Lower Back Pain

This article is highly related to the "posture" (read it here, click).

Lower back pain is not common in kiteboarding, but it's a common problem in general and therefor also a problem for many kitesurfers. We can't really do anything to prevent direct trauma, and rehab should also be taken care of by professionals or doctors. A disc prolabs can start with a bad posture, but again it's not relevant to this article, because it should be taken care of by professionals. But in my years working with clients, who has lower back pain, it's my experience that the biggest reason for lower back pain, is bad posture. And that we can do something about.

This is very simple article and I recommend that you seek professional help, if you suffer from constant lower back pain.

Bad posture is fairly easy to spot for a trained eye. You can also do an easy check your self. A perfect alignment of the body will show in the fact that, you can draw a perfect straight line through the ear, shoulder, hip and ankle (use a stick). Any deviation from this will often cause more stress on the lower back and thereby causing pain in that area (also true for your neck).

Here are the most common bad postures that causes lower back pain:

Lower crossed syndrome (kyphosis lordosis)

This is basically the same as Scheuermann's disease, but it's not caused by deformation of the veterbraes. It can also show as a sway-back. It's caused by imbalances of the muscles, which gives you a larger curve of the spine than normal. This often also results in winged scapula (see upper crossed syndrome). You can minimize the pain from a lower crossed syndrome by exercising glute/hamstrings/abs and stretching iliopsoas. Coretraining will also help minimize the symptoms.

Upper crossed syndrome

This will give you a posture like the flatback for the upper back, which shows in larger curvature of the upper back (causes neck pain). Basically this is "winged shoulder blades" or protruding shoulder blades. Like the lower crossed syndrome it's caused by muscle imbalances, which pulls the shoulder forward and thereby makes the shoulder blades stand out like "wings". Stretching the front and doing exercises for the entire back will help correcting this condition. The prehab/rehab shoulder exercise video for your shoulders is really great for this condition (check it out here, click) along with the standing row (check it out here, click). This condition can also give you a flat back.

Flat back

"Flat back syndrome" refers to the loss of the normal curvature of the lumbar spine or the loss of the curvature of the thoracic spine, so that the spine becomes straight. When this happens, the patient often appears stooped forward and it is often difficult for them to stand up straight. Patients can develop a painful flat back deformity as the result of degenerative arthritis of the spine, or as a consequence of a previous spinal fusion operation. Training iliopsoas and stretching your glutes can minimize the symptoms of this condition and maybe correct it a bit.

Scoliosis

Scoliosis (from Greek: skoliôsis meaning from skolios, "crooked") is a medical condition in which a person's spine is curved from side to side. Although it is a complex three-dimensional deformity, on an x-ray, viewed from the rear, the spine of an individual with scoliosis may look more like an "S" or a "C" than a straight line. It can also cause a flat back. The correct training (core training) of the muscles surrounding the spine can minimize back pain.

Scheuermann's disease (Sherman's disease)

Scheuermann’s disease is a self-limiting skeletal disorder of childhood. It is also known as Sherman's Disease, Scheuermann’s kyphosis (since it results in kyphosis lordosis), Calvé disease and Juvenile Osteochondrosis of the Spine. Scheuermann's disease describes a condition where the vertebrae grow unevenly; that is, the anterior angle is often greater than the posterior. This typically results in the signature "wedging" shape of the vertebrae, resulting in kyphosis. Kyphosis is better characterized for the thoracic spine than for the lumbar spine. Coretraining and glute/hamstring/ab exercises can will minimize the pain caused from this condition.