What just happened? You went out to make a go of some much needed exercise and to take advantage of better weather. You took your time, jogged a bit and then feeling really good about it, sprinted a little. Then, as you finished up, the subtle pain began. Today you can hardly get out of bed.

When you run, the movement places repetitive stress on your back, whether it seems like it or not. Lower back pain during or after running is common among new runners, but it’s also prevalent in runners who haven’t run in a while and/or come back to it too quickly and too aggressively. In some cases, your lower back pain might be mild or even non-existent, but becomes suddenly aggravated by running. The best thing you can do is prevent lower back pain from running in the first place- here’s how.

To reduce the strain on your lower back, you should:

• Warm-up thoroughly before you begin running.
• Stretch out your hamstrings twice each day to reduce stress across your lower back.
• Try some cross training to avoid getting into an overuse syndrome.
• Strengthen up your back’s core muscles with strength training and muscle toning.

At Chattanooga Non-Surgical Orthopedics, we offer a few free online clinical exercises to help you get ready for activity. Our regular patients are also given access to additional, more in-depth online training and demonstrations as well. When you have lower back pain, you may feel like you should rest your back. But moving is in fact helpful. Daily maintenance exercises can strengthen core muscles to help better support your back.

If you are experiencing back pain and it has not resolved for three or more days, you need to seek attention now to prevent further damage or injury. Call us today at 423-499-0003 to set up an appointment or go online Chattanooga Non-Surgical Orthopedics to get the initial paperwork out of the way for new patients.

We have the solutions to get you running again and keep you running pain-free and without invasive procedures or medications.

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