Back Challenges
This is very important information for anyone with back problems! If you hurt your back it is usually a disc problem.
Unless you strained some ligaments, which can happen, that's why you should consult with a Doctor who specializes in the back.
If you take care of it right away you will be able to heal it faster.
I have used this approach with hundreds of patients, as well as with my other colleagues.
It seems to be the best and conservative approach: 1st See a doctor that specializes in backs.
Stay in bed, don’t sit or stand or even walk much.
Most importantly, don’t do any exercises that flex the spine (bend forward).
The most important exercise to do is to arch the spine, as in the cobra (lying on the ground like you are going to do a push-up, keeping the pelvis flat on the ground and keeping the butt muscles relaxed (see exercise in my web site).
2nd The doctor who is experienced in treating backs will prescribe some anti- inflammatory drugs.
Depending on the severity of your condition he may even recommend some muscle relaxers or pain pills.
These medications during the early stages are great and can greatly increase the healing.
Even using a back brace during this early time is especially beneficial particularly if you are listing (leaning to one side).
3rd Use ice every day, all day if the pain is severe.
Doing the cobra while icing it will help pull the disc in.
If the full cobra is too much, do the second exercise or what we call the sphinx by just rising up on your elbows.
These exercises are the best.
An alternative is the cat-dog but make sure you don’t go into flexion.
4th Consult with a professional that can guide you to healing the condition.
Many times medical doctors don’t have the training, and you need to get therapy.
Sometimes traction helps with medical massage, and at the right time chiropractic can help, although I have seen it cause more pain during the acute stages.
Most important is the alignment of the hips and spine which chiropractic is good for; for the long-term recovery this is imperative.
The corrective exercises I give are mostly common to physical therapy.
I have also developed some of my own that will help take the pressure off the disc.
Think about it: If your pelvis is twisted or higher on one side than the other, there will still be pressure on the disc.
I believe that for a disc to be injured it has suffered this pressure for a long time, as discs are part of a very strong system.
Muscle tension is the way the body compensates for this misalignment and with that it compresses the spine thus breaking down the disc over a period of time.
So sometimes with the right conditions such as tension, stress, too much work, just by bending over one day or twisting while carrying something, it can force that weak disc out of place.
With either a bulge or an actually torn disc (herniated) you need to work intensely to get it back to health.
Let’s review what some of the tools are that professionals may use for disc problems, besides the drugs, which I think are very beneficial if you get them right away.
Later on they are less effective, in fact, everything is less effective if you wait a week or more to get help.
Go see your doctor right away if you hurt your back, don’t wait! Rest in bed is the best and most important therapy you can do along with the medication.
Obviously your body is talking to you very loudly, so pay attention, take some time to reflect on you life and listen to your body.
Don’t walk around and don’t sit.
Lie down and do the extension exercises with ice.
This is not only critical in the early stages, but it will also help all the way through.
Deep massage with an alignment technique is great.
The key is to take to pressure off the disc.
The problem with deep massage without attention to alignment or with too much twisting is that it can actually make it worse.
When you relax the muscles that are holding, it may put more pressure on the disc at least temporarily.
Rolfing has a good technique for lengthening the torso fascia.
Trigger point therapy can ease the pain and relieve the muscle tension.
Chiropractic during the acute phases has mixed reviews, depending on the chiropractor.
Gentle work seems to be more effective, but at other times it’s just too painful for some patients.
It is definitely helpful after the acute phase for alignment.
Sorry, chiropractors, but I have found this to be true.
Many of my best friends are chiropractors and I use them myself, but as I’ve said many times, it depends on the patient as well as the doctor.
During the later stages after the swelling has gone down may be the time for chiropractic as well as physical therapy or traction.
That seems to be the time when it is most effective.
Acupuncture will not correct structural problems, but it can help with the pain or even swelling.
However, I work directly with many of the best acupuncturists, and they refer their patients to me when there is a disc problem for body alignment.
5th.
Once you have injured a disc you have a weakened area for some time.
Remember, this tissue heals very slowly.
It takes many years sometimes to totally heal a ligament if it came from improper posture, which I think is the most common reason, from slouching all your life or from too much sitting and no exercise.
