Don’t let lower back pain ruin your running
Don’t let lower back pain ruin your running
Faith was saying, she’s experiencing a sharp pain in her lower back after a long run; it gets worse when she sits down. She loves running, she doesn’t want to quit. What could it be and what can she do to sort it out?
Do you want to shave 10 minutes off your marathon PB?
You can run faster with our FREE running strength training programme that you can do once a week, at home and with no expensive gym equipment needed.
Included in the programme:
Detailed descriptions of each exercise so you know how to do them
Number of repetitions for each exercise so that you avoid overtraining & injury
Short videos showing you EXACTLY what to do (Number 6 will turn you into the "Marathon Slayer" so that you don't hit the wall and implode later in the race)
Faith was saying, she’s experiencing a sharp pain in her lower back after a long run; it gets worse when she sits down. She loves running, she doesn’t want to quit. What could it be and what can she do to sort it out?
Lindsey Parry: Look, the lower back is always very complicated. So the best bet here is to go and see a healthcare practitioner. I mean it could be related to the actual vertebra and the discs between the vertebra, so there could be some sort of mild prolapsed or bulging of the disk that’s putting pressure on a nerve.
There could be some sacroiliac joint irritation, so she has poor stability, getting a lot of movement that can also irritate some of the nerves in the lower back.
The fact that it hurts more on sitting and particularly if she sits with a rounded back does point to some sort of potential neural irritation. But she definitely needs to go and see a healthcare practitioner and get a proper diagnosis.
Stabilise your sacroiliac joint - help your back
From there, normally these things can be treated fairly successfully by seeing a physio and a biokineticist and getting good exercises to stabilise that sacroiliac joint; regardless of whether it’s something in the discs or whether there’s a problem in the lower back, just by having a much more stable sacroiliac joint. There’s less movement, there’s less chance of irritating the nerves.
There’s a good prognosis basically for sorting that out and being able to run and enjoy exercise if you just do the right type of basic proprioceptive stability and strengthening exercises for the lower back.
BB: Awesome stuff Lindsey, thanks for that advice. Faith, I hope that helps and thanks for being in touch. Don’t forget, if you want your question answered, all you need to do is head over to the website, askcoachparry.com. You can get it submitted there and who knows, we could be answering is on the next edition of the podcast. Until then, from the two of us, it’s cheers.
What are you training for?
Simply click on any of the images below to access our running training programmes.
Subscribe to RUN with Coach Parry
