(rhbh, primarily)

After playing a couple days each of the last two weeks, including a tournament Saturday, I started to get pretty intense lower back pain. This isn't the first time that this has happened; it forced me to take about two years off, up until last fall or so. Bad backs run in my family, and they didn't seem to pass me up.

My question is this: barring popping pills, is there anything I can do so that I can play pain free? I know side arm would be an option, but I can't do that very well (read: I suck at it), and I would rather not invest the time it would take to become proficient at it if I don't have to. Any advice is appreciated.

What kind of back pain? It's important to have muscles that are strong enough to support your back and stretching is also key. I was having lower back troubles too but when I played more, stretched more and worked out a little my back started to feel great.

What kind of back pain?



When I play, its always lower, right above my hips.



It's important to have muscles that are strong enough to support your back and stretching is also key.



Before my rounds, I usually stretch, and I always warm up throwing midranges.

I have had back pain on and off for the past 2 years. I go to the Chiropractor and it gets better after a month of going 3 days a week and then a few months later maybe 3 or 4 the pain comes back in the lower right side of my back. I also primarily throw RHBH. My new Chiro said I need to strengthen my core so 3 days a week I go to the gym and 3 days a week I go to the chiro. That dosent give me much time to practice but the pain is lessening and I am throwing further than ever. The endurance is awesome I can play 4 rounds no problem in a day now. Hopefully soon I can cut the chiro down to 2 days and then 1 day a week and then hopefully every other week or so.

I was having a lot of back pain a few years ago. I tried the chiropractic route and it helped, but strenghtening my core and stretching was what really made a difference. Yoga is terrific for both of these.

You are on the right traction :D

I had back problems one year ago and it kept me from playing for a good month, but none since I got treated and educated at the sport and spine place. I had chiro treatment for 6 weeks, 3 times a week then twice a week now I go in once a month for a maintenance session to keep it feeling great. The core stretching exersizes are key I do them every single day. The ones I do take less than 10 minutes to complete and I don't need any equipment at all.

Yoga is a great routine to strengthen the core (and beyond) w/o the boring crunches, etc...and it includes copious amounts of stretching.

Stay in new to newer shoes - as our foundation starts 'under' our feet. DG is very hard on footwear as each shoe (L & R) is asked to do a completely different thing when throwing...as well as 100's of miles of walking in between throws.
.02

work out your back regularly...The easiest way to do this and practice, is putting, mostly straddle....It worked for me...I did nothing but putt for a long time.a two hour putting session with at least 9 putters will help a lot.

(rhbh, primarily)

After playing a couple days each of the last two weeks, including a tournament Saturday, I started to get pretty intense lower back pain. This isn't the first time that this has happened; it forced me to take about two years off, up until last fall or so. Bad backs run in my family, and they didn't seem to pass me up.

My question is this: barring popping pills, is there anything I can do so that I can play pain free? I know side arm would be an option, but I can't do that very well (read: I suck at it), and I would rather not invest the time it would take to become proficient at it if I don't have to. Any advice is appreciated.



Hey Jay, I feel your pain I too am having problems with my lower back...as a result I am seeing a physical therapist once every two weeks.

I have a document that shows how to do Lower Back Stretches...I will scan it for you and post it on the board sometime today.

I hope it helps you...

mc

beer and scellaxin :D what back pain.

Okay looks like I'm going to have to email it to you.

If anybody wants the lower back stretch document send me a pm and I'll email you...the stretches really do help.

Figured it out.

Here ya go I hope this helps:


http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a34/scidflog/lowerback_Page_1.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a34/scidflog/lowerback_Page_2.jpg

Ever thought of getting your back an MRI? It's the best way to determine if you have a disc herniation. I had a microdiscectomy (where they shave your vertebrae) about 2 years ago and it helped out with my lower back pain.

work out your back regularly...The easiest way to do this and practice, is putting, mostly straddle....It worked for me...I did nothing but putt for a long time.a two hour putting session with at least 9 putters will help a lot.



Actually, after practicing straddle putting for an hour a day for a week, I found that it hurt my back.

Ever thought of getting your back an MRI? It's the best way to determine if you have a disc herniation. I had a microdiscectomy (where they shave your vertebrae) about 2 years ago and it helped out with my lower back pain.



I have not thought of getting an MRI. I am still a dependent of my parents, and I'm not sure how this would be covered under the insurace, although I did get one on my head a few months ago, so I'll have to ask about it.

Figured it out.

Here ya go I hope this helps:




When/how often do you do these stretches? I couldn't imagine doing them before a round or practicing.

