Suffer Lower Back Pain When Running

• The lowdown

It does not matter whether you want to be fit and healthy or change your body you expect a positive result when you start any exercise program. This can mean that you automatically assume that the exercise will not have any negative consequences.

While no one starts exercising to injure themselves, it is, unfortunately, not enough to prevent injuries from happening.

In fact, when starting any exercise program, you are at risk of developing a physical problem if: 1) it is not performed adequately, 2) you overdo it, or 3) you have an underlying condition.

With running, it is no different. Up to 85%¹ of runners have at least one running-related injury each year. In this context, you may experience low back pain.

Understanding why and what to expect from this condition, you can avoid it or be more prepared to tackle it.

Read on to discover how to prevent lower back pain when running and understand why it might happen.

Have you considered clinical trials for Lower back pain?

We make it easy for you to participate in a clinical trial for Lower back pain, and get access to the latest treatments not yet widely available – and be a part of finding a cure.

Do You Suffer From Lower Back Pain While Running

Lower back pain is a frustrating problem that affects many runners.

While active adults are thought to be less likely to suffer from chronic lower back pain, runners like you and I still often complain of lower back pain when running, or even after running.

In fact, the repetitive nature of running gait can greatly amplify the cumulative effects of existing soft tissue imbalances, movement dysfunctions or structural asymmetries which can lead to back pain.

Whether caused, by a structural asymmetry movement dysfunction , or soft tissue imbalances around the hips lower back pain while running can be both incredibly frustrating and debilitating.

In this article, Im going to explore four of the most common reasons why some people experience lower back pain from running and look at some simple exercises you can use to fix the underlying causes

Don’t Miss: Can Psoriatic Arthritis Cause Lower Back Pain

Chose The Right Shoes

It is the first thing you want to look at is your shoes. Most people make the mistake of wearing the wrong kind of shoe. I know I have made the same mistake. I was running for miles on a trail in the hills of East Tennessee one day when I tweaked my back. I immediately thought my shoes were not going to hold up to the terrain, so I pulled off of the trail and went to the emergency room of a local hospital. Luckily they diagnosed me with spondylosis, which is an early stage of arthritis caused by years of pulling my back in different ways.

Why Does My Lower Back Hurt When Running

When it comes to your lower back, leg and core strength, flexibility, and coordination all play an important role:

• Your core muscles have to work hard to support your spine and lower back.
• When running, your core, hips, glutes, and hamstrings have to join forces to keep you stable.

What happens when one muscle or a group of muscles become fatigued?

• Your lower back has to work harder to keep you upright and on your feet, which can cause pain, or worst case scenario injury.

Read Also: How To Relieve Back Pain While Pregnant

Why Does Your Lower Back Hurt When You Run

Pain in your lower back while several things can cause running. Lower back pain can be due to muscular imbalances, not strengthening any pulling and pushing movements, and not strengthening your core. And these are just a few of the reasons.Another reason could be that your trunk muscles may not be strong enough yet to support the strain of running especially while running at higher intensities. Muscles that can impact your lower back and cause pain include:

CoreQuadsHamstrings

Your back muscles support upper body muscle groups, such as your deltoids, your traps, and even your spine. As you become fatigued the farther you run, your lower back begins to work more than it should since the surrounding muscles are weak.

Weak muscles can increase your risk of getting injured. Its essential to incorporate strength training into your running program 2-3x/week to optimize your runs. Including your strength-training routine 4-6 hours after your run on the same day will help you work on your running performance.

Performing strength training before your runs could make you bulk, making it harder for you to run farther. Since your body needs more oxygen and energy, the more mass you have on your body, its harder to run farther and faster with more muscle mass from this type of training. Lets sway away from that!

Take Breaks When Using The Incline

If youre experiencing chronic muscular tension, your body will get tired at some point during the incline cardio workout. Step out of the treadmill for a few seconds to catch your breath, take a sip of water, check-in with your body and posture, then step back in to continue.

Youll give your body a quick break to restore and recover. Implementing these short breaks has helped me get effective cardio sessions without pushing through any discomfort or tension.

The incline is more challenging for your body. It can trigger sciatica and lower back pain.

Keeping your back as straight as possible will reduce spinal compression, especially at an incline.

You May Like: Who Do You See For Lower Back Pain

What Can You Do To Prevent Back Pain When Running

To prevent back pain when running, the best thing you can do is to work on your strength and flexibility.

Expert tip:

You need a strong core to support your spinal muscles, and strong, flexible legs to hold the body upright and stable while you run.

This is why cross-training incorporating strengthening movements into your running routine is so important! If you want to run for a long time, you have to protect your body by strengthening the muscles that keep your body moving and upright its as simple as that.

Runners: How To Prevent Low Back Pain

Running puts a high level of repetitive stress on the back, and for those with lower back problems it is particularly important to take measures to reduce the strain on the lower back.

In general, the following tips are advisable for runners, especially for those who are susceptible to low back pain or leg pain/sciatica:

• Do a thorough warm-up prior to beginning a run
• Stretch the hamstrings twice daily to minimize stress across the low back
• Muscle toning and strength training are also important, particularly with the core muscles of the back
• Cross training is useful, so as not to get into an overuse syndrome
• Wear comfortable, supportive shoes

  See How Foot Orthotics Help Low Back Pain

• Try to run on a forgiving surface if possible, such as a rubber track, and try to avoid running on cement

It is important that back pain patients take note of any back symptoms that perhaps are being exacerbated by a particular activity. If running consistently brings on back pain or leg pain symptoms, an evaluation with a spine specialist, including X-rays and perhaps an MRI, can be useful to determine the source of that pain.

Again, muscular sprains and strains tend to be short-lived and respond well to self-care measures, such as heat, stretching, and an anti-inflammatory medication . If the pain does not respond to these measures, there may be a more structural problem that requires medical treatment.

Read Also: How To Stretch Your Lower Back