By Dr. Francesca Fanolla
Vertebral pains are now "daily bread" for any instructor who sees a "sporting" subject practicing a certain discipline, both at an amateur and competitive level, presented to him.
In short, let's take a closer look at these athletic gestures attributable to this overload, therefore to future and potential vertebral pains.
ATHLETICS:
- Running (BOTTOM) the continuous impact of the feet with the ground, often at high intensity, causes over time disc compressions and related sciatic muscles.
- OBSTACLE RUN: in addition to the high joint impact in the landing phase that involves the ankle and lumbar joints with strong disc compressions, there is also the considerable stress on the iliopsoas muscles during repeated flexions and rotations. of the hip. This could lead to lumbosciatica from hyperlordosis.
BODY BUILDING
This activity aims almost exclusively at the excessive development of strength and muscle mass causing a limitation of muscle elasticity, a reduction in the joint line and an increase in interarticular pressure with often irreversible problems.
It is therefore advisable, during training, not only to assume the most correct and comfortable posture for the joints but also to compensate for the overload with postural work in muscle lengthening (stretching for unloading, relaxation and decompression).
FOOTBALL
Most of the injuries involving the spine in football mainly concern the lumbar and cervical tracts due to the frequent twisting, bending and extension of the trunk, in addition to the intrinsic aspects of the game that are running, changes of direction, jumps, landings that place significant overload and stress on all joints in the lower body as well as the spine.
As regards the cervical tract, a frequent cervical arthrosis syndrome with cervicobrachialgia and functional limitations was found, due to the microtraumas generated by "head blows".
Strength, flexibility and stabilization training are therefore imperative to protect the spine from such injuries.
CYCLING:
In this discipline the spine is subjected to very energetic stresses both in a static and dynamic sense and in terms of both extent and duration. The static stresses concern the position of the athlete on the bicycle maintained for a prolonged time; this posture prolonged for a long time, leads to an "alteration of the physiological curves (accentuation of the dorsal kyphosis and cervical lordosis) and to the" "inversion of the lumbar lordotic curvature .
In these cases you can have:
- Osteoarticular low back pain caused by excessive static stresses imposed by the position.
- The constant hyperpressure due to the assumed position that moves the disc backwards subjecting it to a compression about four times greater than the norm;
- Attitude of hyperlordosis or hyperkyphosis depending on whether the saddle is too high or too low;
- The effect of the cold and humidity of the environment.
The cervical tract is constantly subjected to contractures of the extensor muscles of the neck, to allow the athlete to look ahead.
It is therefore advisable to get up frequently from the saddle to allow greater relaxation of these muscles and to allow the spine to restore its physiological curves.
Furthermore, the intense stress on the "knee joint" which "pushes" the pedaling and, consequently on the intervertebral joint facets of the same side, which unload all the effort on the lumbosacral area should not be overlooked.
I SWIM:
Swimming has always been considered the "rehabilitative" and "preventive" sport par excellence in cases of vertebral spine pathologies as it consists of movements on which no force of gravity acts, allowing the spine an active and dynamic rest at the same time.
It also requires looseness, elasticity and non-violent contractions.
BASKETBALL AND VOLLEYBALL
The most frequent injuries are essentially detected in the lower limbs but there are also those related to the spine, especially the lumbar spine.
The main causes are the jumps, therefore the landing phase which involves considerable vertebral compressions as well as "high impact" of the joints on the knees and ankles, as well as frequent and sudden twists to intercept the ball.
A very important "physical" cause of these injuries is the frequent lack of tone and power of the leg muscles (as well as poor elasticity), therefore unable to "absorb" the loads that are inevitably moved to the aforementioned joints.
Lumbosacral stretching of the ligaments or stretching of the paravertebral, pelvic or flank muscles are frequent, the cause of which is that of a sudden and rapid rotational movement, often with the appearance of pain during movement.
The continuous stresses in the jumps and the repeated twisting can also cause the laceration of the fibrous ring and the consequent degeneration of the intervertebral discs leading to herniated discs.
In addition to these pathologies, spondylolysis (sliding of the interarticular part of the vertebra) and spondylolisthesis are often found.
TENNIS
Even in this sport where twisting is frequent, back pain is found. Furthermore, rapid movements, sudden stops and continuous torsion of the trunk cause a high and often asymmetrical pressure on the intervertebral discs.
Tennis players therefore need good shoulder mobility and strengthening of the dorsal spine, as well as the ability to play on soft ground.
TREATMENT
Of course, anyone suffering from these symptoms and pathologies should absolutely suspend their activity and devote themselves solely to rest, followed by a kinesiological treatment consisting of a rehabilitation work of the spine which I will discuss in the next article.
Bibliography: "Preventive and compensatory motor education", F.lli Tribastone, Rome Sports Press Society
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