If you do the Grouse Grind, you need to make sure you have a registered massage therapist. The Grouse Grind is one the more popular ways to get your exercise in Vancouver.You need a registered massage therapist to help you with the stiff aching muscles you get from climbing the Grouse Grind. Low back pain can certainly also occur after climbing the Grind. If you experience low back pain please have your registered massage therapist assess your posture.
Low back pain can occur because of the repetitive activity associated with climbing the Grouse Grind. You are constantly contracting your hip flexors. This muscle is called the Psoas muscle and it produces the majority of people’s low back pain. It does this by being too tight or chronically stretched. In the case of hiking the Grind, you are causing the Psoas muscle to become extremely tight.
If you stretch the hip flexors along with several other muscles before and after hiking, you will be less likely to experience low back pain. Unfortunately, the average Grinder drives up to the hill and hops out of the car and starts hiking. This combined with a full days work at your work station and you are a prime candidate for getting low back pain and ending up in the office of a registered massage therapist.
I love the Grouse Grind. It is a great exercise but you need to make sure your hip flexors are ready for it. It is very important that you take the time to stretch them out. If you start to experience low back pain that comes on slowly after doing the Grind several times, you probably are experiencing tighter and tighter hip flexors. If this is the case make sure to get a hip flexor treatment from your registered massage therapist.
If you are unsure of what stretching exercises to do to prevent low back pain. Follow a basic running stretching program. This will cover all the major muscles you will use when hiking the Grouse Grind. A registered massage therapist at Everest Therapeutics Inc. can go through this stretching program with you.
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