You need to start to change your posture and habits.
Yoga, Pilate’s, Alexander, Feldenkrais or Aston Patterning are many techniques that can help with that.
You need to strengthen the abdominal muscles because most often this is a big problem area especially if you are a male and have a large stomach.
By the way, most back problems are associated with males.
Since posture is one of the biggest problems with the back, doing the right exercises is critical for improvement.
Some of the exercises that are recommended are counterproductive, such as bending over to touch your toes! Never do that, unless you have been shown the right way to do it.
Anyway, you can get the same stretch if you sit on the ground and touch your toes without the pressure on your spine.
Most flexion exercises are not great for us.
These are when you bow your back backwards.
It’s best to keep the spine flat at the low back for certain stretches.
There are even some Pilate’s moves that I would be very careful with, especially if you have had a back problem.
Get some expert advice and always remember to consult with your doctor before starting an exercise program.
6th.
Here are some of the most common tests for disc problems: a.
Does it hurt your back to lower your head? b.
Does it hurt if you cough? c.
Can you bend over without pain? d.
Can you arch your back without pain? Usually if these four cause problems, it’s a disc.
e.
There may be a need for more leaning into the pain if it’s on one side or the other.
This will often reproduce the pain, or cause a shooting sensation down the foot.
f.
Lastly, we may twist and find out if this pain is made worse by doing that.
Note that a doctor should do these tests and care should be taken in doing them.
g.
There are other obvious signs such as listing (leaning to one side), which is a common disc reaction.
The body is trying to take pressure off the disc.
h.
Shooting pain or numbness down the leg or into the buttocks is another sign.
i.
Of course, if you can’t even walk or sit, you know what you have.
See your doctor.
You can do the first two tests yourself with no problem and if you have the last two symptoms, well, we are pretty sure you have injured a disc.
Take care of it immediately and get into bed as soon as possible.
I have seen people get better right away, but if not taken care of properly, it can last for years.
Believe me, as I have personally had the experience as well.
If you have a back problem, get my next book, The Better Back Book.
The cobra, or extension of the spine.
If this is difficult don’t push it do the alternate pose the sphinx (right).
Both of these are some of the best and easiest exercises to do when your back is hurting.
They are the best for assisting the disc to return back to it’s normal place and help reduce the tension.
Also quite effective for the back muscles as well.
A Nice Way To Lengthen The Low Back: Slowly lift patient laying prone (Face down) from their anterior iliac spine, not grabbing hard, and gently pull up the hip while pushing on your side of the spine with your palm.
Start at the low lumbar and work your way up each vertebra at a time, drop the hip every vertebra and lift again as you go.
If you find tight and resistive muscles, gently massage and friction them as well.
Use deep breathing and pull up as they exhale.
With all the troubles that modern people or we earthlings have had with the back, I find it imperative to just take the time and take care of your own.
No one can do it ALL for you.
It just takes knowing something about the body and just rolling up your pants and diving in.
The best strategy I know about everything I have tried is to start out gently, even if you are a big, strong bodybuilder.
Most bodies I have encountered in my career are out of alignment; the least were two of the top Olympic athletes of the late seventies.
The Abdominal Lift; just sitting and contracting your abs as you lift the torso.
This takes pressure off the discs.
This is also good for when you are doing any exercise as it allows you support and initiates all other movement from the core.
Another important exercise to start building your core muscles.
Laying onyour back bend both legs and beginers should start with one foot.
Lifting one leg at a time, keeping one on the ground is for beginner’s .
Liftingtwo legs is more advanced.
The object is to keep your abdominal muscles contracted and move the legs back and forth (top one at a time) bottom two at a time bicycling back and forth.
NOTE!!!! These should not be done when you are hurting; they are for after your back episode so that you can prevent the next one.
Next you have your basic crunchies laying on your back your legs bent at a niety degree.
Hips to thighs niety then knees on down shins parallel to the floor.
Come up with your elbows touching your knees, don't pull on your head hands at side of face.
Do straight ahead, rectus, and then opossit elbow to other knee and so forth.
The advance crunchies and the transverse crunch two both sides for the transverse abdominals.
