Oh, My Aching Back

The following exerpts are from Chapter One of GOOD BACKS

You and Your Back

Do you have a "bad" back? A naughty, disobedient back that acts up, causing pain and suffering when you least expect or need it? If so, you are not alone. Four out of five Americans suffer from back problems. Back pain is the most common reason for missing work, as well as play, and can be a debilitating factor in everyday life. Back pain, along with the common cold is the most frequent medical complaint, and costs us $60 billion annually in medical expenses and lost productivity.

You can take steps both to prevent and treat yourself from back problems. The stresses of our modern society, coupled with an increasing amount of time spent sitting, cause many of us to suffer from a "bad back."

You can, however, take matters into your own hands. While the first inclination is to run to a specialist and invest in an MRI, CAT scan, and pain killing drugs, medical authorities agree that in a vast majority of cases, these dramatic steps are pointless. What is needed is a regular program of home back care and a special individualized treatment for when the back needs help.

That is so important I am going to repeat it. "Medical authorities agree that in a vast majority of cases, these dramatic steps are pointless. What is needed is a regular program of home back care and an individualized treatment for when the back needs help."

Whether recovering from surgery, about to undergo treatment, or under a doctor’s care, you can be initiating a self-treatment program for your back. The recommendations in this book are not meant to replace other medical procedures, but to augment, supplement, or improve on your current back care program.

About Your Back

Let’s get right down to the warning signals. If you have developed back pain for the first time, consult a health care professional. If there are complications to your lower back pain such as constant pain that travels down your leg to your foot, numbness, muscle weakness, loss of bladder or bowel function, or you feel otherwise unwell, please see a physician.

If you have already been there, you may be ready to take other steps. In the typical case scenario the doctor eliminates the medical emergencies, makes a stab at a diagnosis, gives you a prescription for painkillers, and tells you to "take it easy." Well, I guess since the slightest movement causes you pain, you will likely take it easy on your own, thank you.

One of the reasons that back pain really gets us down is that the spinal column runs the entire length of our back, providing basic structural stability to our body and affecting virtually every other part of the body.

The back is like the center pole of a circus tent, holding. it all up, with wires supporting the rest of the structure. Likewise, the spine provides an attachment for guy wires: muscles in the back, legs, and shoulders, and internal stays, like the rib cage and the pelvis. Not only is the back the central pole, it must also bend. The spine must bend forward and backward, side-to-side, twist, and double up, as well as perform multiple variations of these moves.

The backbone provides the central support and pivot for movement, as well as a communication center. It channels and protects the spinal cord as it heads for the brain, and is the switchboard for nerves that branch off to various other body parts, as it communicates back and forth between the brain and the body.

Our backbone is curved, unlike a circus tent pole. It is designed to curve front to back, in a gentle "S" curve. Without the proper curve the backbone is susceptible to damage and injury, so the natural curve of the spine is of utmost consideration when we set out to create our good back.

Common Back Problems

The goal of this book is to address the most common causes of back problems and to practice relief as well as prevention techniques. I want to turn your "bad" back into a good back.

A properly operating back should, act as the central link of a kinetic chain, linking the head, jaw, neck, upper back, and shoulders at the top, to the legs and feet at the base.

You know how the song goes, "head bone connected to the neck bone," etc. If you now have back pain, or ever have had, you can take steps to build a strong healthy back. You can avoid the pain—and even disability—caused by most back problems.

You don’t have to accept back pain! You CAN do something about it. You can take your care into your own hands (or back) and follow a program designed to strengthen your back and avoid back problems for the rest of your life.

Most back problems refer to the lower back (the lumbar region). Our backs bear the burden of our upright posture, as well as the stooping, sitting, and stress of modern day civilization. To compound matters, with age we find that the bones that make up the spinal column have become more porous (osteoporosis), which makes the back even more fragile.

Some back problems happen as a result of an injury or fall, but more often people complain that their "back went out." Out to lunch, or out of commission, backs are particularly susceptible to injury, in part because of their flexibility. The bulk of back problems are caused by a build-up from years of cumulative stress, strain, and abuse, created by bad posture and body mechanics. The incident that "threw your back out" may be as trivial as a sneeze, or moving the wrong way, but the true cause is an accumulation of poor posture, poor body mechanics, stress, and old injuries.

If you have heard one of the horror stories about back surgeries from hell, you can take comfort in the fact that for 99 out of 100 back pain sufferers, surgery is not an option. I’m going to repeat that also.

"FOR 99 OUT OF 100 BACK PAIN SUFFERERS,

SURGERY

IS NOT

AN OPTION!"

Studies show that sufferers who forgo surgery and opt for a strengthening, stretching, and stress-reducing program, will overcome their back problems as well as, if not better than, those who submit to the knife. Which solution would you choose?

Before you mortgage your fifth wheel to pay for a CAT scan, an MRI, or an "expert" opinion, read on. You may be able to take charge of your back pain, just as you take charge of many of the details of your everyday life, without technological or surgical expertise (read that $$).

Back pain comes in many shapes and sizes. You may feel a dull, constant, nagging ache, a sharp shooting pain, tingling, or burning. The severity of the back pain may range from mild ache to unbearable pain, and may swing back and forth throughout the day or with normal activity.

