Читать книгу RideProof Your Back - Kathlyn Hossack BScKin CAT(C) - Страница 1

Who among us hasn’t experienced some form of back pain? As riders we ask a lot of our bodies. My journey through disabling back pain began my journey from angsty, injured teenage competitive rider into a career that helped me understand my own pain, and my clients pain in a whole new light. Like any sport riding comes with the risk of bodily complaints, though who ever said that those aches and pains had to be permanent? Yet, rider’s are left on the back burner so often when it comes to appropriate assessment and rehabilitation of their pain. Often told to “just stop riding" if it hurts (as if that’s an option!) or going through rehab programs that have next to no function for what we need in the tack, only to not really get much relief.

Low back pain is a chronic complaint world wide, among riders and everyday people. In many global stats it accounts for upwards of 80% of reasons for doctor’s visits and while many acute cases of back pain don’t last much longer than a few weeks, many of those acute cases turn into chronic ongoing issues. ¹

The reasons behind back pain can be just as diverse as those suffering from it. A study done in 2009 out of the UK stated that 88% of riders, across all disciplines, have chronic low back pain. Low back pain can be caused by many factors. In us riders it can stem from a combination of imbalances in our horses, ill fitting tack, stirrup length or tack style, and likely the biggest of all: imbalances in our body. ² Yet it’s equally as important to realize that no one factor is usually the cause of back pain. As we will explore in this book, back pain is often non-specific to any one physical root cause, and a manifestation of many potential contributing factors from biomechanics, trauma, mind body miscommunication and personality traits.

Many have gone through the gambit of treatments, therapies, and tools to alleviate their pain, only to have it be a recurring problem. Physicians and experts in physical medicine struggle to counter the epidemic that low back pain (and pain in general) has become in our society, and riders are often left in limbo when it comes to functional care and rehabilitation. When I began specializing my practice to riders in 2015, back pain was one of the most frequent complaints from my clients. From recreational to professional, riders were being limited in their enjoyment and performance on horseback by often resolvable back pain.

Contrary to popular belief; low back pain does not have to be a life sentence. Nor is it necessarily related to age, activity levels, weight, or horse’s movement ability. To correct it requires appropriate body and self awareness, postural re-education, sometimes manual therapy tools to assist in breaking the pain cycle, and mindful awareness of ourselves. This book is dedicated to sharing my top solutions for back pain in a simple and easy to take home way.

Whether in equestrians or others- solving the low back pain issue can be simple, and it doesn't it need to be expensive; though it will mean investing some time and effort into yourself.