Before I get started on this article I want to ask you where it hurts. During the third period of a game what is aching? My guess is that more than 50% of you have an aching back as the game goes on. Many hockey players come to the gym and ask for some exercises to strengthen their back because it gets fatigued and sore as the game goes on.

Although some players may have weakness in their back extensors, more often this discomfort is related to muscle imbalances. Muscle imbalance in hockey players may also result in sore or tight hips. The most common muscle imbalance in hockey players is tightness in the hip flexors. Hip flexors are the muscles in the front of the hip you can see them in action if you stand tall and lift your foot off the floor bringing your knee up in front of your body. There are a couple of hip flexors that have slightly different actions, but we won’t worry about that right now.

Although being a hockey player contributes to this muscle imbalance, it is not the only cause. Think about your daily life. Are you a student? Do you work in an office? If you spend a good portion of your day in a seated position, you are sitting with your hips in a flexed (or bent) position. This places the muscles in a shortened position. Then we leave school or work and hit the ice where we skate from a nice low athletic position with the hips and knees flexed. Since our body only learns by reinforcement, if you put your hip flexors in a shortened position for the majority of the day, then they will take that shortened position to be the normal resting position.

I hope you understand how we get an imbalance of flexibility in the hip flexors. Now let’s look at why that is important. One of the hip flexors attaches just below the knee and to the front of the hip bone. Another hip flexor attaches to the thigh and the anterior aspect of the lumbar spine. So if the hip flexors are tight they pull the athlete into a hyper-extended position in the lower back. Next consider the skating stride where you are trying to take your hip into more extension as you stride which will try to pull the hockey player into even more low back hyperextension.

Now to complicate things a little bit think about your back position as you play, your preferred position is likely skating with a flat or slightly rounded lower back. Can you now see how this muscle imbalance can create a tug-of-war between the hips and the lower back? This tug-of-war creates your feelings of discomfort in the most vulnerable link. I want to make sure you understand that this is not just about your back feeling tired or your hips feeling tight. Without doing something to improve muscle imbalances in hockey players, you are just waiting for your next injury to occur.

To improve your hip flexibility there are two very easy stretches to do. Make sure you do both because they target the two different hip flexors in a specific way.

Half Kneeling Hip Flexor

• Kneel on one knee with the other foot flat on the floor in front of your body (the front knee should be bent to 90 degrees, not more).
• Stay tall in your torso; do not lean forward at the hips as this will negate the stretch.
• Maintain your tall torso position and push your hips forward while tucking your butt underneath a little bit. If you have trouble feeling the stretch try flexing the muscles in your butt.
• You should feel this stretch in the front of your hip.
• You may add a sidebend to increase the stretch slightly. If your left knee is on the floor then try side-bending your torso to the right.

Hip Flexor & Quad

• Set up exactly as described above.
• If your left knee is on the floor, you will reach back and grab your left ankle with your left hand and bring your heel up toward your butt (just like you are doing a quadriceps stretch).
• Maintain your tall torso position.
• You will feel this more in the front of your thigh.

Hold each stretch for 30 seconds and complete two repetitions on each side. Make sure you do both variations of this stretch, they target different areas. Incorporate these two flexibility exercises into your daily training and reduce some of your muscle imbalances. This small investment of time will help improve your skating stride and reduce the stress on your hip and lower back.

Most people will experience back pain at some point in their lives, and probably the most common of back problems affecting the lower back is Lumbago.

Lumbago affects the muscles of the back and the pain experienced can vary greatly from severe pain to just a persistent dull ache. It is thought that the condition can be made worse by damp, cold weather, being overweight, having a poor posture, and excessive muscle strain due to pregnancy. Unfortunately, lumbago has the habit of intensifying with age, so it’s even more important for people to keep fit and healthy as they mature into old age.

Often the first experience of lumbago will be when a person is lifting heavy objects, or from bending and twisting suddenly, resulting in excruciating pain. It does not necessarily mean damage had been done to the spine itself, unless a person has experienced an injury to the back, which is quickly followed by low back pain. Lumbago is basically muscular in origin, so the symptoms can be alleviated or greatly reduced by strengthening the core muscles of the body, losing excess weight, and improving posture.

