Is strength important for back health?
By Paul Bolger. Chartered Physiotherapist at Nano Physiotherapy, Kilkenny (www.nanophysio.ie).
When it comes to caring for our backs, how important is strength? You often hear different things depending on who you ask. Let’s explore this idea to gain a greater understanding about how we might best care for these wonderful backs of ours.
Fit for Purpose
When it comes to back health, a degree of strength is important, but it is only a part of the story. It is important to be ‘Fit for Purpose’. What does this mean? Being strong, flexible and fit enough to meet your normal day-to-day demands. Now this is all well and good if you are regularly active, but it can become an issue for those in pain, those with a health issue or those recovering from an injury.
Where a lot of people get caught out here is when the seasons change and they jump headfirst into something they haven’t done in 6 months – such as tackling the garden in springtime. How might we better approach these things?
Pacing
Ideally, you might break these tough physical tasks up over several days or a week instead of barreling through the whole thing in one afternoon and feeling like you’ve aged 20 years the next morning when that back, hip or shoulder issue pops up again.
Stay strong and fit
Another way to mitigate the risk of hurting yourself when getting back into a job or activity is to maintain a degree of strength and fitness year-round. If your normal day-to-day doesn’t offer regular physical challenges, then joining a class, group or club is a great place to start. Our bodies are amazing, they are constantly adapting to the strains of life. If we regularly challenge them physically, then they become stronger, fitter and more resilient to these physical demands.
Gradual & Consistent
Like anything in life, adaptation takes time, and rest and recovery are an important part of the process. Whether you are starting from a low fitness level, are recovering from pain, injury or a health condition, listen to your body and take a gradual approach. Depending on your circumstances, your approach may be very different to somebody else’s. Consistency is essential when it comes to changes in fitness –regular bouts of activity, no matter how small, add up in the long run.
Practicing the above points should help to put most people on a better path to caring for their back health. Being ‘fit for purpose’ (i.e. strong and fit enough for what life throws at us), pacing ourselves and taking a gradual approach to increasing strength and fitness will all reduce the risk of us suffering from an injury.
That said, there are many other factors that impact back health. If you read my article last week (which is available on the Kilkenny Observer website), you will know that things that affect our health impact our back health – such as smoking, general fitness and sleep. It is also well established that things that impact our psychological health and wellbeing are pivotal here too. A strong back is useful, but it is only one part of the story.
As always, if you want to use this information to manage a certain problem that you have, it is best to do so under the guidance of a registered healthcare professional.
