Back Pain in Running

This a common problem for many runners and very often with no solution except for the unlikable one - to get off of running to get healed.

But your solution is inside running itself: you have to run proper. What exactly does it mean?

First and foremost: do not work against gravity.

• Do not pound the ground with your heels
• Do not push the ground off with your legs

The next important point is the body position in relation to support.

If your body is not aligned along the straight line going through the shoulders, hips, and forefoot on support, but is bent forward instead, then you are likely to have a torque (a rotating or twisting force) at the lower back level when landing on the heel or forefoot in front of the body.

This rotational force, when the position is repeated non-stop during a long run, eventually overstretches and overloads these lower back muscles. They become tense and painful.

How to avoid this problem?

• At least keep your trunk and hips aligned over the point of support
• Do not land on the heels
• Do not land in front of the body, but do that under the hips or general center of mass
• Strengthen your hip muscle system around 360 degrees by doing hip exercise
• Develop higher level of elasticity of your muscles by using jump exercises

Bring it all together in running. As you see, nothing fancy, but all geared to developing good relationship with gravity.

By: Nicholas Romanov

Posted in: Back Pain