The Basics Of Your Back & How To Look After It
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One of the things we recommend is for you to expand your understanding of your back and how it all works.
Why?
Because you’ll get to see what an amazing mechanism it is and (I hope) appreciate how and why you should look after it.
What’s In Your Spine?
Your spine is a column of 26 bones that extend in a line from the base of your skull to your pelvis. Twenty-four of these bones are called vertebrae.
These link to each other and are cushioned by shock-absorbing disks that lie between them.
Your vertebral column provides the main support for your upper body. It enables you to stand upright, bend and twist, and it protects your spinal cord from injury.
Think of your spinal cord as the main transmission and distribution mechanism for your nervous system.
The vertebrae are organized as follows:- Neck - 7 cervical vertebrae
- Chest - 12 thoracic vertebrae at the back wall of your chest;
- Lower back - 5 lumbar vertebrae at the inward curve of your lower back;
Plus:- The sacrum - 1 bone that is composed of 5 fused vertebrae between your hip bones; and
- The coccyx or tailbone - 1 bone composed of 3 to 5 fused bones at the lower tip of your vertebral column.
Between each vertebra there is a disk. These are pads of cartilage filled with a gel-like substance, which act as shock absorbers. In addition, nerves leave and join your spinal cord through 2 openings in each vertebra.
Now the tendency is for us to take our backs for granted until the moment when we get back pain, then we think “what’s gone wrong with my backâ€.
Try looking at things differently.
Stop and think for a moment about the complexity of what your back does, the stresses and strains that it has to cope with every single day.
It’s amazing that it works as well as it does most of the time. All the other joints in your body have a simple job compared with what your back has to do. And of course, when your back does go wrong, you really feel it, because it’s so central to your body.
So, the point is to realize that moment by moment, through each day, you have a choice about how you treat your back. Often it’s the combination of lots of little things that can make all the difference to your back and not “one big thing.â€
Many people say “I did so and so and my back just went out!â€
However, it’s rarely “just one thing†that puts your back out, unless it’s a major accident or fall. It’s usually the build up of lots of little things over a long period of time and finally your back goes “I can’t take any more of this” and it “goes outâ€.
So firstly appreciate that your back likes and wants the right type of movement (this applies almost all of the time, but check the wellbeing/disclaimer ).
It doesn’t like being locked in the same position for hours on end e.g. slumped in front of the TV making out like Homer, or hunched over a desk, or a steering wheel.
Your back wants you to move around. So what’s a simple and easy exercise that you can do to look after your back - go for a walk!
You’re thinking “This sounds too simple†right? Well it’s not. In fact walking is one of the key exercises we recommend in the Better Back Book
Best ways you can help yourself:
1. Change the behaviour and movement patterns that are contributing to your back pain, because this will most probably reduce the number of times your back pain recurs.
- This could be as simple as getting up from your desk or workbench every 20 minutes and walking around for 30 seconds.
- If you drive long distances, stop your vehicle once an hour, get out and walk around it once then carry on with your trip. The same with flying long distance, get out of your seat every hour or so and walk up and down the plane.
Basically, just give your back a “break†and a vary your movements.
2. Start an exercise program to strengthen your back and the supporting muscles around it - we recommend the Better Back Book for this.
