Lumbar Spondylolysis

Low back pain is one of the most common reasons people go to the doctor and in which many people will face at least once in their life time. Low back pain can be experienced by many people at any age, but mostly in those of the aging population. There are many reasons people experience low back pain, but most begin to feel better after several weeks and only rarely do they experience chronic back pain problems. One such chronic low back pain condition that effects the younger population is lumbar spondylolysis.

Lumbar spondylolysis is a chronic condition found mostly in young athletes who participate in sports that make the athlete have to repeatedly bend the spine backwards. Athletes who commonly experience lumbar spondylolysis are gymnasts,

The timing of the recovery stage is very individualized and can take 2 to 4 months (Standaert and Herring, 2007). This stage concentrates primarily on conditioning, proprioceptive training, strengthening, range of motion, and progressive tissue loading. The physician first focuses on subscribing the patient with spinal conditioning and early mobilization exercises to retrain the smaller muscles that are responsible for spinal stabilization such as cat/camel and lumbar rock (Standaet, Herring, and Pratt, 2004). The physician then gives the patient flexibility exercises according to their sport and flexibility level. Hip flexor, hamstring, rectus femoris, and tensor fascia lata musculature flexibility are important components of the conditioning program to individuals with spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis (Nau, Hanney, and Kolber, 2008). Flexibility exercises are integrated with the fitness routine once the patient is cleared by their physician to perform activities. The flexibility exercises that are most commonly used for rehabilitation of the lumbar spine is: hip flexor stretches, supine hamstring stretches, rectus femoris stretches, and iliotibial band stretches. The static stretches are usually performed for 30 seconds for 3 repetitions. These stretches are important to facilitate into a program because it allows the necessary range of motion in an activity without stress on the spine from tightness of the muscles (Nau, Hanney, and Kolber, 2008). As the bone heals, progressive exercises are introduced into the program to increase the muscular stability of the lower back and core. Dynamic stabilization exercises are one way to help strengthen the transverse abdominals, paraspinals, rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, and the multifidus which are all important in spinal stabilization and movement. It is very important for a physician to