Not a guru. I just know stuff. Does that suffice?

I'll address the misconception about the bad back right away.

The source of the great majority of back pain and injury is a combination of our habit to sit on chairs, to wear high heel shoes and to bend at the waist to pick up objects from the ground. We bend at the waist because sitting on chairs and wearing high heel shoes shortens the hamstrings. But the result is the same: We injure our back.

The solution is to stretch the hamstrings (and not do abdominal work as you wrote) by doing the activities we don't do but used to do and should continue to do. Namely, the squat. The squat although a name for an exercise, is actually a fundamental position of the human body. It is indeed in this postion that we used to pick up objects from the ground. It is also in that position that we used to sit. We used to sit on our haunches or sit on our heels. We used to bend at the hips. We didn't wear high heels either. In short, we used to know what we were doing but we forgot through the miracle of progress and civilization. Squatting used to be normal and immediately known to us just by watching our parents do it. Now, our parents sit on chairs, bend at the waist and wear high heels.

It's not by strengthening the abdominal muscles that we strengthen the back. Instead, we must use the back as it is designed to be used: As a lever connecting the legs to the arms. It must be held rigid, not flexed and twisted. It is indeed through flexion and twisting that we injure the back. Used properly, the back can support tremendous loads without pain or injury. But use it incorrectly and even the slightest load can cause a herniated disk. The abdominals are best used to increase intra-abdominal pressure to stabilise the entire spine for it to do its job in turn.

The best example of a proper squat can be seen from Olympic lifters when they perform the clean and jerk and the snatch. Watch and learn. 

Sandy

Martin is right re the back thing- back pain can be caused by having weak hamstrings and glutes which don't fire properly when they should, meaning the lower back muscles, which are intended for stabilizing rather than lifting, take far too much of the burden. combine that with hours spent sitting down, which shortens the hip flexors on the front of your pelvis, and you end up with a body that's out of line to start with, using the wrong muscles, to perform activities such as bending and lifting.

That aside, sounds like with the pilates you are on the road to addressing these. If you are seriously limited in movement, i'd recommend using something like a bullworker (which they still sell in some department stores). Despite the bad press (they were marketed as the easy route to big muscles, which they are not) the isometric type exercises can help you maintain strength and tone in your upper body muscles, and you can pretty much isolate the muscle being worked without putting strain on your back.

If you don't want to shell out, you could do isometric pushes and pulls using a towel and something like a broomstick, holding each contraction for 10 secs at a time.  as i say, not a route to big muscles, but can maintain and improve strength and tone.  Plenty of info and advice on the web if you look up isometric training.

Sandy,

Don't take this the wrong way but when I discussed bad backs with my cousin (physio) she highlighted (along with other things such as ergonomics) peoples weight and weak stomach. There are obviously specific injuries which cannot be generalised but she was talking about the most common none severe recurring pain.

Not using the back is not a way to strengthen it, using it correctly as previously stated is the way to go. However, she did highlight that if you are overweight this will certainly not help. Strengthening your stomach is a way to help support your back, but it will only support. Getting down to a good healthy size is the first advice she usually gives.

I do emphasise with you though, there is little else more debilitating than a bad back.

Sandy,

is this injury purely muscle bound or is it something more problematic ?

If I was you I would stick with what the professional's tell you and don't go listening to any of us twits.

When you say non impact, does this include road running ?

sandy, i had the same symptons and a disc fusion operation 9 years ago.  Having an exercise ball in your house and swimming i find are the best.

The good news is it doesnt affect my golf to much providing I folllow a few rules:-

I always warm up properly including lying down knee stretching exercises

I always warm down as well and if possible take a hot shower straight away.

when i go on golf holidays  i swim beforehand and afterwards too.

I tend to have a re-occurence of spasm every two years, which puts me out of action for two weeks but its usually my own fault for not keeping up my fitness levels/ dropping my guard. This is particulrly relevant when having had too much alcohol.

One other occurence was trying to get the bag off my trolley straight after playing!

So you just have to remember your not as mobile as you used to be, but the lack of pain more than makes up for it.

I'm currently suffering from a herniated/bulging disc, which is causing constant pain in the lower back, with some nerve pain down the legs.

There was no specific incident that caused this, but between my specialist and physio they have diagnosed that the problem occurred as an indirect result of a knee reconstruction 2 years ago!! Basically 6 months on crutches left me with severe muscle wastage, and in the following 18 months i've done a lot of running to lose the pounds that i'd put on from being inactive.

 Problem has arisen that my right glute hasn't built up properly and isn't firing enough to support the pelvis whilst running. In turn my pelvis is dropping on impact putting increased pressure on my spine and caused the disc to bulge. Haven't run since November, but interestingly i'm allowed to play golf assuming that i don't swing flat out, and i've been encouraged to do upper body weights, assuming that i don't load the weight on the spine - lots of bench press, triceps and biceps curls (aka Beach Weights!!).

 Also lots of exercises where i effectively isolate the glute and tense/relax in a variety of positions. I've also been directed away from things like sit ups but encouraged to do core strength exercises, like one legged squat, using gym ball etc.

I had bad lower back pains for a while and found a combination of deadlifts and hyper-extensions in the gym worked wonders (obviously if you have serious problems I wouldn't do this - but as a prevention for most people they can help).

Also doing squats should involve your core muscles getting involved to stabilise you which will help strengthen them to protect from injury.

If you are looking for tips especially videos that would help you

in your fitness then i ll prefer you to check it out and let me know how did you find it ok

http://www.golfersmd.com/?getit=751314805

zeeshan shakir wrote (see)

If you are looking for tips especially videos that would help you

in your fitness then i ll prefer you to check it out and let me know how did you find it ok

http://www.golfersmd.com/?getit=751314805