Help with back pain please!!!!!!

[starkey480]

ive been struggling with low back pain since May now and i try to get it better but it seems like nothing i do works.... I would love to hear stories about how pole vaulters have cured their lower back pain.

please help!!!!

[vaultmd]

Your dad knows someone who would be glad to evaluate you, I'm sure

[rainbowgirl28]

Yeah, there are a ton of different reasons why your back might hurt, asking for advice on here isn't going to do much good until you know specifically what is wrong, and could potentially even cause harm.

[Bruce Caldwell]

Back problems if they are associated with the vault are in most cases a result of a plant or take off that put stresses on the body!
I would at first focus on the take-off point and see if it is too far under! You need to fix this now before you get further along in your vaulting as later in life it is more difficult to fix!
Bruce Caldwell

[VaultPurple]

how flexible are your hamstrings? If they are not very flexible, then they can tighten up and really pull on your lower back. That is usually one of the biggest back problems for running in general.

[superpipe]

I don't know exactly what your issue is and I am not a doctor, but here's my own experience. I suffered from some lower back pain myself for awhile and tried alot of different things. Here is what cured me. Your lower back strength is directly related to proper core strength. Problem is, what is the best core strength exercise to work back strength. I personally advise to stay away from back hyper machines. I know they quote these as a hamstring/glute exercise too, but all it did for me was put my lower back muscles themselves way out of balance compared to my actual core strength that supported my lower back. Made things worse. I don't even do back hypers any more. OK. So here is the exercise that cured me:

http://www.mansfieldathletics.com/pole_vaulting/dynamic_warmup/dynamic_warmup.html

Scroll to the right until you find "Hand Walk"

When you get strong enough, you can walk out and hold yourself inches off the ground, while having your whole body parallel to the ground. The key here, is slowly walk yourself out just before your back gives way and then walk your feet back up. I do this exercise as part of my warm-up every day I do any kind of workout. It triggers the exact lower back and core strength required for dealing with the trama caused at take-off. Everyone will take-off under or just have a bad take-off to cause lower back stress no matter how good you are. It's part of pole vaulting. My back issues didn't quite stop me from vaulting, but after 1 month of consistently doing this exercise ( 1 set of 8 reps 3 times a week ), I was cured and haven't had an issue since. That was 3 years ago. There's more difficult versions of this exercise using wheels and what not, but don't even go there until you can easily do alot of this exercise to the point of being perfectly parallel to the ground and holding that position. It's easier on a surface that provides friction for your feet. The next step is to move to a more slippery surface where you also have to hold your feet from sliding away while maintaining the great position.

DON'T push this exercise to quickly. You do NOT want to go out so far and have your back collapse to the floor. You will actually progress pretty quickly with this if you stick with it.

Again, this is only my personal experience.

[starkey480]

Ok thanks superpipe that is exactly what i was looking for. Im going to try that right now. I am making an appointment today to go to a physical therapist to see whats up. Hopefully this will all be gone soon.

[vaultmd]

I hope it's the PT your dad works for . . .

[starkey480]

nope, just a sports pt place a mile away from my house. Mike is a busy man....

[joebro391]

This is a post of mine, taken directly from a different thread in this forum:

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

[powerplant42]

I recommend 6P's workout plan after having had success with it myself.

I also highly recommend chiropractic.

[vaultDC]

Let your PT know there is a high incidence of spondylolisthesis in pole vaulters. If you get in the room and can't remember the name of the condition, mention "scotty dog" to the PT and he'll know what you mean. It's a common condition for a PT to see, so he'll know what to do for treatments, but mentioning it won't hurt. A good way diagnose it is x-ray(specifically the oblique lumbar view) but your PT should have a good idea whats going on after the physical exam. Good luck.