One story of physical therapy for back pain (1992)

[rainbowgirl28]

http://ptjournal.apta.org/cgi/reprint/72/12/923.pdf

[vault3rb0y]

The article notes that during the take off the spine must reach full extension with slight flexion to the RIGHT. If you stretch your LEFT hand as high as possible, your spine has a slight RIGHT flexion. I assume he was a leftie vaulter?

From being a pole vaulter with LBP and having been treated by one of the best PT's in the nation for LBP (or so i hear), I don't know that i completely agree with their description of "impairment" as it pertains to this vaulter. It is stated that the impairment is "Abnormal Spinal Motion". However this was figured out based SOLELY on the fact that it HURT to do this motion. I guess if it hurts it is considered abnormal motion.

Interesting article, especially considering my diagnosis was also on the L3-L4 verts, but these vertebrae were hyper-mobile, while my upper back was hypo-mobile. Also, My hip flexor/extensor muscles were extremely tight. As my PT described it to me, "Your upper back is tight, and your hips are tight, so your lower back is the part doing all the movement, and it's throwing your back out of alignment". After tons of stretching and relaxing of my hip and upper back muscles, and core stabilization to keep my back in a neutral position, my pain began going away.

The next question is why are pole vaulters so susceptible to these types of back injuries? I think that any take off puts a lot of pressure on your entire spinal column, and that the more under you are, the worst it gets. It's no wonder pole vaulters have similar injuries, and the next step would be to connect the improper techniques that connects our injuries together.

[crayford]

... my diagnosis was also on the L3-L4 verts, but these vertebrae were hyper-mobile, while my upper back was hypo-mobile. Also, My hip flexor/extensor muscles were extremely tight. As my PT described it to me, "Your upper back is tight, and your hips are tight, so your lower back is the part doing all the movement, and it's throwing your back out of alignment". After tons of stretching and relaxing of my hip and upper back muscles, and core stabilization to keep my back in a neutral position, my pain began going away.

The next question is why are pole vaulters so susceptible to these types of back injuries? I think that any take off puts a lot of pressure on your entire spinal column, and that the more under you are, the worst it gets. It's no wonder pole vaulters have similar injuries, and the next step would be to connect the improper techniques that connects our injuries together.

Same injury here; I'm Also working with a therapist for it. Same exact injury/status/treatment, no joke.

Back problems aren't uncommon for vaulters around where I live, though. One kid on my team was diagnosed with multiple fractures on his lower vertebrae and two other vaulters had soft tissue damage in their lower backs last year.

[joebro391]

Now, I haven't taken the time to fully read that article, but there's been a sort of "message" i've been passing on from athlete to athlete that last year or two. Back when I was a gymnast and starting to vault, I developed serious back problems. Occasionally a rib would go out, but mostly i had...spo...span...spondylolysis! that's the one. anyone, it's in the lumber, when the disks in between the vertebra go all out of wack. If I were to take off under, just once, i'd be back in the chiropractor's office, for up to two weeks until the pain went away. I was told by 2 orthopedic surgeons that I needed to stop all gymnastics and pole vaulting, until a 3rd finally cleared me. Now, the whole point of this is that, for myself at least, I figured out how to keep my back intact! At a club in NJ that I used to train at, I worked with a man by the name of Bill Hartely. Bill was a former vaulter that jumped 5.50 in 1980, so naturally, I looked up to the man a lot. At a camp, he showed me an ab-workout that he used to do. It was very simple:

12 V-up's (toe-touches)
12 superman's
24 side-planks (12 each side, at a time)
and you repeat that cycle 3 times

It's a very simple regiment and eventually I up'ed the numbers to 20 reps, each and never had to worry about back pain or mis-alignment again! The workout was given to various athletes on my college team, as well as a few athletes that my coach trains with (one of which had chronic back pain, and after a single week of doing my workout claimed to have felt great and that his back felt better than it had in years!). The only thing, is that this workout needs to be pretty strict. When I first got into college, I was doing this ab-workout, 6 times a week and was feeling great; however, with the rest of the team, I started doing my coach's ab-workouts. And, to be honest, my coach got me into the best shape of my life, however, the shape of my back began to deteriorate. I talked to him about it and he said he'd let me go back to MY ab-workout, and what'd you know? I started feeling great again! For the record, the ab-workouts that my coach gave me, were far more intense than mine BY A LONG SHOT(and not that different: weighted supermans on a "roman-chair" and plenty of abs), however, whatever the balance of the ab-workout that Bill gave me, it was just the key in all of this. The workout just simple strengthened all the muscles surrounding my spinal-column and kept everything in place. I could take off, 2-feet under and be fine! (not that I ever recommend that).

So ANY ATHLETE that suffers from back pain, I beg you to try this ab-workout out for a solid week! you will be feeling great! if not...than you really might want to get examined. -6P

***I'm proud that this was my 400th post!!

[powerplant42]

I'm gonna give this a shot 6P.