Conditioning Research

I have previously pointed to James' recent peer reviewed paper on evidence based weight training Here is a video of him speaking earlier in the summer on low back pain:

This one drew my attention, given my history of low back problems (which recently have resolved with the help of Colin Gordon , the MWOD , lots of planks and efforts to reduce my stress ).  In any case, the point of this study is that while physcial activity can prevent or reduce back pain.....physical fitness is more potent. So it is potentially a question of intensity.  It is not just doing things, moving the body, physical activity.  More important is focussed intentional activity that improves fitness.  Proper exercise if you like.   Don't just move...get fit. Physical fitness, rather than self-reported physical activities, is more strongly associated with low back pain: evidence from a working population. These findings suggest that physical activity of an intensity that improves physical fitness may be important in the prevention of LBP.

What do you think? tight psoas, dodgy QL......  I've been there  Sam has a good pdf on this topic for download too

Michael Allen Smith  has an interesting post on his back pain

Here is an interesting new study on lumbar disc disease - one cause of bad backs. The whole study is avalable here The results of this case-control study reveal a positive association between weight and lumbar disc herniation as well as lumbar disc narrowing among men and women. A medium amount of pack-years was associated with lumbar disc herniation and narrowing in men and women. A non-significantly lowered risk of lumbar disc disease was found in men with high levels of cumulative body building and strength training. interesting to see the potential proteciton from "bodybuilding"

I often see my pal Colin when I need some kinks working out of my back. As a body worker - massage with some of Tom Myer's Anatomy Trains approaches - he really know his stuff. He is currently using facebook to post interesting bits and pieces of remedial exercises and ideas on injury treatment. Go over to his page on facebook , and click "like" so that you can keep up with the stuff he is writing. (Also visit his blog ) Here is the latest post (which accurately describes my back problems!): When I get a new client one of the more common problem areas they come to me with will be their lower back. There’s also a pretty good chance that they spend most of the day sitting down so the source of the problem can, in some respects, be easy to identify. [ edit - by the way there is an interesting piece on sitting here ] Aside from poor posture and its associated problems one of the biggest contributory factors are the gluteals and gluteus medius in particular. When we a...

Here is an interesting study - particularly in the light of the stuff I posted from Doug the other day: The abstract is here Here is the report : "If you want to bring about physiological change to help the development and endurance of back muscles, you must focus your training on those specific muscles and not other muscular groups such as hip extensors," says Christian Larivière, a professor at the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST), who conducted the study with Université de Montréal researchers Bertrand Arsenault, Rubens A. Da Silva, Sylvie Nadeau, André Plamondon et Roger Vadeboncoeur. The investigation requested that subjects aged 18 to 65 – some healthy and others with low back pain – complete various exercises. Electromyography (EMG) sensors were used to measure the level of activity and fatigue in various muscles during the routine. "Thanks to this technique, we can target tired muscles which aren't yet showing a ...

In discussing back pain, some people - including Bill De Simone - have recommended that I look at McGill;s exercises. Here is a video of him looking at his ideas which are also described here :

So my backpain. I have also on this blog highlighted my contention that there is a big psychological aspect to all this. I read Sarno years ago and was pretty convinced by his argument. Sometimes your mind will kick off pain to divert your attention from something psychological that it really finds threatening. I interviewed Monte here too who builds on that argument. My personality is such that I do worry. Relaxed on the surface but often quite stressed out underneath. So all this makes sense....and I can correlate back pain with stresses in my life. I am still working on the mental stuff to get over this but I'm getting there. Anyway, remember Z health and mc ? The mc seminar was useful in that it built on the psychological element in a different direction. It accepted that much pain / muscular tightness was due to psychologically perceived threats. Z health is about physical ways to modulate that threat, to persuade your mind through movement that the threat is not seri...

This continues on a bit from my post about " skills ". I have occasionally mentioned on this blog my recurrent back spasms. Occasionally I get a back spasm. Usually in the quadratus lumborum. It has been going on for years since a deadlift workout in about 1992. When I am injured - and I've had a couple of episodes this last couple of weeks - all this stuff about exercise and conditioning goes into the background. The focus is on simple movement. Just to be able to move freely and without pain is sometimes a great blessing that we can take for granted. Skill sets start with being able to walk, sit, get dressed. When they are in place then the essentials are there!

I've posted in the past about the way in which emotional issues and stress can give rise to pain. I know in my life episodes of chronic back spasm correlate closely with periods of stress in work or in my personal life. The topic was covered well by Monte and Adam also. Anyway, this caught my eye: Abuse in childhood linked to migraine and other pain disorders Researchers from the American Headache Society's Women's Issues Section Research Consortium found that incidence of childhood maltreatment, especially emotional abuse and neglect, are prevalent in migraine patients. The study also found that migraineurs reporting childhood emotional or physical abuse and/or neglect had a significantly higher number of comorbid pain conditions compared with those without a history of maltreatment. Full findings of the study appear in the January issue of Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain,

I have previously interviewed Monte and put up a couple of other posts from him. (His site is here ) He now has a series of videos up which are worth watching. Here is the first, but the full set are here .

It is worth checking out Monte Hueftle's comment to Koen on the post here .

Here is another guest post from Monte Hueftle (you may remember my interview with Monte recently ). Monte talks again about stress and tension causing physical pain. This update is geared towards runners or active people who are battling what they think are over-use injuries, muscle imbalances, or having a body that is out of alignment. I can confidently state to you that in most cases (90%+) your injury is being caused by inner stress and tension and it is not a physical problem. Let me qualify that statement. I am speaking about chronic pain or a chronic injury pattern. Meaning you have had your injury on and off for 2 months or longer. Or you have a chronic injury like sciatica for three months and then it goes away but now you are battling pain in your hip or back or butt. You win these injury battles but there is always a new one challenging you. You have tried numerous treatments and medical specialist but no one knows exactly what is wrong or how to fix it. If they do, what t...

Last week I posted an interview with Monte Hueftle , a runner and writer who specialises in running injuries generated by emotional factors, following in the teaching of Dr John Sarno There are other writers that have traced their own pain to emotional factors too. This is a guest post from one of them - Adam Rostocki . Adam is a martial artist who has battled with pain and finally conquered it through following Sarno's approach. I am convinced that much pain is emotional at its root. Mind Body Conditioning Physical Conditioning vs Psychological Conditioning I welcome the opportunity to speak to you about conditioning. As a serious martial artist for over 34 years I am well aware of the demands we all place on our bodies. In the course of training, I learned to use physical conditioning to make my body strong and increase my endurance and overall physical abilities. However, the type of conditioning I want to share with you today has nothing at all to do with the body. Inste...