A key point of the Nubax is that enables users to give themselves safe, high quality spinal-traction treatment at home, whenever and wherever they need it.

How it works

The Nubax® Trio uses the principle of  leverage. It suspends the user’s body over a common pivot point, whilst holding the symmetrically at either end of their back. In this way a stretch is created as gravity gradually forces the user’s waist and the shoulders apart.

Treatment Principles

Spinal manipulation often achieves beneficial results with cases of lower back pain. Studies show that traction therapy is commonly attributed with the immediate, although temporary, relief of pain in as many as 70% of lower back pain cases.  The pain relief occurs because traction relieves pressure on spinal discs.

In addition, it is generally accepted that intra-spinal conditions are most favorable to self-healing whilst the spine in a decompressed state.

However, effective spinal traction has traditionally required large and expensive pieces of equipment, usually found in hospitals and clinics. These machines require professional assistance to operate and are too expensive and bulky for home use.

It is widely acknowledged that “one off” treatments by these traditional devices will provide some relief, but without regular treatments, the benefits gained are lost.

The catch-22 has been that traction is only effective when applied regularly, but it hasn’t been readily available as a form of therapy has created a paradox for this method of treatment.

So the key point of the Nubax® is that the temporary relief of spinal traction is turned into permanent relief by making the traction permanently, readily and cost-effectively available.

Considering the fact that reduced spinal pressure aids the natural healing process and the least amount of pressure occurs on discs during sleep, the ideal time to relieve discal pressure is prior to retiring to an extended period of rest. With this approach, the body utilizes its natural healing process and the benefits gained from spinal traction.

Usage Guidelines

The Nubax® Trio has three easy steps for use

Step one: Kneel between the padded sections well forward of the bar and pull the device toward you until the waist belt prevents any further movement in that direction.

Step two: Now that the waist belt is resting comfortably against your pelvis, lift the handles (one in each hand) toward you and lean into the device so that your chest is up against the chest pad.

Step three: With your waist comfortably restrained, your shoulders fit snugly around the shoulder pads and your hands on the handles; allow your body to lean slowly into the stretch position.

Note: It may take you some time to find the position that gives you the optimum amount of traction. Adjusting the length of the waist belt and the positioning of your knees may help you find a comfortable position.

Just find a comfortable position and to relax once in the Nubax® Trio. The device operates by utilizing the lever principle and the users own bodyweight.

Breathing in and out slowly will allow your back muscles to relax which will provide a more effective traction force

You will gain the most benefit from using the Nubax® Trio for 2-3 minutes, 2-3 times a day, although the device can be used safely more frequently if you wish.

Don’t be alarmed if you feel some minor discomfort during initial use. However, if you feel any significant pain during or after use, stop using the device immediately and contact your vendor or Nubax directly info@nubax.com.au

Nubax Benefits

• Simple to use
• Less expensive than other solutions - you can save up to 90% of the price you’d pay if you got the same treatment from your local chiropractor.
• > 75% success rate for eliminating pain - traction therapy (aka - spinal decompression) has been proven to help reduce or even eliminate back pain.
• Time efficient - it takes just 3-6 minutes per day to use

The Alexander Technique is commonly thought of as a form physical therapy that is used in particular to help with conditions that are correlated with long chronic tension or stress such as back pain, stiff necks ‘frozen’ shoulders etc.

Whilst it often does bring relief for back and neck pain (because these conditions are often caused by chronic stress or muscular imbalances) the Alexander Technique actually describes a method that is designed to change the habitual movements in everyday activities and bring freedom of movement, improved balance and coordination. The method or technique is intended to reeducate your mind and body rather than being a series of treatments or exercises.

It is a process that teaches you a simple and practical method for improving your overall physical ease. It helps you discover a new balance in your body by releasing unnecessary tension and it can be applied to all routine activities e.g. standing, walking, sitting, lying down, lifting and so on,…As such it brings freedom of movement, improved balance and coordination to everyday, repetitive activities.

A particular focus of the Alexander Technique is to learn how to use of the appropriate amount of effort for a particular activity, which gives you more energy to share across all your activities.

As mentioned above, the Technique is not specifically designed to address back pain and stiffness, stiff necks and so on. However, because these conditions are often connected with long term issues of poor posture and movement, chronic tension or stress, the Alexander Technique also relieves back pain by correcting the underlying causes of the condition.

