Back Pain Solutions - Living without Back Pain is Possible

LIVING WITHOUT BACK PAIN

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY!- - - --- --PHYSICAL ACTIVITY! - - -- - PHYSICAL ACTIVITY!

STRENGTHEN YOUR BACK MUSCLES! --------STRENGTHEN YOUR BACK MUSCLES!
STRENGTHEN YOUR BACK MUSCLES! --------STRENGTHEN YOUR BACK MUSCLES!

If you suffer from chronic or recurrent back pain and you want to learn how to live with little or no back pain, then returning to regular PHYSICAL ACTIVITY and STRENGTHENING YOUR BACK MUSCLES must become your new way of life - your new religion, if you wish.

Most back sufferers make one gigantic mistake: they overprotect their back. They wrongly assume that avoiding any moves or activities which they think could potentially bring harm to their back is the way to go. The reality is that this constant overprotective behaviour actually aggravates the problem and can never be considered a life-long solution to back pain. Rest and caution are indicated when an injury just occurred. They can never be a way of life if you wish to live with little or no back pain. The exact mechanisms of back pain have already been described in detail in the section Understanding Back Pain, but for those of you who have just landed on this page, let us summarize those mechanisms again:

-----------------• Over the past 300.000 years our ancestors (homo sapiens) have been extremely active walking, running, climbing, hunting, fishing, gathering, building, etc. We have inherited backs that were designed for a life of activity, backs which have the possibility to become extremely strong and support us in those activities - instead of letting us down. But in the past 200 years we've become a species which does little else but sitting. As a consequence, our backs have grown weaker and weaker, and studies have clearly shown that, FOR THE WEAK BACK, SITTING IS ONE OF THE MOST STRENUOUS POSITIONS. Sitting poses little problem for the strong back but it can be catastrophic for the weak back. You can easily understand how a person who does not exercise, who does not have any activity allowing those back muscles to become stronger, and who sits all day - at work, at home in the evening, and during transport - would end up with chronic back pain. It's almost unavoidable.

-----------------• Medical studies have demonstrated that 85 to 90% of back pain cases are the result of weak muscles and repeated or prolonged bad posture. Only 10 to 15% of back pain cases result from a serious injury or illness, or from structural degeneration or deformation of the spine.

-----------------• Lack of physical activity combined with an abundance of sitting leads back muscles to become weak. Weak muscles easily overload and force you to adopt bad postures, especially in the strenuous sitting position. When muscles overload, they spasm, and in doing so, compress on the surrounding pain nerves. When one part of the back hurts, you try to find a position that allows you to stop feeling the pain but in fact, what you are doing, is overloading a new set of muscles which are also going to spasm and compress and activate the surrounding pain nerves. And thus the pain spreads throughout the back and into the shoulders and the neck, sometimes even causing headaches. It may even keep you awake at night. And since your muscles don't get a chance to rest properly, they spasm even more. The result: pain nerves are relentlessly activated. For more details on the mechanisms of pain nerve activation read our section Understanding Back Pain.

By overprotecting your back, the only thing you are achieving is making the problem worse. Your muscles will keep getting weaker. No pain-killer, no operation, no miracle cure can prevent that. As your muscles weaken more and more, they will have a tendency to overload easily in the wrong situations more and more, something you do not want.

HOW DO WE REVERSE THIS SITUATION?

By returning to physical activity and strengthening the back muscles. THERE IS NO AGE LIMIT FOR THIS. EXERCISES EXIST FOR ALL LEVELS AND ALL AGES. And I am sorry for those of you who hate the idea of exercise, this is the only way out.

Reflexology will help strongly reduce the pain - either in the beginning before you start your new exercise program or later on if you have occasional episodes -, but it cannot strengthen your back muscles. You need to do that. Those of you who have read my bio know that I have been through the entire process (agonizing pain, extreme muscle weakness, and recovery through a lot of exercise). Since then, I have never stopped strengthening my back. If I can live with very little back pain thanks to exercise, so can you. These are the conclusions of numerous medical studies, not only my own.

WHERE DO YOU START?

If you are in pain, the first thing you need to do is reduce the pain. You can do that by finding a good Reflexologist in your area as explained in the section Reflexology: A Science. Results will vary from patient to patient but, in a matter of weeks, you will feel much better. Remember, the closer together the Reflexology sessions in the beginning, the better the results. So do take the time for one or two weeks to get at least two sessions of Reflexology per week, three if possible.