Other tricks for your back if you have tension between the shoulders lay on a towel running vertical towel placement.
Lay ontowel also helps neck if you notice its too far forward on your body.
Lengthen Your Own Low Back, go slow, can be done during pain episode, careful.
(Check with doctor) Home made traction to assist the body in reversing the stress of gravity thougout the day, the is a great way to get your body relaxed as once the curves are in the right place the muscles can relax instead of holding us in our tension pose.
Starting with two towels one for your neck and one for your low back.
Just lay down! That will lengthen your back.
Use a towel under your low back and under your neck for added traction.
This is homemade traction at its best, easy to do and takes very little skill.
It will do wonders, just try it.
Once again gravity is the force we all are subject to, and it exerts its force on our bodies.
If we fight it we loose and it becomes stress and tension.
Note: start with only a few min.
at a time.
Increase slowly up to five or ten minutes.
My philosophy is simple, do as many exercises we can that reverse the pull gravity has on our bodies.
Hanging up side down has been around since the seventies; we did that after tree planting all day.
You can only stay upside down for so long, without training even dangerous so just be careful with all exercises in general.
These are beautiful because they are the easiest to do, don’t get me wrong just cause they are easy, they are very powerful if done regularly, regularly, that is the key.
I start all the moves to loosen the spine on the ground.
I just think it may be less stressful on any back.
Most twisting is not usually recommended if you have a strained back or some old ligament injury.
You could even push out your own disc.
The key is to go easy with anybody when you start any exercise program.
The cat and dog, on your knees, with hands on ground in front.
I just normally let the back sag, it feels great we need more of the arch than the bending over that is only good for muscles we need to strengthen the ligaments and assist the disc in moving back into place and then you bow back up, I recommend to only going to neutral or straight back.
Please consult with your doctor before doing any exercises, these are standard medical and Physical therapy exercises and here are used as educational material.
Never bend over to touch your toes to stretch your back that is an advanced move and must be done correctly and during a pain episode, no flexion ever.
(Bowing out the back).
For more information on the spine and the rest of your body, as well as other health related articles see my web site: http://www.
molinamassage.
com/ [http:// <a target=]">www.
molinamassage.
com
Unless you strained some ligaments, which can happen, that's why you should consult with a Doctor who specializes in the back.
If you take care of it right away you will be able to heal it faster.
I have used this approach with hundreds of patients, as well as with my other colleagues.
It seems to be the best and conservative approach: 1st See a doctor that specializes in backs.
Stay in bed, don’t sit or stand or even walk much.
Most importantly, don’t do any exercises that flex the spine (bend forward).
The most important exercise to do is to arch the spine, as in the cobra (lying on the ground like you are going to do a push-up, keeping the pelvis flat on the ground and keeping the butt muscles relaxed (see exercise in my web site).
2nd The doctor who is experienced in treating backs will prescribe some anti- inflammatory drugs.
Depending on the severity of your condition he may even recommend some muscle relaxers or pain pills.
These medications during the early stages are great and can greatly increase the healing.
Even using a back brace during this early time is especially beneficial particularly if you are listing (leaning to one side).
3rd Use ice every day, all day if the pain is severe.
Doing the cobra while icing it will help pull the disc in.
If the full cobra is too much, do the second exercise or what we call the sphinx by just rising up on your elbows.
These exercises are the best.
An alternative is the cat-dog but make sure you don’t go into flexion.
4th Consult with a professional that can guide you to healing the condition.
Many times medical doctors don’t have the training, and you need to get therapy.
Sometimes traction helps with medical massage, and at the right time chiropractic can help, although I have seen it cause more pain during the acute stages.
Most important is the alignment of the hips and spine which chiropractic is good for; for the long-term recovery this is imperative.
The corrective exercises I give are mostly common to physical therapy.
I have also developed some of my own that will help take the pressure off the disc.
Think about it: If your pelvis is twisted or higher on one side than the other, there will still be pressure on the disc.
I believe that for a disc to be injured it has suffered this pressure for a long time, as discs are part of a very strong system.
Muscle tension is the way the body compensates for this misalignment and with that it compresses the spine thus breaking down the disc over a period of time.