You can watch this 13-minute introductory video on the Alexander Technique produced by the British Medical Journal in 2008 as part of a major study showing the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique in alleviating back pain.

Video link Introduction to the Alexander Technique

I’ve not read any studies that have demonstrated definitively that you can get health benefits from using an inversion table and/or using inversion therapy.

Like many types of treatment, some users think they’re great and say they get worthwhile back pain relief from an inversion table, whereas others say the benefits are marginal, or not apparent at all.

The positive side of inversion therapy is that there appear to be no harmful effects – either it helps or it doesn’t, but there’s no downside (except possibly the waste of time and money).

A typical, home-use inversion table

So the potential benefits are as follows:

(A) For Back Pain Specifically:

• An inversion table can give you relief from different forms of back pain.

• An inversion table takes pressure off your back and enables the body to stretch and re-align and can help to stretch and strengthen ligaments.

(B) Potential General Health Benefits:

• Because you’re hanging upside down inversion therapy may help increase oxygen flow to the brain – your head is now ‘down’ for the blood flow.

• An inversion table may also help to improve your circulation

• By taking pressure off your discs it can encourage natural healing processes to occur

The Theory Behind Inversion Tables:

Clearly when you’re lying on an inversion table, gravity is working for you and acts on your back in the opposite direction to normal. In this position, the downward force of gravity elongates your spine and increases the space between vertebrae. This can relieve the pressure on your discs, ligaments and nerve roots and less pressure typically means less back pain.

Usage:

Most people start using an Inversion Table at a shallow angle for a few minutes at a time and then increase the angle and duration as they become accustomed to it.

Look at it this way, lying on an inversion table is a way to take a break and relax. Given that stress and tension are often a cause of muscle spasms in the back, neck and shoulders, anything that relieves this stress is likely to bring relief. An inversion table will provide a full body stretch that can help to reduce muscle tension.

Even inverting on a shallow angle for a few minutes can help relax tense muscles and speed the flow of lymphatic fluids. The job of your lymph system is to flush out your body’s wastes and carry them to the blood stream. Clear this waste, introduce fresh supplies of oxygen to your muscles stiffness and pain in the muscles should ease disappear.

Changing the subject slightly – this stimulation of your lymph system is one of the benefits of yoga. Yoga exercises and postures massage internal organs and stimulate blood and lymph flow. Some advanced yoga positions hold the body upside down e.g. various forms of head stands. However, an inversion table is certainly easier to use than learning yoga head stands!

Trying An Inversion Table

Reasonable quality inversion tables appear in the $150-$300 price range. Practitioner/professional quality tables go much higher than this - $500-$1,000, but my opinion that they’re overkill for the average domestic user. These are a good secondhand buy though, especially if you are an eBay wizard and can find one that has been lightly used.

In future posts we’ll look at the pros and cons of some different tables.

So in summary, you have little to lose from trying an inversion table and you may get significant relief from using one.

Backing this view up, recent research has shown that a diet that is high in EPA fish oil reduced lower back pain in over 50% of participants in a study.

In the test, 125 participants who suffered from back pain were given 850 mg of EPA and 200 mg of DHA a day. As a result, over half of the participants were able to discontinue prescription pain medication. 17 different clinical trials have confirmed these results.

So what is going on here?

Joint pain is caused by an excess of proinflammatory messenger molecules. When this occurs a fatty acid called Eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, aids in the anti-inflammatory response of the body to the pain. The fatty acid is converted to messenger molecules that relieve both pain and inflammation in joints. EPA has the additional benefit of preventing omega-6 fats from causing pain and inflammation.

Fish oil contains two naturally occurring fatty acids, EPA and DHA. As described above, it’s these fatty acids that help relieve joint and back pain. They operate in much the same way as the NSAIDs and COX-2 inhibitors in prescription drugs, but without the side effects.

The two fatty acids EPA and DHA are necessary for many functions in the body, but unfortunately they are not manufactured in the body in quantities sufficient for their use.

What do you have to do to get the benefit?

Take 2 to 3 grams of EPA and DHA a day for three months. This dosage has been shown to reduce the intensity of joint pain, morning stiffness, painful joints, joint tenderness and the need for prescription pain medications, such as NSAIDs.

