Dr Siff and others,
I was talking to friend who worked at the olympics as a Physiotherapist down
in Sydney in the last 2 weeks, and briefly touched upon the issue of low
prevalance of back pain in weightlifters. He offered me a different
alternative on why back pain was limited in weightlifters:
1. They stretched their muscles always before they compete, hence they have
length and strength in their muscles. This means that the TrA and multifidus
muscles will not be inhibited and can be used to stabilize the lumbar spine.
This is in contrast to a worker who does not stretch at all before heavy
lifting, tightens muscles in the lumbopelvic region, which in turn inhibits
the TrA and Multifidus muscles and hence are more prone to injury as a
result of reduced lumbar stability.
2. Most sport people will have physiotherapy, chiropractic and other therapy
intervention during their training (I know for a fact that Maurice Green,
the 100M champion has both Physiotherapy and chiropractors work on him 4-5
times a week. These will not only free up their joints, but also help
stretch their muscles. It is like having treatment regularly - hence
reducing the prevalence of back pain.
3. The diet that sports people are on usually is very beneficial for
healing. Diet is a big part of the human body. Therefore, even if they have
an injury, they will heal a lot faster than compared to the average worker
who strains their back.
4. Psychologically, it is known that if you are under a lot of stress, such
as the stress of work, your muscles will tighten. Most sportman (and I mean
most) are motivated and so focused in what they do that their normal pain
threshold would be high, especially in weightlifters. They need to block out
the aches and pains in their muscle and simply focus on what they are doing.
I know as a soccer player I have had times where I would play a game and be
so focused in the game, not realizing that my legs were bleeding from a
previous tackle until I slow down.
We both agree that there is a lot of factors involved, and we can not simply
pinpoint a single factor on why weightlifters and most sport people don't
have back pain. However, it does show us that other factors such as
nutrition and psychology play a big part in the overall presentation of the
human being.
To answer some of the questions posed by Dr Siff:
>5. Are TrA methods definitely superior to most other methods of addressing
>back pain?
***Definitely not, TrA, like any other Physiotherapy method, is always used
in conjunction with other Physiotherapy techniques, and it is always
difficult to say which methods are the best simply because every patient is
different. This is probably why Physiotherapy has lacked so much evidence,
because research is not easy to do, since we do not use a single technique
in our treatment(eg, it took Physiotherapists down in Sydney 6 months to
examine the effectiveness of AP glides on the AC joint in the shoulder).
>6. How does one non-invasively check for TrA 'miseducation' or 'laziness'
>during full ranges of dynamic or ballistic 'functional' movement (such as
>running, lifting and jumping)?
***This is still to be shown, but the TrA theory offers us a way of thinking
and an explanation to what is happening in the lumbar spine. With
advancements in technology, I am sure they will soon be able to check
non-invasively TrA activation during functional movements.
>7. Why do some cases of back pain, even among those with apparently 'weak'
>or 'lazy' TrA muscles, spontaneously resolve themselves without repeatedly
>recurring?
***Is there any research on the percentage of back pain patients who resolve
spontaneously and NEVER get back pain again. It would have to be a very
extensive longitudinal study to show this, and would be a very interesting
topic of discussion.
Henry***
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