Weekend Jocks Put Lower Back at High Risk

White collar life can be bad for the back. Sitting all day at a desk, not working out, and then maybe golfing on the weekend is just asking for trouble, doctors say.

“The sitting position maximizes pressure on the lumbar discs in the lower back, and that leads to back problems in adults,” said Dr. Vijay Vad of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. “Unfortunately, because of the twisting motion of the back, golf falls into the high risk category.”

Those who have to suffer through a day at the office when they are not golfing make their problems worse by not doing exercises to strengthen the muscles of the lower torso, said Vad, who works with touring pros in the Professional Golfers Assn. and the Assn. of Tennis Professionals.

Part of the problem is that the discs do not circulate blood through veins and arteries, but get their nutrients through fluid circulation that comes as the back moves, said Dr. Vert Mooney, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of California San Diego. Sitting still can’t be counted on to provide enough fluid circulation, he said. The lack of nutrient movement in, and waste movement out, reduces the discs’ ability to maintain healthy strength, he said.

Office workers would be better off thinking of sitting as an athletic activity, in which they put the weight of their upper body on their lower back--maybe then they’d prepare for it, Vad said. “One of the things you can’t afford not to do is simple stretching exercises for the lower back,” he said.

Most cases of low back pain go away within a few weeks, but the problem affects many people. More than 2 million people seek care each year for lower back pain, said Vad and a fellow doctor at the Manhattan hospital, Leon Root.

Root and Vad say 15 minutes of abdominal, back, hamstring and gluteal exercise a day can help people avoid back problems. Among the exercises are leg extensions and partial sit-ups. Weight training two or three times a week can also be valuable, Mooney said.

Exercise can help people who have injured their backs avoid doing it again, the doctors said. Studies of first-time back pain patients in Australia found that people who did not exercise regularly after their injury had an 80% chance of needing more medical care, compared with only 20% of exercisers, Mooney said.