I have been “seriously” exercising for about 2 years. I usually work out 6-7 times a week, 1-2 hours at a time. I try to keep my exercises different to better cross train. I teach and do step aerobics, run, bike,and play volleyball. Last Thursday I had a small lower back ache, so I didn’t exercise. I didn’t fall or anything, so I can’t figure out what brought it on. The next day I was in PAIN. The pain is very low in my back and dull most of the time, but if I step wrong I’ll sometimes experience shooting pain. It has been just under one week, and my back does feel slightly better every day, but I’m still worried.
I’ve never had any kind of back pain in my life and quite frankly I am freaking out!! My sympathies go out to anyone with back problems! I’m not sure what to do. I have this fear that I’ll never be able to exercise again and I’ll always be in pain. I thought that being in shape would “guard” me against such injuries. Can anyone reassure me? It tends to happen during the ‘unguarded moment’ and in spite of how fit you are you can still put enough of a load on your back to tweak it. Get some other opinions on what the problem actually is but it sounds like ‘typical’ back pain. Still, it might be serious. Most people will tend to have recurring bouts of ‘typical back pain’ as they will get into a deconditioning syndrome to avoid the pain. There are some good WEB sites on back pain, including care and exercies, and I found ‘The Complete Book of Abs’ to also be a good source on the subject.
If you don’t know how to minimize excessive loads on the back, how to stretch and strengthen the abs/back/legs (core body strength), then you’re at risk for back pain. If may not seem like it now but if it’s typical back pain and you start a program of strengthening your abs and back you’ll get over it eventually. I found that certain stretching exercises helped a lot with acute pain (one of the primary reasons that I started exercising was to prevent back pain and now I do squats and deadlifts each week; never thought it would happen).
