For nearly every athlete, back injuries or pain is an expected part of the territory. For professional athletic trainers, it’s often assumed that they can’t be injured or that they “know better” and will be able to avoid back injuries.
While no one would deny that a strong back is critical for playing sports, as it’s involved in movement, flexibility, and strength, the same is true for nearly every single profession when you think about it.
Even those who sit at desk jobs can sustain some serious back injuries if they slouch most of the time and fail to keep their core muscles in good condition. So it only makes sense that athletic trainers, while knowing perfectly well all that they need to do in order to keep their lumbar spine in good condition, sometimes end up with unintended, and certainly unwanted, back pain.
How Do Athletic Trainers Injure Their Backs?
Like everyone else, trainers can be injured almost any time, whether they are working with a client, working out on their own, or through a simple accident, such as slipping and falling, an injury while playing sports, or through a car or motorcycle accident.
Many trainers who have back pain find that their pain stems from nothing more than overuse injuries. When their client workload is increased, their main concern is, understandably, for their clients first. This tends to keep them noticing that their own health is suffering.
This might seem obvious to others, but athletic trainers are often so intensely focused on their clients that they aren’t often paying attention to their own posture. Like other professions, mine and massage therapists included, athletic trainers need to be aware of their own posture and messages from their own bodies to avoid overuse and repetitive motion trauma.
While there are no formal statistics that I could find regarding what types of injuries or which are the more common types of injuries sustained by trainers, in my own practice, I have found that tendonitis and lumbar strain to be the most common. This doesn’t rule out the occasional and more serious health problems everyone faces, such as arthritis, spondylosis, and degenerative disc disease, but persistent low back pain tends to be the common complaint.
When to Push Through the Pain and When to Seek Help
While you are probably acutely aware of your clients’ injuries or when they are trying to hide some type of pain, most trainers simply ignore their own pain until they simply can’t ignore it any longer.
Work through the pain if you are certain that what you are feeling is a temporary “twinge” due to a minor event (sleeping on a sofa, for example).
If you’re suffering from lower back pain for more than a week, it’s important to consult a doctor to determine the underlying cause. Luckily, most lower back pain can be self-treated with a combination of recovery and stretching exercises and a little help from your local chiropractor.
Best Reasons to See a Chiropractor
1. Chiropractic Care is Effective
If you haven’t checked into the research lately, you should! Chiropractic is safe and effective, especially when dealing with low back pain. More mainstream doctors are suggesting chiropractic to their patients and the American College of Physicians issued a formal recommendation in 2017 that doctors should include chiropractic treatment when it comes to treating back pain.
2. It Reduces Pain Levels
Overall, chiropractic adjustments and other modalities have been shown to reduce pain levels and increase function, including range of motion. The Annals of Internal Medicine published a systematic review in 2017 which found that chiropractic and tai chi were the best ways to reduce pain for those who had back injuries or chronic low back pain.
3. Chiropractors Understand Your Occupation
You might not be aware that some chiropractors do double duty as personal trainers. If they have passed the CSCS exam through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, then they are already far more qualified to understand and speak with you about your injuries and/or pain than the average personal trainer or even an M.D. In the same way that it might be difficult for you to understand the challenges that say a police dispatcher might face, speaking to a chiropractor who understands your profession and speaks your lingo will make the entire situation easier for you.
4. Chiropractic Will Address Any Muscular Imbalances
Depending on your situation, you may need to address muscular imbalances in your own body. Your core is important, but perhaps you also need to strengthen your upper back, buttocks or knees. A chiropractor can help diagnose any areas that need to be strengthened in order to prevent extra pressure on your lower back.
5. Advice Regarding Back-Friendly Exercises
Perhaps more than most, athletic trainers understand that exercise is a key element when it comes to back recovery. In general, while you might not want to slow your pace or limit your exercise routine, you should continue to do very light aerobic exercise but opt for low-impact activities such as walking, swimming or yoga. Your chiropractor can help you adapt other types of exercise to suit your back injury, such as weight lifting.
6. Follow an anti-inflammatory diet
To get pain relief, you should also follow an anti-inflammatory diet. Based on the Mediterranean model, the anti-inflammatory diet consists of fresh fruit and veggies, fish and grains.While an athletic trainer is well-aware of the importance of diet, how many of your co-workers do you know who hit up the local drive-through several times a week? Those in the health profession are sometimes loathe to take our own advice.
7. Take in the Benefits of Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is most likely something you recommend for your clients, but when was the last time you had a massage? Massage therapy has tremendous healing power when it comes to back pain. Chances are that your chiropractor offers massage therapy at their clinic since massage therapy and chiropractic go hand in hand.
8. You Will Speed Up Recovery Time
The Top-rated chiropractors in Anchorage, like most chiropractors, understand that your time is money and you want to get back to work as quickly as possible. Chiropractic techniques help to speed the healing process.
About Dr. Brent Wells, D.C.
Dr. Brent Wells, D.C. has been a chiropractor for over 20 years and has treated thousands of patients. He founded Better Health Chiropractic & Physical Rehab in Alaska in 1998 and is a member of the American Chiropractic Association and the American Academy of Spine Physicians. Dr. Wells is also the author of over 700 online health articles that have been featured on sites such as Dr. Axe and Lifehack. He continues his education to remain active and updated in all studies related to neurology, physical rehab, biomechanics, spine conditions, brain injury trauma, and more.