Playing sports has many benefits, like developing a sense of well-being and becoming fitter and more confident. Sports can also help strengthen your spine, so it’s vital to keep the muscles and tendons adaptable and solid. It gives your body assistance and avoids injuries. Supporting these muscles can help determine posture and maintain your back to keep you playing sports.
Signs You May Have Injured Your Back
When you’ve harmed yourself while playing a sport or working out in the gym, you may be suffering but not know if you should go to the hospital or take pain reliever medicines. Often expert advice is the best option from specialists like Walkerspineandsport.com, especially if the back pain you are feeling continues to worsen. You must also see a doctor if the pain is scattered and you feel weak, you encounter changes in your bladder and bowel movements, or you’re getting out of balance when walking. If the torment holds for more than two months, it might develop into something worse.
Don’t remain in bed. You’ll just feel weak if you continue to stay inactive. You may even worsen your back pain. Instead, do the following ways to help maintain your back or reduce its pain:
Physical Treatment
One of the biggest upsets for a sports player is to have an injury that makes him unable to participate in the game. Sports medication or physical treatment is quickly needed. There are experts and professionals that will help you. Your physical therapist will help you with your diet and treatment. Diet includes the nutrition that can help your body, while the therapies will help you to improve your injuries.
There are physical specialists that work exclusively about the human body. The point of all the treatments is to make your body healthy, reduce pain, and make you do things like you were able to before. Physical treatment can change your capacity to play sports. There are also sports treatment centers that understand being injured in the game, so they advise how to prevent these kinds of incidents and how they deal with injuries.
If the injuries continue to worsen for more than six weeks, a physical treatment may be best for you. But again, consult with a physician first. They will know whether you’ll need passive or active physical therapy.
Active Physical Treatment – Back Pain Exercises
Exercising plays an important role in bringing back the spine in place. You need to do 15 to 20 minutes of active exercise every other day. Partial crunches can help you with your back problems. There are also many other exercises that can actually help you if you do them properly.
You should do daily hamstring stretching when you already suffered an injury. There are different kinds of hamstring exercises that can be easily done at home. These can help you improve your injury.
Passive Physical Treatment – Medical
These are treatments that are directly done to the patient to decrease the pain. This includes ice or heat therapy which applies cold packs or ice to reduce swelling and pain on your back. As for heat packs, you can use them to loosen stiff muscles and increase your blood flow.
Another popular passive physical therapy includes massage therapy, which reduces stiffness and pain while relaxing your muscles.
Jab Treatments
An injection will be considered when pain doesn’t go away. These treatments usually make you numb. These treatments can help you with your back pain, but not all get the same outcome. Thus, it’s still best to consult your doctor.
Two Major Back Problems:
- Swelling or nerve damage that typically occurs in the neck and lower back is called radiculopathy. Tingling, numbness, and pain are the common symptoms.
- Spinal stenosis, or the narrowing of the spine, compresses the nerves inside, which also occurs in the neck and lower back area. But not all can have symptoms. When you’re active, you can feel the pain from spinal stenosis, and it will only fade when you lean forward.
Pharmaceutical Treatments
There are drugs, like analgesics and other medications, that can alleviate back pain. However, most may come with side effects and cannot be used for long periods. That’s why you should always consult with a doctor and get prescriptions instead of self-medicating.
One example of pharmacological treatments that most athletes use is opioids. Opioid medications can result in an array of side effects in the nervous system. Drowsiness, nausea, and mood swings are the common symptoms. There is also a risk of addiction if not implemented properly. To achieve its optimal effect, you should follow the dosage and talk to an expert about it.
Acupuncture
It’s a Chinese practice that is well-known and well-researched to help people manage their pain. Acupuncture is the traditional treatment that is based on the energy of the body. The treatment is believed to stimulate the nervous system. They use needles that are very thin and are inserted into your body. Usually feeling discomfort but not meant to be harmed.
The professional acupuncturist uses the ‘qi’ method where it targets energy. An acupuncturist has qi methods that focus on back pain.
Lower back pain acupuncture points are:
- Stomach points
- Hip points
- Hand points
- Lower back points
- Foot points
- Back of the knee’s points
Thoracic back pain usually points to upper back pain, which is different. When stimulated, parts of the nervous system are also doing good and relieve the pain. Thus, this is also a good way to treat back pains.
Sports can serve as exercise and physical activities that keep your body healthy and increase your overall well-being. These activities are generally acknowledged to be important for weight control, strengthening bones and muscles, increasing stamina, and preventing disease. If you’re a sports professional, this may also be your source of income and career.
However, one of the disadvantages of doing sports is the risk of injuring your spine or back. In case of spine injuries or any back pain, you must immediately seek help or undergo treatment if needed. As such, ensuring that your back or spine is always healthy and protected from illness can enable you to continue doing sports and exercises, which in turn make you feel better, extend your career, and have fun.