By the way: thanks for the suggestions everyone.

When/how often do you do these stretches? I couldn't imagine doing them before a round or practicing.





I try and do it once a day...if you have a tournament I suggest doing the stretches in the morning before heading to the course...after a while your lower back will become more flexible which means less pain.

Ball golf is what started to screw my back up, disc golf only made it worse.

Good luck and I hope your back gets better ;)

mc

Anybody have UPPER back pain. I am not sure if it is related to disc golf, but I get an intense pain between my spine and my left shoulderblade (I throw LHBH) when I sleep. Actually, it prevents me from sleeping. I have never had pain on the disc course or when I throw, only when I am laying down. The reason I think it may be correlated to disc golfing is because the pain seems to be worse at night if I play alot of disc that day.

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this. It doesn't effect me too badly right now because I wake up at 5am for work anyway and I can usually sleep 5 hrs without problem. It just sucks when you are really tired and you should sleep to noon, but you have to get up at 7am because your back hurts so bad...

Anybody have UPPER back pain. I am not sure if it is related to disc golf, but I get an intense pain between my spine and my left shoulderblade (I throw LHBH) when I sleep. Actually, it prevents me from sleeping. I have never had pain on the disc course or when I throw, only when I am laying down. The reason I think it may be correlated to disc golfing is because the pain seems to be worse at night if I play alot of disc that day.

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this. It doesn't effect me too badly right now because I wake up at 5am for work anyway and I can usually sleep 5 hrs without problem. It just sucks when you are really tired and you should sleep to noon, but you have to get up at 7am because your back hurts so bad...



Actually, I have upper back pain as well, just not as intense. Mine isn't from disc golfing either, but from about two months ago when I slipped on some ice and fell on my upper back and head.

Anybody have UPPER back pain.

Yes.

I've had various back issues and it comes down to 2 things: Over-strengthening one side and not stretching well enough. The upper back issue is almost definitely over developing one side of your back (pulls the back out of alignment and pinches nerves).

1) See a chiropractor or physical therapist
2) Learn how to warm up and stretch (especially standing stretches because you can't always sit down on a muddy course)
3) Strengthen each side the same amount.

Actually, after practicing straddle putting for an hour a day for a week, I found that it hurt my back.



Starting at an hour per day everyday brings to mind two possible problems. 1) an hour is kind of a long time. Maybe you hit more putts than I do, but if I were putting for an hour that would consist of lots of bending over to pick up discs. My back would be killing me after that. 2) Practicing everyday in a way that would be physically demanding might not allow your muscles enough time to recover.

Maybe try every other day, once (or twice) a day starting at 15 minutes per session.

Jay, the stretching exercises shown above are the same ones my chiro gave me.
Do them.
They will help!

Do you work in an office or spend a lot of time in front of your computer?
If yes, then do this simple exercise 4 times a day:
Sit up straight in chair.
Feet flat on floor, spread slightly more than shoulder width.
Put your hands/arms in between your legs and SLOWLY bend forward as far as you can.
Try to touch the floor. Stop before pain starts.
Remember to breathe.
Hold the position for a few seconds. Slowly rise to sitting position.
Repeat, slowly.
Try to reach a little further.
Remember to breathe.
Slowly sit up again.

This and getting adjusted at my chiro has helped me avoid surgery for 3 years. Good luck.

Thanks Greg. I do strech pretty well but you are definatelly right that the left side of my back is more developed than the right. I used to lift weights alot more but I found it to be counter-productive to disc golf and stopped. Perhaps at a minimum I should still be doing a light workout on my back.

Sinistral,
I found that medicine ball (on stability platform) work and low weight - high reps can be beneficial and maintain flexibility.

you know i have pulled alot of junk in my back before and know exactly what you are going through. i have also done months and months of physical therapy and have noticed that sometimes doing my old exercises really help. here are few that really helped me out try these and see what what you think. http://www.nismat.org/orthocor/programs/lowback.html

i hope they help

"McKenzie Exercises" have done wonders for many an ailing person. Google it...& and I believe Amazon might have a book about them...

In three pages nobody has mentioned massage therapy? I find this rather hard to believe. Here are things that will trigger the pain message of sensory nerves:

1. Subluxations (vertebral, rib, or other bones improperly aligned). Need a chiropractor to correct these, but how long the adjustment holds and how often you need adjustments depends on how long bones have been subluxated. Ice fall three months ago will be easier to correct the bones and make them stay than an ice fall three years ago. An ice fall 10 years ago and you'll be going to the chiro for a long time.

