Fitness 6 of the best
6 of the best
exercises for lower back pain BY DR MIKE MARSHALL
Being one of the most common health complaints around, divers are particularly susceptible to lower back pain. Follow these easy exercises to help manage lower back pain. ower back pain is one of the most common health complaints and it is estimated to be the fifth leading cause for visits to a family physician [1]. Between 60-70% of all people complain of lower back pain at some point during their lives [2]. Of this enormous number of symptomatic people, as many as 25-30% will seek medical care [3], resulting in an estimated treatment cost of over R 1.6 trillion annually [4]. Scuba divers may only make up a tiny fraction of the enormous number of potentially-symptomatic people, but the nature of their activities place them at an increased risk of developing lower
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back problems. These activities include lifting heavy gear over uneven terrain, launching boats through rough surfs, enduring bumpy sea rides to off-shore dive sites and donning a BC and cylinder whilst on an unsteady boat. In addition, when fatigued after a dive, divers again put their backs at risk as they climb up moving boat ladders while still wearing gear, or as they lean over the edge of a boat to grab their dive buddy’s gear. The older divers are no doubt well aware of this problem as many of them are already symptomatic with lower back pain. Younger divers, though, are often unaware of the damage which they are potentially inflicting on their
backs, with their more cavalier approach to risky activities. Still, it is never too late as there are remedies and solutions for both the old and the bold.
TYPES OF LOWER BACK PAIN
Before offering specific advice, it is important to understand some of the basics of the currently accepted medical approach to assessing and managing lower back pain [5,6,7]. Lower back pain can be thought of as being either mechanical or pathological: -- Mechanical lower back pain (MLBP) is the back pain from disc, facet joint, bone, ligament or muscle
