Stop Siatica & Back Pain - Back Health & Exercise Course Lesson 2
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Hello and welcome to the second lesson of your Back Health & Exercise Course.
This course is designed to help you stop your siatica and back pain and build a strong healthy back.
The intention with this lesson is 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 back". 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." Many people say "I did so and so and my back just went out!" 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. Then finally your back goes "I've had enough of this, I'm going out!" 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 comments below). 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. In fact if you can balance a can of beer on your belly like Homer when you sit and watch TV, you're going to need our special extra strength, super-up-sized back health and exercise course. 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. Don't worry, we'll look into other, more sophisticated types of exercises later in the course. You want yoga - you got it! Tai Chi - no problemo. Groovy Tibetan rites? Show me the funky chicken! One legged squats - hmmmm, not sure about those. Anyway, back to the point. Like many things in life, the simple and obvious is the right answer. So, unless you're under doctor's orders for bed rest or no movement, go for a walk. Go right now! Swing your arms, walk as fast as you can. Just go do it. Let your inner geek stand up and go for a 2 minute walk and then come back and finish reading this. Your PC will still love you when you get back. (If you're like me and don't like being told what to do by a bossy email, go later. But do make sure you go for a walk.) Wellbeing Comments: Please read the Disclaimer again and do not do anything that acts against your doctor's instructions. If your doctor has told you lie down and do not move, do what they say! Hopefully if you have persistent back pain, you have had advice and treatment from a back specialist e.g. a physio, an osteopath, a chiropractor etc. (Exercise is great for helping your back to get strong and healthy and reducing your need for treatment, but it doesn't mean you should avoid getting specialist help or treatment in the first place.) You might be in a position where any movement hurts your back. Yowwcha! I've been there myself. However, as long as you do not have a specific mechanical injury, movement and exercise will help you get to the other side of the pain and restore function to your back. Any movement you can make is going to help your back get back to normal. Doctors used to prescribe bed rest for bad backs, but nowadays the message is get mobile again as soon as possible. If you can't walk, just clench your tummy muscles and move your lower back backwards and forwards gently. If you're lying down, do this by raising your tummy, arching your lower back slightly, then push back the other way and try to push your back flat against the bed or floor. Gradually increase the range of movement up and down. Repeat The action as many times as you can, then have a rest and try again. This exercise is doing two things. 1. Increasing the strength of the muscles in your stomach and 2. Loosening up the tissues in your back. If you want to find a system that has a better than 97% chance of healing your sciatica and back pain, check out The Better Back System The Better Back System uses a set of unique exercises to loosen and strengthen your back. The results can be amazingly good in a very short period of time. In the next lesson we'll talk more about how you can help your back and other simple things you can to look after it. REMEMBER TO READ THE DISCLAIMER BEFORE DOING ANY EXERCISE
