Relieve Low Back Pain | Reduce Low Back Pain | Canada's Leading Authority in Human Movement | Dev Chengkalath

As you’ll often notice, I tend to write a lot about the backside.

Call it what you want (glutes, hips, posterior chain, derriere …), but always remember how important hip function is for not only protecting or fixing your back, but also for numerous other joints and tissues in your body.

Since I’ve already written at length about how the hips impact spine health, today I want to branch out a bit into hip function and knee health.

Over the course of the last little while I’ve had quite a few clients come into the clinic with fairly sudden onset of atraumatic knee pain. Basically, the pain came on without any falls or trauma to the knee itself.

I tend to see injuries in bunches. I’ll have periods of  people with neck pain, a week of ankle sprains or a week where everyone is suffering from low back pain.

In this case, I wanted to figure out the commonality between all these people and their knee pain.

Sure enough, they were all runners.

Enjoy your run, pain free.

As I’ve written before and as I’ll write again, people should get fit to run and not the other way around.

That is GET FIT TO RUN, DON’T RUN TO GET FIT.

What’s the problem with running to get fit?

There are huge numbers of issues with the above.

The most concerning is that running is a highly repetitive, extremely high volume, high impact activity.

Think of it this way: how many foot-falls or foot strikes will you have in a 10 minute run? In a 30 minute run? In a half-marathon? Marathon?

Now think of each of those steps as a repetition.

Now add in the fact that an individual may have been completely sedentary prior to starting to run.Or may have some bio-mechanical fault or compensation.

To me, that just seems like a dangerous mix.

High volume, high impact activity with an often poorly coordinated (lacking motor control) and de-conditioned body.

That, my friends, is a sure recipe for disaster, pain and injury.

The human body is an incredible marvel of engineering. It will adapt to almost any condition or stress placed upon it, with one major caveat: only if given the opportunity to adapt.

Runners, unfortunately, tend not to take heed.

Above all else, they will keep running.

Now, if you build a strong, sturdy foundation, there’s no problem with going out for a run.

In part 2 of this blog post,  I’ll discuss why the hips and glutes are so important for runners and how just a few simple exercises can protect your knees and spine at the same time.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

It’s been a while since I’ve done any blogging and for that I apologize.

Things have been quite hectic with a whole slew of changes and happenings taking place.

So to get back into the swing of things, I’m just going to re-visit a very important component of low back pain rehabilitation.

Without further ado:

Your buttocks plays a vital role in saving your spine.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you’ll recognize that I’ve always touted gluteal activation and motor control exercises as one of the primary methods to get a handle on your low back pain. In physical therapy, exercise along with education, are our most powerful tools for resolving this and many other issues.

Your buttocks plays a vital role in saving your knees too.

So how do you get your butt back in gear?

There are four major activation movements I use in my physiotherapy practice to build better butts.

These are:

1. The clamshell.

2. Standing hip extensions.

3. The squat or sit-to-stand.

You can check out the above along with other important low back pain relieving movement in the exercise video area of my blog.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

In the last couple of posts on the topic of slipped discs, I’ve discussed the spinal column (bones and discs) as well as the neurological tissues (brain, spinal cord and nerves).

In today’s post, I’ll be discussing some of the soft tissues and their involvement in low back pain.

These soft tissues, which include ligament, muscle, tendon and fascia, all play an integral role is supporting, stabilizing and protecting the back from injury and pathology. As well, these tissues are responsible for helping the body create or resist movement.

Ligaments: The various bony structures of the spine are linked together by ligaments of differing sizes, shapes and strengths. These tough bands of fibrous connective tissue are designed to help provide structural stability and support to the spine. Unfortunately, due to their structural make up and limited blood supply, these tissues may be injured by repetitive stresses from “dangerous” postures or movements. Once injured, these tissues may take a significant time to heal.

Ligaments of the vertebrae

Muscles & Tendons: The muscles of the spine are involved in one of three major activities: creating movement, resisting movement, or acting as proprioceptors to send signals to your brain about your body’s positions and movements. Muscles are attached to bones via tendons. By shortening or lengthening (contraction or relaxation), muscles cause, or restrict, movement about a joint. In the case of restricting movement, this has application in the creation of stability in the spinal column. Certain muscles act as proprioceptors (relays movement information to the brain and CNS through specialized cells and receptors). This allows the body to adapt, act, or react to information transmitted from these contractile tissues to the neural tissues.

Muscles of the back

Fascia: Because fascia is a fairly complicated soft tissue, I’ll just briefly touch upon it here. Fascia can be considered a layered soft tissue matrix that surrounds and encapsulates most internal body structures. It’s role ranges from structural support to immune function.

And there you have it.

A quick overview of the tissues involved in “slipped discs” and low back pain.

In part 2 of this series, we’ll move on to the motor control issues and start putting your new knowledge to use.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath