Loree showing off her awesome six pack

What is one of the main injuries in throwing? Well, while sometimes throwing can be a pain in the butt, the main injury we sustain is back injuries.

Back injuries can range from a minor annoyance to worst case, career ending injury. And while injuries are not completely unavoidable due to our extreme training and pushing our limits, there are simple and smart things to do to help.

Causes of Back Pain:

Let’s first recognize that back pain is a symptom of another problem (problems which could be caused by nerve damage, muscular, skeletal, even some diseases. It’s always important to listen to your body at what it’s trying to tell you. Be smart and don’t ignore it and if you are able, seek a professional help. It’s better to see the chiro (or Medical Doctor) and find out it’s nothing than keep training and make it worse.

So assuming you don’t have spinal disease, can’t figure out how getting in a multiple car pile up may have injured your back, and assuming you aren’t using terrible technique in the throw and/or weight room, there are two very common (and preventable) causes to back injuries in our sport.

1. Weak or Imbalanced Muscles: Just because the pain is coming from your back, doesn’t mean that it didn’t star somewhere else. Weak (or imbalanced in strength) core muscles can contribute to back pain. Core muscles include those of your abdominals, back (obviously), glutes, and I’ll even throw in hips as those need to be strong so you don’t over compensate by using your back muscles.
2. Tight or Shortened Muscles: Muscles support our spine and if they are tight or shortened, they can actually pull it out of alignment causing us back pain. Tighter muscles in the quads, hamstrings, glutes, hips, and back can be pulling you slightly out of alignment.

Preventing Back Pain:

The biggest way to prevent back pain is to be smart in your training. Simple enough. Smart means using proper technique in the weight room when performing lifts. Smarts mean using proper technique in throwing (i.e. not dragging and using jerking motions). Smart means listening to your body when it’s fatigued, a fatigued muscle isn’t going to be able to support your spine properly and opens the chances for injury. Smart means not ignoring the tiny things until they become giant things!

Improving and balancing back strength: When we throw and lift, the amount of pressure we are putting on my backs is tremendous. Also, we are moving in uncommon positions as well as very fast velocities. That means we are asking more of our bodies than the average person, so we shouldn’t train our core like the average person.

• A strong core goes beyond the sit up and “abs”. We need to strengthen our entire core system doing rotations, extensions, and flexions. We can’t leave any area unworked. If your current core training does not hit up all parts of your core, then you are leaving yourself open to injury.
• Use weighted core training. We train our bodies how we want it to respond. We wouldn’t just do 100′s of body weight squats to prepare our legs for 500lbs squat, then why would you not add weighted core to prepare your core for the tremendous load your will put on it? This goes into the specific strength area of training as well. Also, be smart about added weight especially if you are unsure of proper technique. (You wouldn’t squat 500lbs on your first try, so don’t max out in core weight your first attempt either, build up)

Lengthening and Adding Flexibility to muscles:

• Warm up properly before lifting and throwing. How you warm up and what you need to warm up is your personal preference. However, warming up help acclimate your muscles for the workload that you are about to put them through. I personal do some light aerobic (skips, etc.) and some range of motion work before throwing and lifting.
• Stretch your back and core after strenuous workouts. Stretching after working out helps work out lactic acid and is the perfect time to improve flexibility and get your body back into proper alignment because the muscles are always warmed, gone through the range of motion, and full of blood. I usually cool down stretch around 10 minutes after lifting to help with general soreness too.

What To Do if You Have Back Pain:

So, you are one of the many unfortunate throwers to suffer from back pain.

The first thing you should do is not read this article, but see your trainer and/or doctor or chrio to determine how serious the injury really is. Many back injuries last for a few days to a few weeks, though there are some unfortunate throwers who will suffer much longer if not their entire career. I had a back injury that lasted my entire sophomore year of college and occasionally get a few days here and there depending on the time of season.

Rest: Sometimes taking a little time off now pays off. I’d rather lose a day or two of training in the winter than having to train at 80% the rest of the year (or in worst case lose the entire year to injury.)

Some people take Ibuprofen or Tylenol to help with inflammation and pain management, but I’m not really big on taking pills. I’ve know people who take way more than the recommended dosage for longer than the recommended time and I would suggest seeking help and information if that is the case.

When it comes to ice or heat, the verdict is pretty down the middle. There are good arguments for both sides. I tend to side on the icing side as it helps with inflammation. When I have an injury, I will ice about 45 min before and right after working out.

When the pain because manageable or is gone, go back and look at your training and your body. How strong is your core? How is your technique in lifting or throwing? Are you over taxing your back? Are you not flexible? Are you resting your back when not training (you’d be surprised that sitting/sleep wrong can contribute to back pain)?

But again, the best advice is just to be smart. They don’t give out gold medals for being dumb in your training…

Here’s to hoping that everyone is having a healthy and productive winter.

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