So sometimes with the right conditions such as tension, stress, too much work, just by bending over one day or twisting while carrying something, it can force that weak disc out of place.
With either a bulge or an actually torn disc (herniated) you need to work intensely to get it back to health.
Let’s review what some of the tools are that professionals may use for disc problems, besides the drugs, which I think are very beneficial if you get them right away.
Later on they are less effective, in fact, everything is less effective if you wait a week or more to get help.
Go see your doctor right away if you hurt your back, don’t wait! Rest in bed is the best and most important therapy you can do along with the medication.
Obviously your body is talking to you very loudly, so pay attention, take some time to reflect on you life and listen to your body.
Don’t walk around and don’t sit.
Lie down and do the extension exercises with ice.
This is not only critical in the early stages, but it will also help all the way through.
Deep massage with an alignment technique is great.
The key is to take to pressure off the disc.
The problem with deep massage without attention to alignment or with too much twisting is that it can actually make it worse.
When you relax the muscles that are holding, it may put more pressure on the disc at least temporarily.
Rolfing has a good technique for lengthening the torso fascia.
Trigger point therapy can ease the pain and relieve the muscle tension.
Chiropractic during the acute phases has mixed reviews, depending on the chiropractor.
Gentle work seems to be more effective, but at other times it’s just too painful for some patients.
It is definitely helpful after the acute phase for alignment.
Sorry, chiropractors, but I have found this to be true.
Many of my best friends are chiropractors and I use them myself, but as I’ve said many times, it depends on the patient as well as the doctor.
During the later stages after the swelling has gone down may be the time for chiropractic as well as physical therapy or traction.
That seems to be the time when it is most effective.
Acupuncture will not correct structural problems, but it can help with the pain or even swelling.
However, I work directly with many of the best acupuncturists, and they refer their patients to me when there is a disc problem for body alignment.
5th.
Once you have injured a disc you have a weakened area for some time.
Remember, this tissue heals very slowly.
It takes many years sometimes to totally heal a ligament if it came from improper posture, which I think is the most common reason, from slouching all your life or from too much sitting and no exercise.
You need to start to change your posture and habits.
Yoga, Pilate’s, Alexander, Feldenkrais or Aston Patterning are many techniques that can help with that.
You need to strengthen the abdominal muscles because most often this is a big problem area especially if you are a male and have a large stomach.
By the way, most back problems are associated with males.
Since posture is one of the biggest problems with the back, doing the right exercises is critical for improvement.
Some of the exercises that are recommended are counterproductive, such as bending over to touch your toes! Never do that, unless you have been shown the right way to do it.
Anyway, you can get the same stretch if you sit on the ground and touch your toes without the pressure on your spine.
Most flexion exercises are not great for us.
These are when you bow your back backwards.
It’s best to keep the spine flat at the low back for certain stretches.
There are even some Pilate’s moves that I would be very careful with, especially if you have had a back problem.
Get some expert advice and always remember to consult with your doctor before starting an exercise program.
6th.
Here are some of the most common tests for disc problems: a.
Does it hurt your back to lower your head? b.
Does it hurt if you cough? c.
Can you bend over without pain? d.
Can you arch your back without pain? Usually if these four cause problems, it’s a disc.
e.
There may be a need for more leaning into the pain if it’s on one side or the other.
This will often reproduce the pain, or cause a shooting sensation down the foot.
f.
Lastly, we may twist and find out if this pain is made worse by doing that.
Note that a doctor should do these tests and care should be taken in doing them.
g.
There are other obvious signs such as listing (leaning to one side), which is a common disc reaction.
The body is trying to take pressure off the disc.
h.
Shooting pain or numbness down the leg or into the buttocks is another sign.
i.
Of course, if you can’t even walk or sit, you know what you have.
See your doctor.
You can do the first two tests yourself with no problem and if you have the last two symptoms, well, we are pretty sure you have injured a disc.
Take care of it immediately and get into bed as soon as possible.
I have seen people get better right away, but if not taken care of properly, it can last for years.
Believe me, as I have personally had the experience as well.
If you have a back problem, get my next book, The Better Back Book.
The cobra, or extension of the spine.
If this is difficult don’t push it do the alternate pose the sphinx (right).
