TargetTalk

Been away from rifle shooting for quite awhile now, 3 years, but am getting back into it. Got the kit and air rifle out, and found my way back into form. Things start to feel familiar again except for one thing- my lower back HURTS.
I haven't necessarily been letting my fitness decline, it's actually a bit better but its been more anaerobic vs aerobic. I'm not sure if weight training the way I've been has caused changes leading to this.

Has anyone heard of APT? It's when the muscles that rotate your Pelvis (fwd and backwards) are imbalanced causing your pelvis to tilt forward more than normal, therefore putting more strain on your lower vertebra. Combined with holding a rifle in standing the backbend in this region can be very painful. I had a trainer once awhile back tell me that I look like I had it and had cause alot of lowerback pain when trying standup straight and lift weights above head. I'm thinking this could be the cause. I've never really done the exercises and stretches to cure it though. For whatever reason I could be suffering it more now, I'm seriously considering trying some conditioning to fix it. Especially now, wanting to lift a rifle again.

If you or your shooters have dealt with APT or just Lower back pain as a result of standing shooting what steps have you taken to fix it?

Thanks!

EDIT: I'm re-asking the question in a broader sense.

I can't say that my low back pain was specifically from APT, but the "four for the core" exercises have helped considerably. (But as an old fat guy, anything may have helped)>

See: http://www.armyprt.com/special_conditio ... core.shtml

Thanks for the link, Pat. Those exercises look good, different from the core stuff I'm used to. They seem a lot more isometric. I'm fairly sure besides adding some specific stretches for APT, the exercises are similar. Perhaps I should have asked a less explicit question about lower back pain for rifle shooters, since I would imagine it's not uncommon for this type of injury to occur.

Dont forget to tighten yr buttock when getting into position. Otherwise yr hip will twist. This can also cause back pain

yana wrote:Dont forget to tighten yr buttock when getting into position. Otherwise yr hip will twist. This can also cause back pain

Which buttock?

It may be at odds with the ISSF academy which states a good position is one which has...
"a necessary level of balance of the shooter-rifle system with the least tension within the muscular system"