In my experience of running gyms for over four years, the most common pain complaint from both men and women is that of Frozen Shoulders and Back /Lumbar Pain. With the latter proliferating in the digital age where there’s considerably less physical activity, I thought it best to tackle lumbar pain in this blog.
Our spine is divided into five parts, L1- to L5, with L1 being near the neck and L5 being the lowest. Usually, L4-L5 are the most ignored parts of the body, and often misused too. These parts are responsible to support our entire posture and are generally not exercised properly, even by the fittest gym goers.
Why is this?
The lower back is a very delicate part of the body. Men and women often focus on the upper back, not realising that this leads to weakening of the lower back, i.e. L4- L5 on the spine. This further gets aggravated with poor posture, which is an unfortunate occurrence amongst most people these days. Makes you think back to the times when our parents and teachers would tell us to sit straight, doesn’t it? It may be easier said than done when you’re sitting over a computer for eight hours in a day, but do work on the posture whenever you can.
Another major cause of lumbar pain is being overweight. When the body is overweight, the whole brunt of holding up that weight falls on the knees and lower back, leading to dull chronic pain that could stay with you for the rest of your life. Lumbar pain is also prevalent in gym goers who avoid the salient points and postures of each workout. If you don’t workout with a good trainer, chances are you will have a back injury sooner or later.
However, things aren’t as gloomy as they seem, and just like any other body part, lower back pain is also treatable. It takes its own sweet time and perseverance, but it’s worth the effort. People have actually started running marathons after strengthening their lower back, while a year ago they were almost bed ridden because of pain.
So get up, stand straight and get going!