Both of these are some of the best and easiest exercises to do when your back is hurting.
They are the best for assisting the disc to return back to it’s normal place and help reduce the tension.
Also quite effective for the back muscles as well.
A Nice Way To Lengthen The Low Back: Slowly lift patient laying prone (Face down) from their anterior iliac spine, not grabbing hard, and gently pull up the hip while pushing on your side of the spine with your palm.
Start at the low lumbar and work your way up each vertebra at a time, drop the hip every vertebra and lift again as you go.
If you find tight and resistive muscles, gently massage and friction them as well.
Use deep breathing and pull up as they exhale.
With all the troubles that modern people or we earthlings have had with the back, I find it imperative to just take the time and take care of your own.
No one can do it ALL for you.
It just takes knowing something about the body and just rolling up your pants and diving in.
The best strategy I know about everything I have tried is to start out gently, even if you are a big, strong bodybuilder.
Most bodies I have encountered in my career are out of alignment; the least were two of the top Olympic athletes of the late seventies.
The Abdominal Lift; just sitting and contracting your abs as you lift the torso.
This takes pressure off the discs.
This is also good for when you are doing any exercise as it allows you support and initiates all other movement from the core.
Another important exercise to start building your core muscles.
Laying onyour back bend both legs and beginers should start with one foot.
Lifting one leg at a time, keeping one on the ground is for beginner’s .
Liftingtwo legs is more advanced.
The object is to keep your abdominal muscles contracted and move the legs back and forth (top one at a time) bottom two at a time bicycling back and forth.
NOTE!!!! These should not be done when you are hurting; they are for after your back episode so that you can prevent the next one.
Next you have your basic crunchies laying on your back your legs bent at a niety degree.
Hips to thighs niety then knees on down shins parallel to the floor.
Come up with your elbows touching your knees, don't pull on your head hands at side of face.
Do straight ahead, rectus, and then opossit elbow to other knee and so forth.
The advance crunchies and the transverse crunch two both sides for the transverse abdominals.
Other tricks for your back if you have tension between the shoulders lay on a towel running vertical towel placement.
Lay ontowel also helps neck if you notice its too far forward on your body.
Lengthen Your Own Low Back, go slow, can be done during pain episode, careful.
(Check with doctor) Home made traction to assist the body in reversing the stress of gravity thougout the day, the is a great way to get your body relaxed as once the curves are in the right place the muscles can relax instead of holding us in our tension pose.
Starting with two towels one for your neck and one for your low back.
Just lay down! That will lengthen your back.
Use a towel under your low back and under your neck for added traction.
This is homemade traction at its best, easy to do and takes very little skill.
It will do wonders, just try it.
Once again gravity is the force we all are subject to, and it exerts its force on our bodies.
If we fight it we loose and it becomes stress and tension.
Note: start with only a few min.
at a time.
Increase slowly up to five or ten minutes.
My philosophy is simple, do as many exercises we can that reverse the pull gravity has on our bodies.
Hanging up side down has been around since the seventies; we did that after tree planting all day.
You can only stay upside down for so long, without training even dangerous so just be careful with all exercises in general.
These are beautiful because they are the easiest to do, don’t get me wrong just cause they are easy, they are very powerful if done regularly, regularly, that is the key.
I start all the moves to loosen the spine on the ground.
I just think it may be less stressful on any back.
Most twisting is not usually recommended if you have a strained back or some old ligament injury.
You could even push out your own disc.
The key is to go easy with anybody when you start any exercise program.
The cat and dog, on your knees, with hands on ground in front.
I just normally let the back sag, it feels great we need more of the arch than the bending over that is only good for muscles we need to strengthen the ligaments and assist the disc in moving back into place and then you bow back up, I recommend to only going to neutral or straight back.
Please consult with your doctor before doing any exercises, these are standard medical and Physical therapy exercises and here are used as educational material.
Never bend over to touch your toes to stretch your back that is an advanced move and must be done correctly and during a pain episode, no flexion ever.
(Bowing out the back).
For more information on the spine and the rest of your body, as well as other health related articles see my web site: http://www.
molinamassage.
com/ [http:// <a target=]">www.
molinamassage.
com
