Back in Action - Softcover

Key, Sarah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1865087343 ISBN 13: 9781865087344

Verlag: ALLEN & UNWIN, 2002

Inhaltsangabe

In an easy-to-read question and answer format, this book sets out all the commonly asked questions about back problems and how to treat them. The author explains that most back problems are caused by the stiffness of a spinal link or vertebra - a totally reversible condition.

Über diesen Titel

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Back in Action

By Sarah Key

Allen & Unwin

Copyright © 1991 Field Mill Holdings Ltd
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-86508-734-4

Contents

INTRODUCTION: How This Book Came About, 
1 WHY IS BACK PAIN SO COMMON?, 
2 BACK TO BASICS, 
3 DIAGNOSING THE PROBLEM, 
4 A CHOICE OF TREATMENTS, 
5 BENEFITS OF MOBILISATION AND MANIPULATION, 
6 EXERCISES FOR A BACK PROBLEM, 
7 SPORT AND THE BACK, 
8 OTHER FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE A BACK PROBLEM, 
9 YOUR OTHER QUESTIONS ANSWERED, 
10 A DAILY SELF-TREATMENT PLAN, 
11 BACK WITH OPTIMISM, 

CHAPTER 1

Why is Back Pain so Common?

Back pain certainly is common, but the fact is that backs are only painful if they aren't working properly. Pain exists for a reason. When all the joints in our spines work smoothly, there is no reason for pain.

If you wonder why it is so important for a back to let us know when things are wrong, the answer is simple: the longer that spinal function faults go unchecked, the more widespread the strain suffered by the skeleton as a whole. The role of pain is to bring faults to the forefront of our consciousness so they stand a better chance of being fixed.

An active, well-working spine provides effortless gross and fine adjustments in the stance of the frame to set the stage for all deliberate fruitful activity. If it isn't working properly, we are put at a physical disadvantage and all our skills become handicapped. Although we may not be conscious of the change, the most simple, automatic and effortless activities become laboured and require more energy. Subtle strains are stored up, and this means trouble. In its perfect working order, which is rare in reality, properly balanced muscle groups at the front, back and either side of the spine prevent it from deviating from good alignment; correct spinal alignment is essential for placing all the other joints on their best working pitch.

But sadly our sedentary way of life, with many long hours spent sitting, compresses the base of our spine and makes the lower discs lose their bounce. In addition, our activity mode is frequently flexed or bent over, so the muscle groups holding the skeleton upright become unevenly matched.

Without us being aware of it, our spinal base becomes brittle; at the same time, some muscle groups get tighter and shorter while others get weak and elongated. As a result, the upright spine becomes inadequately supported. It tolerates shock badly and starts running out of kilter, with all its actions out of trim. Everywhere, joints afflicted by poor working conditions are jarred and forced to work at awkward angles. As the spine suffers impact, the segments grind and chafe as they begin their own journey of breakdown.

Furthermore, because the skeleton becomes permanently kinked and constricted, we find we can perform fewer and fewer actions. All purposeful activity takes place within a limited variety of starting postures. We don't have the 'release' to do as we please with our bodies. We are trapped as if the wind has changed. Movements become stereotyped and repetitive, rarely allowing us the benefits from full, opening-out stretch. In fact, most of the time we are unaware of the delights of full, elastic freedom. Instead, we toil away within the same old patterns of movement. We put the toothbrush away, we open the car door; we might even go the whole day without doing one original movement. Day after day we grind the joints back and forth over the same old territory. Eventually, the joints lose their 'play' and become almost rigid except in its well-worn tracks. I don't have to tell you this is not good for them!

With this background of poor shock absorption and muscle imbalance, the working spine is debilitated in everything it does. The discs dry out and lose their romp, and the muscles and ligaments lose their stretch. The final straw is when we do decide to get out of that chair and do a bit of exercise; we do it with such ferocious gusto, we then introduce a whole lot of new and sudden strains on top of the older ones. The combination is lethal. No wonder such a high percentage of the population has or has had backache.

Mind you, there is a good reason why we are gripped by a sudden desire to leap out of that chair and fling ourselves into frenzied activity. It is a subconscious attempt to redress the balance. It is a desire to 'reflate' the spine, to puff up the lumbar discs and bump up their shock absorption; an intuitive yearning to experience the skeleton at full stretch. It makes us feel so good to S-T-R-E-T-C-H, to open out the frame widely and savour the delights of emancipated freedom rather than permanent, static flexion. This 'spurt' is our modern-day method of releasing energies once used in foraging for food and fighting off enemies.

However, unexpected physical activity can put a handicapped skeleton under duress. If you lead a sedentary life, sitting for hours behind a desk or hunched over a steering wheel, you can 'do something' to your back with unnerving ease. A history of poor posture and basal compression makes it all too easy to harm a spinal segment. You can then develop a simple linkage problem and so it all begins. Sooner or later, back pain will develop. Whether it becomes a nuisance or a nightmare, the fact is, if the function fault worsens, the pain will worsen.

If we are to rectify the problem and thus get rid of the pain, we cannot afford to ignore the fact that the spine is compressed and failing to work properly. It is useless to swallow pills or strap yourself into a corset. It is often equally inappropriate to operate on the link surgically and try fixing it that way; which is rather like taking a hammer and chisel to a rusty hinge in a door; when really all it needs is to make the discs puffy again. A scalpel cannot cut out stiffness, any more than a chisel can cut out rust. There is no object to be removed; the problem is a function fault.

The first steps in curing an aching back are persuading the low lumbar discs to reflate and making the stiff spinal segments work better. And here is the good news. The more the segments are moved, the more they can move and the more they will want to move. Working them back and forth gradually achieves a better fluid exchange, which keeps them more robust and able to rebuff shock. The link becomes more stretchable, pressure lifts off the walls, and pain starts to recede.

Different as our individual approaches are, we practitioners working in the field of manual medicine have thousands of patients who can testify to this. It works! This is what 'spinal mobilisation' and the rest of this book is all about.

CHAPTER 2

Back to Basics

First, let's start with the basics, in our search for a cure for back pain.

WHAT IS A BACK?

The spine is a tall, graceful column which rises out of the pelvis and waves in the breeze. It is jointed throughout its length into twenty-four small segments called vertebrae.

Seven vertebrae make up the neck. Twelve make up the thorax, or chest part of the spine. Each of these thoracic (or dorsal) vertebrae has a rib coming off either side which encircles the chest wall and joins the sternum, or breastbone, at the front. The ribs move as we breathe in, like bucket handles, and with each in-breath, the ribs lift up and out as the lungs fill with fresh air. As we breathe out, expelling stale air, the bucket handles move down and in again, as if to rest on the rim of the bucket until the next inspiration.

By and large, the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: ALLEN & UNWIN
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2002
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1865087343
• ISBN 13: 9781865087344
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar