Different types of physical sports, such as football and basketball, can easily give you back pain. Dealing with aggressive tackles can cause body pain, most especially back pain. Today, we will give you a few tips on preventing getting back pain due to the sport you play. We will also discuss when you should see a chiropractor when dealing with neck and back pain and other types of body pains.
Work on Your Core
The first thing that you should do is work on your core. You should strengthen it to make sure that you will reduce the damage caused by repetitive motions. The way to do this is by doing a couple of crunches and even going to a Pilates class to help protect your spine.
Sure, you definitely have to practice your moves, but you also have to see that you are working to keep your muscles and body strength to help prevent getting back pains and such. Swimming is also an amazing exercise to help keep your core strong, so make sure to squeeze swimming into your schedule. At least twice a week would suffice.
Keep on Stretching
There is a reason why athletes stretch before a big game — and this is to help prevent getting sprains and, of course, body aches such as neck and back pain. Again, you can try doing some light cardio before a game to strengthen and exercise your core. You do not have to do anything drastic. Just a few twists and turns would do the trick.
Use the Right Gear
High-contact sports such as football and hockey usually include protective gear such as mouth guards and shoulder pads. This is to make sure that you will be preventing injuries and body pains and, of course, to see to it that you are always safe when on the field.
Practice Your Posture
Your posture can greatly affect your body and the way that it feels after a game. For football players, make sure not to duck your head and tackle an opponent point-blank, as this can easily cause neck and back strain. Other players even get physical injuries from this, so no matter how tempting it might be, make sure to avoid this.
If you need to tackle, make sure that you are doing it by slightly raising your head and then going for the tackle. This allows you to see your opponent. Plus, you would not be straining your upper extremities, too.
Don’t Force It
If you are not feeling well, then sit it out. Do not force yourself to play if the doctor says that you should rest for a couple of days. If you do play it out, then chances are your condition will only get worse.
If you feel any pain in your body and your muscles, make sure to see a chiropractor ASAP. They can give you advice about what you should and should not do, plus, they can also give you a few medicines that you can take to make the pain go away.