Fish oil is best obtained from fatty fish, such as salmon, or alternatively from food supplements. Unfortunately, because of ocean pollution, the source of the fresh fish must be evaluated to ensure that the fish does not contain mercury.

If you are unsure about the quality of the fish, purchase food supplements containing EPA and DHEA instead, aiming for the proper balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.

Be certain to verify that the fish oil supplements are fresh and free of mercury (fresh fish oil should not have a bitter or fish-like taste).

Adjusting Your Diet

We can’t say it too often that the more fresh, natural foods you include in your diet, the healthier you will become.

One of the causes of joint pain is the over-consumption of omega-6 fats in the modern American diet. Omega-6 fats are a necessary part of the diet; however, vegetable oils and overprocessed foods sway the balance that the body needs between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.

The target ratio for optimum health is an omega-6:omega-3 ratio of 3:1, but most Americans consume a ratio of 15 to 1. This is the cause of much chronic inflammatory joint and back pain.

Stay Well!

Note: If you’re sick, or your back hurts badly and you think you’ve injured yourself, go and see your doctor, or a health practitioner. Also read our disclaimer before you attempt any exercise.

Unfortunately, if you don’t exercise regularly, especially as you age, the muscles supporting and surrounding your back will get weaker and stiffer over time and you’re more likely to suffer back pain and siatica.

Then these muscles won’t be able to work well enough when you most need them to. So when you put a strain on your back, it’s much more likely that your will injure your back.

Your back can get injured from an action as simple as reaching for something on your desk. More frequently it’s from a more obvious strain such as lifting something with a bad posture as you do it.

Back Exercises
Because your spine is so intimately connected with the rest of your body, back specific and general exercises can be the same thing

For example, swimming is a great, general ‘whole-of-body’ exercise, because it combines aerobic and strength aspects, whilst being low impact. You can push yourself as hard as you want with very low probability of injury and minimal stress on your joints.

Back Exercise Basics:
Every bit of exercise counts and every bit you do gives you a benefit. To strengthen your back, get into the habit of doing your back exercises every day.

When I started getting problems in my lower back, I developed a routine including sit ups of various kinds, leg lifts, trunk curls and yoga to build up my stomach and core abdominal muscles that play an important role in supporting the lower back.

The more you exert yourself, the more your body adapts to it.

In some respects your body is like your car. If you use it regularly and look after it, it is likely to be reliable and serve you well. Neglect it for long periods and don’t service it and you’re asking for trouble.

Walking

•Walking is usually great for your back (unless you have serious disk degeneration).

•Walk whenever you can. Walk up hills, walk up the stairs instead of taking the lift. Go for a walk in the mornings before work, go for a walk in the evenings after work.

•Walk as soon as possible after you have hurt your back, even if it hurts a bit. Your goal is to get mobile again as quickly as you can.

•If you work at a desk, help your back by getting up and walking around every 20 minutes or so, even if its just just for 30 seconds or so.

Swimming

•Swimming is a great general exercise that will help your back because it activates, strengthens and loosens many of the surrounding muscles.

More Challenging Back Exercises:

These work on muscles closely associated with your back. Some favourites are as follows:

•Yoga

Popular yoga stretches - The Salute to the Sun, Corpse stretch, Cat stretch, Wind-releasing pose, Sage twist, Palm tree, Fish pose , Locust , Bending forward posture

•Back Stretches

If you work on your stretching steadily, day by day, bit by bit you’ll find yourself able to reach further, you’ll slowly become more supple and find it doesn’t even hurt!

- Hamstring stretch, Lower back stretch, Middle back stretch, Upper back stretch
- Using an Exercise ball - Back arch, Back floor press, Ball squats

Hamstring stretch:

Warning do not do this if you already have back pain. This exercise should be done to loosen your hamstrings when your back is pain free.

Step 1

Step 2

 Step 3

•Pilates

The hundred, Spine stretch forward, The rollup, The saw, Spine twist, Ballerina arms

General Strengthening Exercises:

•Do 5 or 10 Hindu squats. These are great for strengthening your leg and muscles so they support your back better.

