Dealing With Back Pain & Spasms

So, if you experience back pain and spasms please get a fitness professional, a sports masseuse or a physiotherapist to analyse your hips and hip flexors. Loads of problems stem from this area of the body. Everything is related in the human body. A tight area here put an area out elsewhere. Stay strong, stretch regularly and exercise each day.

Book in with us at Define Fitness and let us help you fix your bad back. www.definefitness.com.au/peronal-training

After a long term back injury I feel compelled to share my discovery. As a young athlete I played Cricket for the local Cricket club and excelled as a fast bowler. I would throw down some ripper chin music to rival batsman, often taking wickets. Yep, I thought I was ok (I don’t have tickets on myself at all). Unfortunately, I was never really coached regarding fast bowling technique and would use my back to sling the ball fast down the pitch. With this horrible technique, later in life came a horrible back injury.

6 years later, I eventually changed sports and played touch football. One day (this sounds like a fairy tale) I simply went to run onto a team mates pass and my back literally gave way. I couldn’t move without back spasm and pain.

So, I consulted a sports doctor and was told that I had a weak ligament around L3/4 in my spine, as a result of being a fast bowler. That old slinging fast bowling technique had caught up with me. I was then prescribed some exercises and physiotherapy which definitely worked for some period.

For some strange reason, my back injury would never leave me. It would return and give me grief each year. I would return to the physiotherapistand get massaged, pushed around, heated up and even needled. These all helped me in my recovery but essentially the issue was never fixed!

This led me to discussions with other fitness professionals and colleagues. I wanted a cure! I thankfully came across a very knowledgeable power lifter, Mark Rasmussen who encouraged me to strengthen my core and work on my posterior chain. These conversations with Mark assisted me greatly but the back problem was still there, I could feel it.

From here, I was not going to give up! I had always been encouraged by Mark to book in with him for some dry needling, a postural analysis and some massage. After 4 years, I decided to give Mark a go.

I arrived at Mark’s house for my treatment. Mark asked me to strip down to my shorts and then he analysed my hips. Yes, my hips. Straight away he realised there was an unusual anterior hip tilt. A hip tilt that was substantial. Mark said “I know your problem” and then proceeded to share with me that my substantial anterior hip tilt was due to my EXTREMELY TIGHT HIP FLEXORS. He then went on to say that “your hip flexors are so tight, they are pulling your hips out of alignment which in turn is putting your back out”

Mark treated my hip flexors and simply fixed me! I still have the odd tight back moment but essentially I feel stronger due to the hip flexor treatment Mark had prescribed. From dry needling to strength work on my core, I feel 100% better now.

Keep Fit

Nathan Hitchcock