Pain’s intensity is determined not just by the actual injury, but also by the interaction of the chemicals that send messages to and from the brain. In some cases, pain can linger long after the initial problem is solved. This results in a chronic condition, often independent of what first caused it.

Researchers tell us that a mix of genetic, physiological and chemical factors influence pain. Some people have more pain producing chemicals, like the neurotransmitter known as substance P, and less pain relieving chemicals, such as seratonin and adrenaline, in their nervous systems.

Studies continue on the pain process, seeking a gene that may be the cause of sciatica, and explaining why one laboratory rat limps for days after stepping on something hot, and another shows no signs of pain.

A Typical Case Scenario

Back pain comes in many shapes and sizes and in a majority of cases is near impossible to diagnose. Jan was troubled by lower back pain for years, and just recently made an appointment with her family physician. He examined her and reassured her that, although the pain was excruciating, she was not suffering from a pinched nerve (which she was convinced she had).

He informed her that an X-ray seldom gives any clues as to the cause of the pain. You can look at the X-rays of a hundred people free from back pain and the X-rays of 100 people in terrible back pain, and not find any difference.

The doctor told Jan to wait a month and gave her a program of gentle stretches, strengthening exercises, and instructions to walk at least 20 minutes each day. Before the month was out, Jan had included the back exercises shown in this book in her daily routine, and her back pain was forgotten.

The most familiar cause of injury to the back is excessive stress in one form or another. The most common cause, although seldom recognized, is inactivity. If we don’t use the muscles that support the spinal column system of bones and joints, and the muscles of the trunk, back, and abdomen, and bring the spine to its range-of-motion through moderate activity, the region is particularly susceptible to overuse, poor posture, and simple stress. Without regular use, the joints stiffen, muscles and ligaments atrophy and contract, and the flow of blood is slowed. Inactivity can make the back more susceptible to general joint degeneration. So, get your back, as well as your whole body movin’!

Don’t Take Back Pain Lying Down

It has been traditional treatment for doctors to send patients to bed for a week or more of rest. The thinking was that an injured back should not be used until it has healed. However, doctors have adjusted their treatment in accordance with studies showing that the key to the fastest recovery is to stay out of bed as much as possible.

The reasoning is that the back muscles and tissues will atrophy quickly lying in bed and within a few days of inactivity will become seriously weakened. In fact, the more scientists study exercise and back ailments, the more they prescribe staying out of bed.

It has been proven that a combination of stretching, strengthening, and aerobic exercise does more to relieve back pain than inactivity does. Active muscles rebuild themselves quickly, and since spinal disks don’t contain blood vessels, they depend on the body’s movement to send healing nutrients their way.

Exercise also sends natural painkillers flowing throughout the body, which help to deal with the discomfort. As athletic activity increases, so does the threshold for pain. If you are involved in a regular aerobic exercise program, your back pain will be less, and you will heal more rapidly than your inactive neighbor will. If you are not active now, get busy and build up your strength and endurance before your back forces you to do so.

The following chapters in my book will encourage you to take better care of your back, and also illustrate exercises and stretches that you can do relieve pain and strengthen the muscles that support your back.

Chapter Two: Quickie Stretches

Shows you five stretches that can be done anywhere, at your desk, while cooking—literally anywhere when you feel a twinge of pain or tightness in your back.

Chapter Three

Details posture, body, and spine mechanics and how simple changes, practice, and awareness of your body’s position and movements can make your spine a happy part of your body.

Chapter Four

Illustrates several exercises with actual photos that will strengthen your back and the muscles supporting your back.

Chapter Five: Stretches

The body has a tendency to kink up, or stiffen when you sit in one position for too long--and, unfortunately, when we age. These stretches and flexibility exercises will soon have you moving about with the grace-like gait of a jungle cat and maybe even touching those toes that you knew were down there somewhere.

Chapter Six

Leads you through breathing exercises, visualization, and other techniques that will help to put you in touch with your back and the rest of your body. Let’s face it, all our body parts work together to enable us to do what we want to do. Are you going to let pain deter you? No! Take control now and soon feel a new spring in your step and a new attitude, Yes! And I did it myself!

Lynn Difley is an accredited and licensed exercise instructor and fitness trainer through the International Dance and Exercise Association (IDEA), American Council on Exercise (ACE), and Nautilus. She began teaching exercise classes twenty-five years ago, before the coining of the term "aerobics," when classes consisted of a varied form of calisthenics. She graduated from the first class of the newly formed IDEA’s certification program for exercise professionals, now the major training and certification body for the exercise and fitness industry.

She writes the Healthy Living column for the Woodall’s Publications Group, the Fitness on the Road column for Western RV News, and her articles have appeared in RV and general consumer magazines (MotorHome, Good Sam's Highways, Arizona AAA's Highroads). She is an instructor in the Life On Wheels RV Conferences and at The Rallys. In addition she teaches a variety of exercise and fitness classes including water exercise and strength training and is an evaluator and tester for Saucony, the athletic shoe manufacturer.

Lynn and her husband, Bob, travel fulltime in their motorhome photographing and writing articles for consumer and RV magazines. In addition to outdoor activities like mountain biking, hiking, and kayaking, they follow a regular exercise regimen of running, swimming, weight training, balance, flexibility, and chasing around after their seven (as of last count) grandkids.

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