•Do 5 push ups when you have a spare moment. (if you can do 25 during the day, that will really make a difference). if you can’t do 5 do 3. (Women generally it easier to do push ups balancing on their knees, rather than their feet. If you don’t want to do a push up lying down do one leaning against a wall at 45 degrees

How Much Exercise Do You Have To Do?

If you want to get fit and strong, the recommended amount is 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week, or 20 minutes of vigorous activity three days per week.

For your back specifically, it’s best if you do some exercises most days.

As outlined below, diet is now recognized as a means of preventing and controlling all sorts of ailments. Because the back is such a large and sensitive organ, it is likely to be impacted by any shortcomings in diet and nutrition. Studies have proven that particular foods can make the difference between heath or illness for many patients

Interestingly, by studying historical literature we can see that ordinary men and women were often more aware of the healing power of certain foods than were the healers or doctors of their era. You can certainly argue that this situation prevails today in mainstream medicine and it is only recently that science has begun to clarify how much what we eat can affect our health in different ways, good and bad.

There are famous quotations from ancient times that support the belief in food’s healing properties, such as:

• Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food - Hippocrates (c. 430-c. 377 BC)
• The Chinese do not draw any distinction between food and medicine - Lin Yutang (1895- ), writing in ‘The Importance of Living’.

The medical profession is somewhat divided in how to deal with this issue. There is a huge momentum towards treating the sickness and diseases that arise from poor diet i.e. eating the wrong foods. In other words, the mainstream medical focus is on correcting problems that have already arisen from poor diet and lifestyle choices, rather than ensuring that diet and lifestyle is structured so that these sicknesses do not occur in the first place.

The reasons for this situation are varied and complex beyond the scope of this article to discuss. Let’s just say that the medical system is today structured to treat disease rather than proactively ensure wellness and treating disease is where most of the profits are found.

Diet is now recognized as a means of preventing and controlling all sorts of ailments. This conclusion followed study after study. Collectively these studies have proven that particular foods can make the difference between heath or illness for many patients. This includes patients suffering from diseases that had previously been considered beyond the scope of modem treatment.

Whilst there is not complete agreement on the exact benefits of every food, there is broad agreement on the following key points:

- The foods you eat can make a huge difference to your overall health, by enhancing it and keeping disease at bay. The implication of this is, of course, vast because it means that any individual may be able to control just how healthy he or she is or remains simply by making informed choices about food intake.

- There is in fact no clear-cut dividing line between food and medicine. Hippocrates was correct in observing that: food can act as powerful medicine and in many instances, is the best medicine. Additionally, as researchers are constantly finding out, there .are times when food is the only suitable medicine.

- Many foods are packed full of chemical agents which when absorbed in the body can act just like drugs and even be more potent than these in their effect. Eating the right foods can be just like taking regular doses of health-bringing medicine. Equally, eating the wrong foods - what these are depends upon individual circumstances - can have wholly devastating results.

- Much of the advice about food contained in folklore and traditional cures has a sound scientific basis and has now been confirmed by research. The same goes for the information about food contained in the treatments prescribed by practitioners of alternative medicine. It is expected that future research will yet show that many more traditional treatments also have a sound basis.

- Quite often it only needs small adjustment in the diet to make the difference between glowing health and chronic, debilitating illness.

- There’s every reason to believe that food can be crucial in preventing illness from occurring in the first place as well as treating or alleviating existing disease,

- It is becoming increasingly obvious that the increasing incidence of “lifestyle” diseases in the Western world, such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome etc, have mainly dietary causes. It is already accepted that diet plays a major role in the development of these diseases and most experts believe that there is still a whole lot more confirmation still to come.

- Even in the developed parts of the world where most people don’t go short of food (and many are actually clinically obese), many are actually technically undernourished and are chronically short of the micronutrients they need to be fully healthy.

 

The good news thing is that right now (at the time of writing in Aug 2009) Jesse is actually giving the book away (the book is also for sale on Amazon).

As part of the offer, he is going to donate $2 to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or Habitat for Humanity (your choice of charity) if you order your free copy from his website.

Click here to get your FREE copy now

The new book is an excellent source of information in that it has put together many helpful pieces of information about back pain and sciatica.

It especially helps with the problem that most people experience when they have back pain - that is they usually get treatments that only mask the pain and even then, the treatments only address the physical symptoms.

