"All I did was reach to pick up that toy on the ground and ..."
We naturally think that if we only hadn't tried to reach, pull, lift or stretch to get that last object; we wouldn't be experiencing the spasms surging through our lower backs right now. In reality, back pain is the result of many years of strain, heavy lifting, poor body mechanics, weaknesses and stress to a part of our body we put tremendous demands on every day. It is estimated that 60-90% of people injury their backs each year and at least half of them will continue to have multiple episodes of back pain.
The first tip on how to prevent back pain begins as soon as you get out of bed in the morning:
1. Body mechanics: Pay attention to proper posture and avoid excessive twisting or bending movements of the spine.
Roll your body on to your side like a log and drop your legs off the bed while pushing off to get into an upright position. Bend from the hips stabilizing, if needed, with your hands on your thighs when you sit on the toilet. Provide lumbar support using a pillow when you sit in a chair and cross you leg when tying your shoes to avoid reaching down to the ground.
Avoid leaning over the sink to brush your teeth or twisting sideways to put on makeup or shave in the side mirror. Learn to place your body positioned in front of objects needed instead of reaching sideways to retrieve dishes which unbalances one side of your back. Always push heavy items to move them, don't pull, pushing requires less force from your back muscles.
Lifting items from the ground using good body mechanics involves anticipating how heavy an item might be. The "Golfer's" reach is a popular method to pick up small items such as golf balls. Lean over and lift one leg as you reach to pick up the item off the ground. If the item is heavier, squat next to it to help maintain your center of gravity and counter balance the weight of the object. Next, hold the object tightly to your chest if you plan to carry it and walk away. If the item is heavier still, get help. Both people should squat and lift at the same time with one walking forward and one backward if possible instead of side to side.
2. Exercise and Core Stability development:
Life gets so busy; we don't make exercise a priority. The trick is to find something you are willing to do regularly to get the 30 minutes of daily aerobic activity the American Heart Association recommends. Exercise will keep your back limber, get more oxygen to your muscles and helps keep your weight down. Walking and cycling are popular choices but if your back is not up for those activities, swimming is a great option.
Core stability is a popular current term to describe strengthening of the main back, abdominal and pelvic muscles that perform the bulk of the work to stabilize our bodies during exercise. The Mayo_Clinic has an excellent slide presentation of many popular beginning core exercises such as: crunches, bridges, abdominal press, segmental rotation, quadruped, plank and superman.
3. Stretching techniques:
In addition to the benefits of strengthening and stabilizing, stretching back and surrounding muscles will relax tight areas and reduce the likelihood of an injury. Common back stretches include: pelvic tilts, knee chest stretch, hip stretches, hamstring stretch, neck, chest and shoulder stretches which are diagrammed at http://www.nationalpainfoundation.org/MyTreatment/My Treatment_Exercises_for_Back_and_Neck.asp
Another novel approach to stretching out tight muscle is using small inflated balls positioned under strategic parts of your body to allow those areas to relax. Elaine_Petrone sells an instruction book with two grapefruit size squishy balls that you place under various parts of your body. Combined with breathing techniques, muscles stretch and settle on to the balls. http://www.elainepetrone.com/
Yamuna_balls uses a different concept where you roll your body over various sized balls to massage and stretch tight areas. http://www.yamunabodyrolling.com/ . Both techniques are worth looking into.
4. How about Stress and Diet?
Common sense tells us to reduce stress and eat a healthy diet but that is easier said than done. Weight reduction has obvious health benefits and reduces demand on our backs. Stress contributes to muscle tension and tightness and smoking reduces the amount of oxygen available to our tissues. All these factors reduce our ability to exercise leading to the muscle weaknesses that may be causing our back pain.
Many people who have chronic back pain try other techniques and treatments rather than consider surgery or epidural injections. These therapies may include:
-Chiropractic: acts to release restrictions in the vertebrae that may be putting pressure on nerve roots sending painful impulses to surrounding muscle in the back or radiating to arms and legs.
-Physical therapy: administers special techniques specifically for back problems such as McKenzie Technique and Myofacial release to return motion and circulation to affected areas.
-Alexander and Feldenkrais techniques: teach methods to retrain and change how we move and focus our attention on subtle body positions that contribute to pain.
Careful attention to body positioning during daily activities, exercise to strengthen our backs and methods to stretch tight muscles are all self care techniques that reduce the occurrence of back pain. If needed, seeking out additional help of a chiropractor, physical therapist or other body worker may help prevent back pain from occurring or at least help reduce pain sooner.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/back-pain/DS00171
http://health.howstuffworks.com/how-to-prevent-back- pain.htm
http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/arti cle2684.html