Although our practice specializes in working with moms, we see a fair share of dads coming in with injuries. Whether it’s playing on the men’s softball beer league with your buddies, a family bike ride, or play wrestling with your kids, injuries happen. We are here to educate you on how to reduce your pain and show you what you can do to prevent this injury from happening again. In honor of father’s day, we are sharing the top 3 injuries that we have seen among dads and the most effective strategies to reduce these issues and prevent them from returning.
1. Low Back Pain
This is the most common complaint we see among our dads (including my own father and my husband). From long hours sitting at the office to full weekends spent doing yard work and playing with the kids, no wonder father’s experience low back pain. These activities place the lumbar spine in a flexed position for an extended period of time, with little to no time with the spine in an erect or fully extended position.
Performing lumbar spine extension during the day to counterbalance the repetitive flexion-based movements that are so common and frequent, allows the joints in our spine to continue to move freely and easily (and prevent injury). Full movement of the joint should be achieved daily in order to maintain optimal function. Think of the joints in your spine as parts of a large machine. If each part of a machine is not working properly, the machine is going to break down and stop working. If full mobility in your spine is not being achieved, the joint can begin to lose its full range of movement, become restricted, leading to tissue breakdown, aches, pains, and injury.
Performing lumbar extension in lying everyday can help maintain lumbar spine mobility for your spine to continue to move freely and function properly.
2. Shoulder Injuries
Rotator cuff injuries, shoulder impingement and tendinitis are among common injuries in men. Fathers who go to the gym often as well as who carry their growing children frequently have developed these musculoskeletal problems. Although many of our dads’ symptoms present in the shoulder, many times they stem from a more central structure, the cervical spine. Poor postures (slouched sitting, carrying children continuously on one side) can lead to muscle imbalances in the upper body. For example, the muscles in the front of your body (biceps, pectoral muscles, and upper trapezius) become strong and short and the muscle in your upper back (rhomboids, middle and lower trapezius) become weak and lengthened. When muscles become imbalanced in the body, it can lead to altered body positions and breakdown of the joint structures, leading to tissue injury. Improving daily sitting and standing postural habits is the first step to improving muscle imbalance in the anterior and posterior structures of the body. Performing the wall posture reset is one of our go to exercises to help dads improve their posture and strengthen their postural endurance muscles.
3. Sport Related Injuries
Ankle Sprains, hamstring strains, ACL tears, Achilles’ tendon ruptures. I am sure you know a dad who has experienced one of these injuries. With father’s schedules being just as busy as moms’ schedules, many times leaves little to no time for a proper warm up and cool down during exercise or sport.
Having a consistent mobility exercise routine can help prevent many of these sport related injuries. Performing a proper warm up and cool down during a workout or sport is important as well as a full body mobility routine. The Brettzel and Goblet Prying Squat are two of our favorite exercises to improve mobility from the upper back all the way to your ankles.
Our dads mean the world to us. We want to keep them feeling strong, healthy, and injury free so we can continue to do the things with them that we enjoy most. If you are a dad and are experiencing any of these issues mentioned, now is a great time to get some help from
and make a positive change in your life!