Once the pain has subsided go to your doctor and tell him that you would like to strengthen your back. Explain the situation and what you have read. Get a referral for a good physical therapist - if it's a sports physical therapist, even better. Sports physical therapists are professionals who put back in top shape severely injured athletes. They know exactly when extreme caution is needed and when they can push the patient further. The physical therapy center where you go should have an exercise room. The physical therapist will devise a program specific to your needs - this is extremely important if you belong to the 10 to 15% of back sufferers who have structural damage in their spine (injury, deformation such as severe scoliosis, herniated discs, facet joint degeneration, etc.). Don't hesitate to ask questions, get to know the various muscle groups in your back, understand which exercise does what and how it benefits you. The advantage of starting an exercise program in a physical therapy center is not only that the program will be adapted to your needs and limitations but that your progress will be monitored and supervised by an expert. Any problem you may encounter will be dealt with immediately and the risk of injuring yourself under this type of professional supervision is close to nil. When your physical therapist thinks you are ready to join a gym without his/her supervision, he or she will guide you and give you all the advice you need.

If your doctor does not know a good sports physical therapist, ask around. The best people to ask are, for example, your children's physical education teacher, the pro at the tennis club in your area, the instructor at the swimming pool, any sports coach, or even your sports-obsessed neighbour… Ask around, there is always someone who knows who's really good and who's less good. Additionally, some hospitals (in the US for sure) have specialized physical therapy units for the back.

If your pain is recurrent but occasional and falls more in the category of "annoying" rather than that of "paralyzing and exhausting", you may want to start on your own - although it is always wiser to ask the advice of a health care provider who knows you. Swimming is an excellent option (read the little article in the Tips and Facts about Exercises for the back and sports section: "Swimming: Good or Bad for Back Pain?"). Joining a gym where they have fitness and exercise equipment, weights, as well as qualified instructors is another excellent option. Once your back is stronger and you do not have recurrent pain episodes anymore, you may consider doing other sports next to your back strengthening program.

Whichever option you choose to start strengthening your back, know that you will have muscle pain. Muscle pain is a good thing as long as it doesn't prevent you from working out. It means that the muscles are getting stronger. Remember also that even though your muscles are weak now, your spine and your back in general were designed to be strong and are very sturdy and resistant structures. YOU MUST NOT BE AFRAID TO EXERCISE.

WHAT ABOUT WALKING AND JOGGING?

Both walking and jogging are fantastic cardiovascular exercises and will strengthen the muscles in your legs - not the ones in your back. Many patients try to convince me that, since they jog, they must be as healthy as possible and therefore nothing can be done about their backs. WRONG! If you do either activity on a regular basis this is excellent for your health in general but it will not help your back pain or strengthen your back muscles. Follow the advice here above to get your back stronger and you will quickly feel the pain disappear, so much so that you will not be able to live without your back strengthening program.

IMPORTANT: If you experience pain in your back either when you power walk or when you jog, chances are you are wearing the wrong shoes. You need to correct this quickly because you are damaging your spine. You should not feel any pain in your back either walking or jogging. To help you, I have written a small article in the Tips and Facts about Exercises for the back and sports section of this website: "Feet, Shoes, Sports, and Back Pain".

For further advice on how to protect your spine and your back in various sports follow this link:
www.webdelaespalda.org

THE TYPE OF MATTRESS YOU SLEEP ON DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE

A study by the Kovacs Foundation proved in 2003 that the belief that firm mattresses were good for back pain was a myth and that, in fact, medium-firm mattresses strongly improve both back pain and functional disability among people with chronic non-specific low-back pain. To read more on this particular study: www.kovacs.org

Reference to the published article:

Effect of firmness of mattress on chronic non-specific low-back pain: randomised, double-blind, controlled, multicentre trial by Francisco M Kovacs, Víctor Abraira, Andrés Peña, José Gerardo Martín-Rodríguez, Manuel Sánchez-Vera, Enrique Ferrer, Domingo Ruano, Pedro Guillén, Mario Gestoso, Alfonso Muriel, Javier Zamora, María Teresa Gil del Real, Nicole Mufraggi, The Lancet 2003 Nov 15;362(9396):1599-604

You are now well equipped to look for quick pain relief and start working towards a life with very little or no back pain at all. It is possible and not so difficult to achieve. You just need to invest a little time in your health.