Many people who come to a spine exam in the St. Louis metro have a sport or exercise routine they never think to mention. A weekend league, a morning run, a home gym, or a youth travel team that someone drives to three times a week can all shape how your body has been used. Examiners ask about activity because the way you move over several weeks can matter as much as one bad afternoon. A simple sport and exercise log gives your examiner a clear, dated picture of what your body has been asked to do.
This guide is educational only. It does not explain what is causing any symptom, and it is not a substitute for an examination. Its purpose is to help you arrive with organized facts.
Start with the calendar you already have
Open your phone calendar, your team schedule, or a paper planner and look back over the past four to six weeks. Note practices, games, training sessions, classes, and runs. Mark the days you did not train, because rest days are part of the picture too. If you only remember the big events, scroll through text messages or fitness app entries to fill the gaps.
Write each entry with a date, the activity, a rough duration, and whether it was new, longer, or heavier than usual. A note such as lifted heavier than last month is more useful than worked out. Keep each entry short enough to read aloud in under ten seconds.
Separate the sport from the schedule
Many activities have layers. A game is one event, but the travel, the warm-up, the bench time, and the drive home are also part of how your body spent the day. Write down the practical parts: how many hours you sat in a vehicle, whether you carried equipment, whether you played on turf, grass, or hard courts, and whether the surface changed during the period you are covering.
Also note what happened between sessions. Did you stretch, use a foam roller, apply ice, or take a day off? Did a coach change your position or your drills? These details help an examiner see whether your routine has changed recently or has stayed steady for years.
Log effort in plain terms
You do not need a scientific scale. Use the words you would use with a friend. For each session, write whether it felt easy, moderate, or hard, and whether you finished it as planned. If you stopped early, write down why, such as fatigue, discomfort, weather, or a schedule conflict. Keep the notes factual, and avoid guessing at a cause unless you actually know it.
If you use a training app or wearable, export a summary for the same period and bring a printout or a screenshot. You do not need perfect accuracy. The goal is a consistent record you can walk through with the examiner from start to finish.
Bring the log to the room
Place your activity log next to your symptom notes and your medicine list. Look for entries that line up with changes you noticed. If a jump in training came shortly before a new pattern appeared, say so plainly. If nothing lines up, say that too. An examiner can only weigh what you report, and a clear answer of nothing changed is still useful information.
Call the office ahead of time and ask whether it wants a copy in advance or prefers that you bring paper. Mark the first day of your log so the examiner knows exactly which window you covered. Keep your own copy at home.
Do not change your routine just to make the log look different before the visit. Bring the record of what you actually did, including the weeks when you did very little. Honest, ordinary entries are the most helpful ones an examiner can receive.