Swimming And Back Pain

Summary:

Swimming is an activity that is very helpful in more ways than one. It is always suggested to athletes who experience back pain due to an injury. This is the best way to exercise the various muscle groups without causing any stress on the back.

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Swimming helps in alleviating the pain and is always suggested to athletes who complain of back pain due to injury. In order to avoid further injury, swimming is normally suggested. This helps the athletes remain in form as swimming will provide the much-needed exercise without putting any sort of pressure on their backs.
However, there may be instances where even swimming may cause back pain or back injuries as well.

Certain types of strokes may cause injuries to the lower back. In order to avoid these injuries, it is important to recognize some of the factors while performing certain strokes as this may help in preventing further injuries:

• - While doing freestyle swimming, swimmers tend to rotate their head too far up and this may result in back or neck injuries. In order to avoid that, the head must be kept within the axis of the body while it is being rotated upwards. The head may be kept down when the swimmer does not reach out for air.

• - If the swimmer is not used to performing the back stroke, the neck muscles may be subject to sudden stress while performing the backstroke. Backstroke cannot be done all of a sudden. This is a stroke that has to be practiced and increased gradually.

• - Even flip-turning may have adverse effects on the back and neck muscles. The head should never be overextended from the rest of the body.

• - It is important to ensure that the head and neck remains still and the head raise should be kept to a bare minimum, just enough to take in the air.

There are various approaches to treat back pain and the more conventional ones include applying heat and cold therapy, doing stretches, medication, pain killers etc. If the pain is more intense, then the patient may have to see a physical therapist or a chiropractor.

Chiropractors manipulate the problem area in order to relieve the symptoms in the patients. Whereas, a physical therapist will draw up a treatment plan including a set of exercises that will help in strengthening the muscles and will also help in enhancing the flexibility and will decrease the pain as well. Wearing a back brace can be helpful in limiting movement, while helping the injured or strained muscles to recover.

If there is constant pain, all swimming activities should be put on hold and the doctor has to examine the patient thoroughly in order to make a proper diagnosis. The condition will only worsen if the patient continues to swim despite the pain. This may result in the worsening of back pain and may sometimes require surgery as well.

Although swimming is considered to be relatively safe and even beneficial to alleviate symptoms of pain, patients should take care to see that they don’t overdo anything and avoid awkward movements that may aggravate the injury.

2011? Dr. Brendal Norris, Chiropracticbackpainrelief.org, Read other articles about back pain and back pain relief at http://chiropracticbackpainrelief.org for more answers to your questions about back pain, its causes, and cures.This article is from http://chiropracticbackpainrelief.org/swimming-and-back-pain