The hidden cause of lower back pain

In part 1, I looked at the impact of sitting on your muscles, but what happens in the rest of your body? Leg Disorders We are all familiar with the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) if we take long flights.  This is because sitting for long periods of time slows blood circulation, which causes fluid to pool in legs.  This creates problems ranging from swollen ankles, varicose beings to dangerous blood clots. Soft Bones Osteoporosis is a disease marked by reduced bone strength leading to an increased risk of fractures, or broken bones. Bone strength has two main features: bone mass (amount of bone) and bone quality.  Osteoporosis is often called a “silent disease” because it usually progresses without any symptoms until a fracture occurs or one or more vertebrae (bones in the spine) collapse.   Weight-bearing activities such as walking and running stimulate hip and lower-body bones to grow thicker, denser and stronger.  Medical researchers partially attribute the recent surge in cases of osteoporosis to lack of activity. Garrett, Brasure et al, 2004, Physical Inactivity Direct Cost To A Health Plan, American Journal of Preventative Medicine; Vol 27 No 4, Pages 304–309 See http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2804%2900191-6/abstract?cc=y Weight Gain As the body slows down while in a resting and seated positions, the metabolism naturally slows down.  Calories are burned at a far lower rate, when you sit, you burn only about one calorie a minute!.  For some people this can lead to weight gain becoming an issues.  Being overweight is a known risk factor for many common chronic conditions including

• diabetes
• gallstones
• hypertension
• heart disease
• stroke

Obviously I am a firm believer of massage in the workplace, so I will start by acknowledging my bias on the topic.  What people may not know is that during the many years working in IT, I suffered from a verity of neck and shoulder issues.  This lead me to go to see a GP, chiropractor, osteopath and masseur.  While they all helped, what was most beneficial to me was regular seated acupressure neck & shoulder massage which helped me nip the tension and the problems in the bud. We all know getting a massage feels great. Once your massages starts, the nerve cells in your skin send messages to your brain to release feel-good endorphins .  As a result stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline begin to decrease and the other all effect is to boost your mood and give you a natural high.  On a physical level the tension and tightness in the muscles begin to release. This means your awareness shifts so your mind and body can function better.  Researches find your mind gets de-cluttered helping you to think more clearly, improve your alertness which leads to improve performance. So why not book a massage see>> http://vitalitytherapy.co.uk/booking

While there are many reasons why runner's get injured I want to share with you what I consider the common causes based on what we treat in clinic. Posture I find many clients know they don't have the perfect posture when they sit at their desks but assume their running won't be affected.  This is wrong,  bad posture carries over into your run which can put extra stress on your back and knees.  So its important to focus on good running posture which is upper torso straight with head balanced directly over shoulders and lower back not arched. Training Errors This is the number 1 cause of running injuries.  Training errors basically means your are trying to run too much or too far or too quickly for your body.  The body needs time to adapt from training changes and jumps in mileage, intensity or changes in terrain.  Muscles need recovery time to they can handle more training demands.  If you rush the process you break can down rather than build up.  Running experts recommend the 10% rule, which means the maximum speed or distance (note I didn't say speed and distance) you increase by each week is 10%.  So if you run 10 miles in the first week, you run 11 miles in the second week and so on. RICE - Rest,Ice, Compression and Elevation All of my clients know rice.  However I find too many runners focus on the I (ice), and ignore the RCE.  So they tend to get stuck in a cycle of ice-and-run, ice-and-run etc without giving the muscles time to heal.  Its like dieting every day until 7pm and then pigging out at the all your can eat buffet!  Remember the R in RICE means rest, i.e. don't run until the injury is better.