The book helps you understand:

- Why traditional treatments always FAIL to deliver lasting relief
- The 7 mistakes that most people make that keep them in pain
- How to identify the real, underlying causes of your pain
- Which treatments work, which ones don’t and how to know which is right for you

So if you have ever suffered from back pain, or are currently dealing with it, we highly recommend you grab a copy of the book now (and you can’t beat the price - free).  

Click here to get your FREE copy now

Eat Healthily

Your healing process will definitely be helped with a good diet and nutrition. Your diet should include good quality protein - vegetable or animal - as a source of the building blocks for tissue healing. Add plenty of  fresh fruit and vegetables to supply the vitamins and trace elements necessary for effective healing. A wholefood/natural vitamin supplement is often helpful too.

Get Plenty of Sleep

Active exercise is one of the best ways to encourage sleep. Inactivity tends to prevent the deep sleep that is so helpful for healing - both physical and emotional. Avoid stimulants such as caffeine or nicotine close to bedtime.

Don’t Smoke

Smoking is always bad for you (you knew that). When you are recovering it should be avoided in particular, because it diminishes the available blood supply to the injured areas and makes your nervous system more sensitive.

Control Your Anxiety

Managing anxiety and fear of re-injury is important to enable you to regain normal muscle function. A common psychological reaction to low back pain is that your nervous system responds to the pain by instructing the muscles near the affected part to protect against further injury.These muscles then “seize up” which causes more pain and stops the correct movements.

The exercises in the Better Back System specifically tell your back muscles to re-start their normal movements to overcome this neurological barrier to correct muscle function.

Limit Drug Use

Clearly medications help with pain relief and sciatica and back pain can be particularly excrutiating. Nevertheless, try and restrict your use of drugs. medications. The use of heat or cold, or liniment or massage, as a mechanism for pain control is a very safe and positive alternative for pain management.

When drugs e.g. narcotic medications and muscle relaxants are used over extended periods, they can cause depression, so try to use them as little as possible. Also, anti-inflammatory medications may provide short-term pain relief, but there is no evidence that they do anything to speed up the healing process.

Exercise Properly
We recommend the Better Back System for special back exercises that will help your back to heal and build up strength so your back injury is much less likely to occur again.

The special exercises train your nervous system to instruct your back muscles what to do and provide an effective exercise and rehabilitation program.

See Your Doctor

If back pain persists or yu have not experience dit before, you can seek the assistance of an appropriately trained and licensed health professional for your rehabilitation.

Also, its important to see a physician if your sciatica or lower back pain lasts for more than a few weeks or a month, or if you have any symptoms that cause you concern.

This site is designed to give you access to materials, including a free back health course that will help you learn about sciatica, back pain and home treatment of sciatica.

There are a large number of reasons why you can get sciatica and back pain. My view is that there are relatively few that benefit from drugs. Mostly sciatica and back pain (excluding accidents and obvious injuries) are related to issues such as:

- poor posture,

- bad habits that aggravate your back,

- mechanical weakness,

- lack of exercise 

- diet and

- ageing.

Many of these can be treated by yourself with sciatica home treatment. The Better Back System is an excellent resource to assist you in your own treatment with a better than 97% chance of success.

However, if you are newly suffering from back problems or back pain and/or you are under the care of a doctor you should consult your doctor before beginning any treatment. Also read our disclaimer before trying anything unfamiliar.

My theory is that the less toxins we put into our bodies, the more energy and ability our bodies have to stay healthy and fight sickness and injury before they really take hold. This includes delaying the impacts of the  ageing process.

Obviously, injuries to your back from accidents, vehicle crashes etc create a different set of circumstances to your normal level of health.

However, even then your healing process is greatly enhanced by a focus on your overall wellbeing, healthy eating and minimizing exposure to toxic chemicals.

There are many sources that argue this same proposition. As an illustration, many alternative cancer treatments basically consist of a diet of freshly juiced natural foods, combined with rest, fresh air and exercise.

So if you combine a healthy diet with exercises such as yoga, plus specific back exercises such as those in the Better Back System you’re likely to find your way to a new healthy world where your sciatica and back pain are much less troublesome or even disappear altogether.

If you have read this message elsewhere on the site, that’s good, because it’s one of the key health lessons to be learned.

n.b If you find particular health issues stay around, it’s also worth checking out EFT at www.emofree.com.