Saturday 12th October
When we experience back pain of any kind, we generally tend to err on the side of caution and choose to rest and reduce activity. This reduced activity will lessen the demand on muscles, tendons and joints resulting in the body needing to work less, which also means it often hurts less too. While in the short term this can be helpful, long term this habit can lead to more issues. The challenge is when people associate movement and physical activity with causing the pain.
If this habit continues, over time the muscles in the body, including the muscles in our back, can weaken from reduced use. The muscles in our back are very important and need to be kept strong. The back muscles need to be able to support and strengthen the spine in all that we do. So, when you experience low back pain, remember that you absolutely do need to both move and exercise your body (within your limits); swimming is perfect for that.
Swimming is very beneficial as a type of physical activity if you have back pain because there is significantly less strain and pressure on your spine due to the buoyancy the water gives you. The stress on your muscles, joints and nerves is much less than if you were walking or running.
There are some important things to consider, though, regarding swimming if you are in pain.
1. Start with spine friendly strokes. Most people tend to do the breaststroke when they get into the water, but this really should be avoided as it causes a lot of stress on the back. It’s better to start with a relaxed front crawl or backstroke as neither create much strain. Even if it means you reduce the number of lengths you swim overall, avoid the breaststroke!
2. Make sure your body is ready to swim. Begin with a safe, seated entry into waist deep water that you can still stand-up in. Start with some upright movement in the water, like bobbing up and down or any type of water walking (forward, backwards, sideways, big steps, tippytoes) before you rush straight into being horizontal!
3. Remember ‘little and often’. For people in more intense pain, we recommend swimming but maybe only 10 minutes a day; it’s important to gently easy the body into the activity. Don’t be tempted to swim for 30 minutes as you may then be in more pain after and not able to continue to swim or perhaps even walk or move for the rest of the day or week!
Refer to our previous post on “How to Look After Your Spine” (date) and incorporate these small habits alongside swimming to try and further reduce your pain.
