is it normal for someone who took Karate for a while to experience some sort of problem like back pains?
Having just had a 3 month training lay off due to back pain, I can honestly say, No, its not normal. If you have a back injury, go and see a doctor or a Chiropractor. As far as the training goes, the most common problem I've found to cause backache is doing push ups incorrectly, mostly by allowing your hips to sag. Its important to keep your back straight, and paralell with the floor. And make sure you have a good stretch to warm up and cool down.
bad posture in any activity can lead to back pain. You could very well be doing something that is causing it. Any physical activity is likely to produce pains in some places at some times. Sometimes it's harmful, sometimes it isn't.
If you practice your karate sensibly, and that includes supplemental exercises and stretching, it shouldn't cause your body to hurt, beyond the normal aches from developing muscle. If your back hurts, then something's wrong. Go see a physician. Rob
Stretch all you want. Perhaps the problem is a weak back rather than an inflexible one. Time for some back strengthening exercises methinks!
Here's me feeling sorry for myself with a bad back too. Originally, I lifted a 50 Kilo box at arms length kneeling in the back of a van and felt something pop. Later during daft exercises in a Kick Boxing clas, pop, pop, pop. Next week flat on my back. Spent several years, with various problems until going to see a Chiropractor, who it turned out was a fellow MA enthusiast. It turned out a combination of a bad car crash, and favouring one leg or the other for different types of kick had put my spine out of alignment with my hips, effectively making one leg shorter than the other. As a result of compensating for this, several vertebrae in my upper back had fused unbeknownst to me. Six treatments later, I was a new man. I hadn't realised how much mobility I had lost until I got it back. The last week of DIY has crocked me again, but I'm gonna book myself in to see the guy again soon. I guess what I'm saying is go get it seen to now, rather than having much worse problems later on. Good Luck!
