How To: Relieve Low Back Pain

I’m sure at some point in your career you have experienced discomfort in your lower back. It’s almost unavoidable for hockey players because of our skating stance. Not only are hockey players bent over at the waist placing extra stress on the lower back they also place a huge amount of stress on the musculature on the front side of the hip while skating. Since the muscles of the hip and back work together it is only natural to experience some type of lower back discomfort or pain when the muscles of the hips get tight from skating.

The muscles of the hip can be broken down into 3 basic categories; anterior (front), posterior (back), and medial (side). If any one of these areas gets tight the muscles shorten and it can pull the hip out of neutral position resulting in discomfort or pain in the lower back.

When skating it’s important to have roughly a 45-degree bend at the waist and close to a 90-degree bend at the knees. Even though this is the ideal skating position to generate power it does place a lot of stress on the anterior musculature of the hip. The muscles of the quadriceps work hard to hold this 90-degree knee bend and start to shorten due to the constantly compressed position. When these muscles shorten it pulls the pelvis forward and places the hip into an anterior pelvic tilt. This position places extra stress on the low back by continuously having the muscles of the low back stretched out. Over time these muscles will weaken and the low back pain will worsen.

Skating requires such unique mechanics to generate a powerful stride. The gluteal muscles play a large role in this action. Every time you push your leg out while taking a stride the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus are responsible for generating power. If you aren’t stretching and rolling them out, these muscles get tight over time. In addition to tight anterior muscles like the iliopsoas and rectus femoris, tight glutes will also cause discomfort in the low back.

I have put together a video for you that runs through a progression of exercises that will help keep your hips healthy. Healthy hips equal a healthy back. Spend as much time on each drill as you need. Some of you might find that certain areas are more tender than others. Only you know exactly what areas need more attention. Run through these drills every day to prevent any future low back pain from arising.

Details of the video are below.

Foam Rolling (2min Each Side) – Spend at least 2 minutes on each quad to break up any knots that might be in the muscles. Make sure you roll nice and slow and don’t rush through this process. When you find a tender spot, stop and hang out there until the discomfort starts to dissipate.

Trigger Release (2min Each Side) – You can use a tennis ball, hockey ball, or lacrosse ball (really any type of ball, except a golf ball. It’s too small). Place the ball in the front of your hip, right below your hip bone and right at the top of your quad (your hip flexor region). Slowly, make little circles with the ball. Again, pause on any areas that are super uncomfortable and hang out here until they feel better. You can also flex and extend your leg at the knee to change the muscle length you are targeting. Changing the length will allow the ball to dig deeper into the belly of the muscle and release any stubborn knots.

After releasing the muscles on the front of the leg, you’ll want to target the muscles of the glutes. Slowly move the ball around the side of your hip and by extending and shorting your leg you’ll hit different parts of the muscle fibers. You’ll notice that I also fan my leg slowly inwards and outwards. This changes the muscles length and the ball can get deeper into the muscles fibers to help break up deeper knots. I like to spend a little more than 2 mins on each side because these are larger muscles.

Banded Hip Flexor Stretch (30s to 2min Each Side) – Wrap the band around a solid object like a squat rack and place your leg inside the band. Hold this stretch for at least 30 seconds and work up to 2 minutes eventually.

Banded Glute Stretch (30s to 2min Each Side) – Allow the band to pull the hip open, don’t resist the band. Try and relax as much as possible.

Cat/Camel (15 reps) – Work through each position nice and slow and slightly pause at each end range. This drill helps increase the mobility through the entire spine as well the hips. Think about placing your hips in an exaggerated anterior hip tilt while looking up to the ceiling. When moving through the range in the opposite direction think about trying to tuck your hips under your body as much as you can.

Lying Knee-to-Knee Pull-ins (15reps) – This drill focuses on improving the internal rotation of the hips. Once again, move nice and slow throughout the entirety of the drill and slightly pause when bringing the knees together.

Split Stance Kneeling Hip Adductor MOB (10 reps Each Side) – This drill helps improve the length of adductor magnus. Keep a flat back and neutral spine throughout the drill.

3- Way Hydrants (5 Reps Each Way) – Make sure you keep a neutral spine and don’t tip your hips to the opposite side of the working leg.

Lying Supermans (15 reps) – A healthy back is a strong back. This exercise will help develop strength in the lower back without placing any stress on the joints. Slightly pause at the top of the range and work on controlling your body back down to the ground. Don’t just flop back!

SB Deadbug (8 reps Each Side) – Before starting, make sure your back is completely flat and that it stays flat throughout the entirety of the exercise. This exercise helps restore your pelvis back into neutral position while strengthening the musculature of the core. If you can’t extend the opposite arm and leg simultaneously without raising your low back off the ground, then extend one leg at a time and then one arm at a time and progress to the exercise as it is shown.