Usain Bolt on the right track after back injury

The Jamaican three-time World and Olympic gold medallist and record holder has resumed training since suffering a back injury.

Biomechanics expert Martin Haines helps to explain.

In August 2010, Bolt was forced to call a premature end to his athletics season due to a problem in his lower back.  According to Bolt’s manager, Ricky Simms, Bolt had a tightness that restricted his ability to generate power to his stride.  Continuing to run in this condition risked injury to the hamstrings or calf muscles.  The team decided to cut Bolt’s season short so he could rest and receive treatment to loosen the back muscles.

One of the causes of Bolt’s recent back injury is said to be the dysfunctional posture that many athletes adopt.  Bolt isn’t on his own with injury, Asafa Powell has an ongoing back injury and Tyson Gay has a tight hamstring and a disc out of alignment in his spine.  

Often understanding the athletes intrinsic biomechanics can help identify why they have the problem and indeed what needs to be done to not only help deal with the problem but also injury prevention.  Usain’s problem is unlikely to be muscular in isolation.  Back injuries are usually a combination of joint, disc, muscle and nerve problems and it is difficult and often unnecessary to identify which one is the main culprit as they are integrated and affect each other.  This means that by helping one you can help all of them and interestingly, by reducing the pressure on one, you can reduce the pressure on all.  

The posture of these guys will indeed likely have an effect on their injuries, but their intrinsic biomechanics will profoundly affect their posture, so it’s often cosmetic to correct their visual posture on its own.  Let’s get to the route of the problem rather than trying to chase the pain itself, because after 6 weeks if not sorted out, other structures will be affected and so the pain can change and you end up chasing the problem round in circles. Get to the route intrinsic biomechanical cause and you’ve got a chance of nipping these problems in the bud.

Commonly in sprinters you find their pelvis doesn’t work well, it’s either in the wrong position potentially causing a leg length discrepancy or simply stiff.  This puts a huge amount of pressure on their hamstrings and calves but also their groins and knees, as well as their back.  Typically athletes also have stiff upper backs (the area between their shoulder blades) as well as stiff sciatic nerves (the nerves that run down the back of your leg) and many other intrinsic issues.   So hopefully Usain’s people will be checking these out and if they are, he’ll be back to his amazing running speed very soon.

After a clean bill of health, the 24-year-old mega star is now looking forward to defending his titles at the World Championships in South Korea this August.

Intelligent Training Systems are world leaders in biomechanics.  ITS run a wide variety of courses throughout the UK including biomechanics coach workshops, fitness instructor courses, personal training courses, sports massage and more.  Visit the ITS Courses page for more information.