Most sufferers will turn to pain-killers to help relieve their discomfort in the first instance, but taking a warm bath with a little lavender oil can be really beneficial too. Aromatherapy massage can be a more holistic approach to dealing with recurrent lumbago, incorporating oils that help to relieve pain, such as St John’s wort, vervain, white willow, and comfrey.

Taking regular exercise is beneficial for both mind and body, but with lumbago it would be better to concentrate on exercises that strengthen the core muscles and improve posture, such as pilates, which advocates building and maintaining the back, abdominal and oblique muscles that make up the core. Think of you core as a natural girdle that pulls you in, straightens you up and protects your back.

We tend to slow down as we get older, and become less active than we were when we were younger, so making small changes to your every day routine can go a long way to improving your posture, general fitness and associated muscle strength, and lessening the symptoms of lumbago.

Try walking to work instead of taking the bus, or get off two stops earlier. Take the stairs wherever possible instead of using lifts and escalators. Park you car further away from your workplace so you can add a few minutes extra walking to your day. Go for a stroll at lunch-time instead of sitting at your desk. Buy a dog and walk it twice a day. Get the family out into the countryside at weekends for a bit of exploring, or join a rambling club. Take up an exercise class, dance class, or join your local gym for some weight-training sessions a couple of times per week.

Whatever you choose to do, have fun doing it and you will be able to cope better with your lumbago.

If you experience a burning sensation along the spine, its quite possible you are suffering from sciatica. The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body, which runs from the spinal cord, through the buttocks and down the back of each leg.

Usually, sciatica is experienced by people with a prolapsed or slipped disc. A slipped disc is actually not a disc that has slipped, but has herniated allowing the softer internal material to come through to aggravate the roots of the sciatic nerve along the spinal cord. In some cases sciatica can be experienced by women during pregnancy or child-birth, and also through incorrect lifting of heavy objects, or through stress.

Sciatic symptoms can vary from mild to very painful, with a common description being that of experiencing shooting pains running down the spine, buttocks and legs. Some people also experience pins and needles, or numbness in their feet and legs, along with a general feeling of weakness.

In some cases, sciatica can be a temporary condition that eases with time, or in the case of pregnancy related sciatica, can disappear once the woman has given birth, and her body has returned to normal.

Some relief can be gained by laying on your back on the floor for 20 minutes, with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, with your head propped up by a couple of pillows or a telephone directory.

Aromatherapy massage using lavender and chamomile essential oils can also help relieve the discomfort.

As with other back problems, a warm bath with lavender oil can be most beneficial to the sufferer, as can some old fashioned remedies such as rubbing half a lemon over the affected area, or drinking celery tea, or elderberry wine.

Keeping your bones and nerves healthy is very important if you want to prevent further bouts of sciatica. Fish bones are a great source of natural calcium. Try to choose fresh or tinned fish where you can eat up the bones too. Magnesium may be beneficial in preventing the progression of bone loss. Try taking a supplement, adding brewers yeast, or eating foods rich in magnesium such as nuts and soyabeans.

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, so you will be getting extra by eating oily fish such as mackerel, sardines and salmon, which you are eating to get the calcium from the bones as mentioned above. Vitamin D is not called the sunshine vitamin for nothing, and by far the best way of getting a dose is by taking a walk in the sunshine. Vitamin D is produced in the skin as a natural reaction to sunlight, and the body gets most of its Vitamin D in this way.

Increasing your intake of boron is beneficial. Boron is a trace mineral, which can be found in plants. Recent research has indicated that post-menopausal women who increase their intake of boron can prevent calcium loss in bones, so tucking into extra serving of organically grow fruit and root vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, beetroot, turnips and parsnips can help keep your bones healthy. (Good quality soil is rich in boron, so make sure you buy organic wherever possible).

If you find that your sciatica symptoms become worse, or don’t seem to ease over time, then visit your GP or physician to make sure there are no other underlying causes.