Rehabilitation of Football Players With Lumbar Spine Injury (Part 1 of 2).

In brief: Rehabilitation of football players with low back pain caused by injury is a comprehensive process. Accurate diagnosis followed by early intervention is necessary. The rehabilitation plan can be divided into two phases: the pain-control phase, discussed in this article, and the training phase, to be discussed in part 2 in a coming issue. The pain-control phase may include a variety of passive modalities, flexion or extension exercises, lumbar mobilization, traction, and selective (precise localization with precise center) injections. The author stresses the importance of understanding the anatomy and biomechanics of the lumbar spine, referred pain and potential pain generators, the stages of the degenerative process, and lumbar spine injuries when planning a rehabilitation program.