2. Scar tissue in muscle tissue. There is an inverse balance between stability and mobility in the body. When one goes up, the other goes down. Scar tissue is the increase of stabilization in an area due to need; most likely a joint is subluxated and doesn't move like it's supposed to, so the body doesn't want to damage the joint by improper movement. So in order to decrease unwanted mobility, stability increases. Faschia is the body's connective tissue which normally is like an evenly spaced fisherman's net holding all your muscles and organs in place, but can be converted (tangled) into scar tissue when stabilization is required. Scar tissue feels like thick, sore or even numb, ropey, bumpy, nasty tissue. Think of Rosie O'Donnels thick line-backer shoulders compared to Scarlett Johanson's small, pliable neckline. When scar tissue moves into an area, that area greatly loses flexibility and power, and will cause you pain during motions you may have performed easily before the need to stabilize.

Once scar tissue begins to secure an area, the only way to get rid of it and restore mobilty is by correcting the malfunctioning joint or correct bad posture (head forward posture, twists in the spine, too much or not enough curve in the low back) through the help of a chiropractor. In doing so, new scar tissue will stop forming, but the old stuff takes years for the body to remove it.

Insert massage therapist at this point. A good scar-tissue worker will manually break down adhesions and get better blood circulating to strangulated muscle tissue to feed it better and create more room within the muscle by pushing out stale lactic acid and scar tissue. This type of massage does not feel good and for spending an hour on the table in a very uncomfortable state, you will be rewarded with increasing flexibilty and strength in your life as more scar tissue gets broken up.

As far as the strengthening and stretching goes: Strengthening muscles attached to a subluxated joint usually causes the joint to move beyond what it is capable of. You can hurt yourself worse this way. Same goes for stretching. In addition, you cannot stretch away scar tissue. It just doesn't work like that. Many times back pain takes years to develop. If you have ignored the warning signs by popping aspirin for years, it will take you years to get better. Quick fixes are for people who will get surgury when things reach crises mode in their bodies. Long fixes are for people who want to help their bodies heal themselves.

So disc golfers anywhere: If you have a question about back pain, ask me first. I've worked with it, studied it, had it, gotten rid of it and talked about it for five years. If you're lucky enough to live in Michigan, like the Deucer, coming to see me for some work and more importantly, information about your own muscular system, should be no-brainer to serious disc golfers. Lots of you already know what I'm talking about.

Sorry about the long post, but y'all were desparetely needing some concrete info.

Defintely listen to Torque_Hoar! At the Virginia TTeam InviTTaTTional she did 15 minutes of work on my back that fixed things that I had been working to get right for over two weeks. I've had many injuries from Soccer (playing since I was 5) and motorcycle accidents--mucho physical therapy in that time, she is the real deal! Look her up.

-Sheffy

2nd

Thanks, certainly interesting material and food for thought but you do recommend stretching and strengthening exersizes in moderation combined with chiro/massage, correct?

Oh, yes, absolutely. The main reason to discourage strengthening and stretching is if you have stabbing back back pain and haven't been checked out by a chiro/massage.

OK, thanks again, you folks from the Scandinavian counties really know your stuff! :D

I also like to use the thermocare heat wraps for the lower back during tournaments. This helps me keep is loose and IBuprofen. This is only a temp help, I think all the other suggestions are better and more long term.

Thanks Sarah! I have the feeling we will be talking soon...

Yup, good call on the heat to warm up muscle tissue. The difference between heat and cold on muscle tissue all comes down to the circulatory system. Heat will dilate blood vessels, bringing more blood to an area to feed the muscle and plump it up. Great for getting tissue ready to work / play disc golf / receive a massage. Moist heat (hot baths, heating pad with a moist wash cloth between skin and heating device) works the heat much deeper into tissue than dry heat.

A cold pack will constrict blood vessels (pushing blood out of area) and reduce inflammation. Use this after playing DG or anytime a muscle is really spiking with pain. Very good to do right before bed because you heal only when you sleep and only when there is no inflammation. Also ice is best after a massage since broken down tissue is laden with released waste products and you want to send as much of that nasty blood away from the area and toward the major filters of the body (liver, kidney, spleen).

I stretch my lower back for about 5-10 minutes before play, I wear good footwear while I play, and for the ride home afterwards, the heated back massager that plugs into your cigerette lighter cannot be beat.

Oh, yes, absolutely. The main reason to discourage strengthening and stretching is if you have stabbing back back pain and haven't been checked out by a chiro/massage.



We need someone like you in Tulsa :cool: