BACK PAIN IS CAUSED BY A WEAK CORE
This myth started when researchers in the late 80's and early 90's discovered that people with back pain had reduced activation
of their deep abdominal muscles, in particular the Transverse Abdominus. The hypothesis was born that the weakness in this muscle was responsible for the patients back. This was then confirmed when people underwent training for their abdominal muscles and their pain improved. Sounds reliable right? So where did they go wrong?
Firstly after further research it has been shown that the lower activation of the deep abdominals occurs AFTER the onset of pain. That is the pain caused the change in muscles, not the other way wound. But then why did they get better after core training?
Core workouts become increasingly popular for treating back pain but, again, what was really going on?
Back pain is exceptionally prevalent with the majority of people suffering an episode of back pain at some point in their life. So candidates for research have been plentiful over the years. Previously, the only remedies for back pain had been rest, massage or stretching but over the last 20years we have investigated all sorts of treatments. When it comes to benefits, abdominal training is not significantly better than a generalise exercise program for the whole body, or regular walking or even lifting weights. The most important factor is that the patient feels safe and comfortable enough to do the program regularly.
POOR TECHNIQUE CAUSES INJURY
This is a doozy. It's often the reason people avoid gyms in the first place. "I'm not sure what to do and I don't want to hurt myself." This is often perpetuated by trainers with messages like, "You have to keep your back straight or you'll hurt yourself."
Let's start by outlining a few facts.
Gym injuries occur at a rate about 100 times LESS than recreational sports like football and fewer even than recreational running.
The highest rate of injury in gyms occurs from trips and falls or crush injuries from people dropping weights on their feet.
No matter what the domain is, if you are moving your body under some sort of stress, injury or pain is likely to happen to everyone at some point. It's important we know what risk to manage.
The first warnings around technique and injury came from studies looking into spinal disc injury under different movement conditions. What they found was, lifting repeatedly with a bent spine increased the amount of loading on the intervertebral discs which caused herniation at drastically higher rate than applying load repeatedly to a straight spine. It sounds logical then that we could say, "lifting with a bent spine will be more likely to cause injury." But again, what went wrong with this research?
First, the experiments were done with pig spines which had been removed from the body. They were "dead" tissues. Why does this matter? First, humans aren't pigs, secondly and most importantly in living tissue the body ADAPTS to stress and gets STRONGER! The spine is no different to other joints in the body, apply appropriate stress to it over time and it becomes stronger and more resilient. The key is THE LOAD . Get a beginner to try and lift the same as a competitive weight lifter and they will probably crumble. If you are familiar with the gym, think about which lifts you have been told are inherently risky if not done correctly.
Deadlift? Squat? Any others?
Have you ever heard some say you have to do a tricep extension in a certain way to avoid injury? No? Why not? Is the elbow more resilient than the spine?
The load is different. The deadlift, and the squat are the lifts which bear the most potential load. If a tissues is placed under too much LOAD an injury will occur. That's why recovery is so important. If recovery is low, relative load is high and injury is more likely. So if you're wondering what the best way to avoid injury in the gym is, the key is to manage your load with sensible progression. This is where a coach might be of best assistance.
EXERCISE IS GOOD FOR WEIGHT LOSS
Ever since the calorie measurement became available to the public, exercise has been touted as a great tool to help you shed excess kilos. Your watch flashes with celebration as the calorie count ticks higher throughout your intense workouts. Some gyms will even display calories burned on leaderboards for all to see. With so many people chasing weightloss (Let's not get started on weightloss culture today. That's a whole different kettle of fish.) prioritising exercise to burn some extra calories seems like a good idea. Slogans scream at us to try the next best workout, or newest gym to reach your body goals.
But is it as good as the advertising would have us believe? If exercise was so effective for weightloss, why does it still need to be reinvented and promoted? Here's the truth, exercise does so many wonderful things within the body but every body is vastly different, so the response is not as predictable as we would like. Exercise effects things like appetite, sleep, incidental activity and other metabolic changes. All of which can impact how many calories our body will or won't burn in a day.
The other thing to consider is that as a proportion of your total calorie intake, only about 10-20% will be burned during any workout and, as you get fitter, you end up burning LESS calories for the same workout. The return for your effort just isn't there. The research tells us that to have even a minimal change in weight, we would need to do up to 90min of moderate to vigorous activity per day. Approximately double what most people are recommended to do. So while exercise can help your weight stay more consistent, it's really a terrible tool on it's own if you're trying to lose weight.
There are far more important benefits to exercise than being in a smaller body.
If you need help navigating the world of health and fitness, reach out to one of our team for guidance.
Tim Douge AEP
Exercise Physiologist, Director
Studio 99
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