PUBLISHED 09/09/2005
Emil Zatopek, the legendary, innovative Czech Olympic champion in the 5000 and 10,000 meters and marathon, had a bizarre training method that was hardly back-friendly. He ran while carrying his wife Dana, a 148-pound Olympic javelin champion, on his shoulders.
While Zatopek's interval-training methods became popular, his spouse-carrying approach did not. A good thing, considering runners already face their share of back woes. Back pain, which affects 80 percent of Americans, is one of the most common reasons for work absenteeism, according to the American Chiropractic Association, and accounts for more than $50 billion annually in medical bills. If you run on hard surfaces, have tight leg muscles, or weak abdominals--in short, if you're like most runners--you're vulnerable to back pain.
The lower back is a notorious problem area because the lumbar vertebrae bear much of your weight and take most of the stress of movement, says New York muscular-therapist and injury-prevention guru Jim Wharton. Lower-back pain comes in all shapes and sizes. It can be dull or sharp, chronic or intermittent. "Luckily, back problems are absolutely preventable," Wharton says. "And once they manifest, they can be easily treated in their early stages before they become debilitating." Here are simple fixes for the most common back problems encountered by runners.
The problem: For time-crunched runners, dashing out the front door for a workout is the norm, and that usually means hitting the road. "Running on pavement puts more strain on the kinetic chain--the linkage of the feet, knee, hips, and lower back," says Irish physiotherapist Gerard Hartmann, who advises world-class runners, including Paula Radcliffe. And running on concrete can produce a double whammy if the road is pitched. "Running with your body tilted can cause an imbalance of the leg muscles and a leg-length discrepancy, which can irritate lower-back muscles," says Seymour Goldstein, a Brooklyn-based chiropractor who has treated runners for more than 50 years.
The fix: Vary your training ground. Grass, trails, and treadmills soften the force of impact. They also produce stronger legs. Because your feet sink into soft surfaces, your body works harder to push off than when running on concrete. Try to avoid cambered roads, or at least stay off the slanted shoulder.
