Many people carry about tension in the lower back. This may not even feel like a noticeable pain on a regular basis as you go about your day. However it can be a hidden potential for a flare up of back pain, or simply an injury waiting to happen when you move the wrong way. Here is a mild, simple and tell-tale method for finding out if your lower back has pent up tension in it, and is also a way to stretch and eliminate that tension and potential pain. This is an exercise for both women’s and men’s back health.

This can be especially helpful if you sit a lot, if your back is tight when you wake up, and before or after a long drive in your car, and can keep you from reaching for that bottle of pain killers as often for back pain.

I have found that this mild exercise is best done first thing in the morning. Now that may not sound like the most appealing or first thing you do in the morning (OK, grab your cup of coffee first, and do this mild back exercise while you enjoy your morning coffee!).

1. Get a chair with a hard, flat seat, like a wooden dining or kitchen chair.

2. Place your feet flat on the floor, with your ankles and calves aligned perfectly straight up and down, not tucked underneath or extended in front of you.

3. Sit up straight, and extend your spine perfectly straight.

4. Slowly loosen your neck muscles, lower your forehead and allow your chin to drop toward your chest.

5. You may start to feel a tight pulling sensation in your lower back, below your waistband. That is OK, as we want to find out how tight your back is in that location.

6. Place your hands with fingers interlaced around the back of your skull, not your neck, and apply some added tension with the weight of your arms to go deeper into the position.

7. Keep your back straight, and keep applying more pressure with your hands and arms.

8. You can slowly let up on the pressure, and slowly bring your head back up to normal forward looking position.

9. Repeat this 4 to 5 times slowly, depending on the amount of pain or tension you feel.

10.You should notice a great feeling of relief in your lower back, even if there was tension when you first began.

For some people, this will really not indicate much tension, which is a good thing. For those people just remember this exercise and try it once a week or so. Vary the days you try it, depending on amount of physical workload, if you are ill or healthy, the amount of exercise or sitting you have been doing recently, and even changes in the weather.

For other people, you will immediately notice tension and mild pain, and for some a very acute pain. That is OK also, this is intended to be a therapeutic stretch to relieve that pain by stretching and training the muscles and tendons back there. Your body has more power to heal itself that you may give it credit for, but sometimes that takes effort, and pushing a bit beyond what is comfortable.

I simply caution you to go slowly. Try repeating it 5 to 6 times per session, going just a bit deeper into the stretch each time. Perform this exercise 3 to 5 times per week, in the morning. If you have something serious going on with your back such as recent surgery, it may be best to discuss or try this with your doctor or caregiver the first time you do it.

Chiropractic is conservative care without surgery or also drug less. Chiropractic care is a safe and effective treatment for acute low back pain, Chiropractic treatment is based on the concept that restricted movement in the spine. Chiropractors may also use massage and stretching to relax muscles that are shortened or in spasm. Chiropractors also often work with massage therapists in treating back pain. One best way using chiropractic practice equipment which is chiropractic tables which may use to reduce pain. Chiropractic tables are specialized section of medical equipment used in chiropractic cure. Mostly people are not in a condition to do exercise daily, so for them chiropractic tables are easy to use. Chiropractic the technique is very fast and has a very positive effect. Chiropractors sometimes also suggest the need for exercise for pains. As chiropractic tables uses to make a correction to spinal distortion.

Back Pain is one of the most common pains suffered by human beings. Mostly we feel pain in our body and much time especially in our back when we are sitting for a long time or in a bad posture. Back pain can be start from sleeping habits, too much of stress and bad sitting posture. Some pains is seen mostly such as lifting of heavy objects, swelling in your feet, improper sitting conditions, sitting for a longtime, bone malformation, neck strain, weakness of ligaments etc. Back ache also develops from accidents or falls and also can come in many forms and in different ways.

As you know body pain is difficult to treat and there is no proper treatment to cure this pain. Exercise daily is a good way to keep your body fit but wrong exercise may gives you bad result and multiple causes. Back pain can cause loss of physical activities and your working stamina while you are sitting in front of your computer or doing your other work like studies, playing etc. Spine injuries such as sprains and fractures can cause chronic back pain. Sprains are tears in the ligaments that support the spine and they can occur from twisting, bad movements or lifting improperly due to bones are fractured and become weak. Causes of back ache are physical and it is very important to know that emotional stress can play a role in how severe pain is and how long it lasts. Stress can also affect the body in many ways, including causing back muscles to become tense and painful.

Some of the steps that help in preventing the back pain while lifting or bending are given below.

? Do not try to lift heavy objects alone

? Get a proper support by spreading your legs to a comfortable position

? Be as close to the object being lifted as possible

? One should always bend at the knees and not at the waist while bending

? Do not bend forward as one lifts the object and do not twist the waist while lifting or carrying the object

? Sit properly while sitting in front of computer or while studying

? When sitting for long time keep the knees at the level of the hips or slightly higher, use a small pillow behind the lower back

Sciatica is a form of acute pain felt in because of the compression of the sciatic nerve or the associated nerves. It is experienced by all kinds of people and by people of all ages. Sciatica pains are of different types, depending on the origin of the the disease- i use the term for want of a better word. The symptoms are caused by a host of factors, prominently among them being the herniated discs,piriformis muscle compression, trigger points, narrowing of spinal canal, pregnancy and a host of other factors including non uniform habits during working hours including prolonged hours of putting pressure on specific parts of the human body. The origin of the syndrome affects the diagnosis procedures and the time taken to be cured completely.

The most serious case of Sciatica is the one due to the herniation of the disc or lumbar bulging. In this case, the disorder arises due to the breakage of the wall surrounding the disc in our lower part of the body resulting in the breach of the protective walls by the nucleus held inside. As a result, the bulging disc compresses against adjacent nerves which in turn compresses the sciatic nerves or their associated nerves and cause sciatica. In this case, the cure cannot be completely natural, though opinions differ. The characteristics are extreme numbness and tingling leading to muscle weakness. In this case, the treatment has to be one prescribed by a doctor and he will examine the cause, confirm it and take appropriate measures to remove the pain.

Another important cause is the piriformis muscle compression. Here, the sciatic nerve which lies inside, or rather, beneath the piriformis nerve is the affected party. This happens because of the pressure put on it by the piriformis nerve that lies or surrounds it. When this muscle cramps due to overuse or when undue pressure is built upon it, the sciatic nerve beneath it takes the pressure. As a result, sciatica pains are felt by the body. The treatments for this type of cause is, as is obvious, the relaxation of the human body, especially during times of pain. One needs to perform regular special sciatic exercises that help in relieving the pressure on the piriformis nerve. If this treatment or exercise are regularly followed, then it is possible to resolve the pain in some time. It is not so serious and in many cases, the pain goes off naturally with the body developing a corrective mechanism by itself.

Till past few years, low back pain was considered to be a problem affecting only the elderly people. However, in recent years low back pain in children has become a growing concern among doctors.

Children keep growing till late adolescence and so is their skeletal structure. One of the major reasons for growing cases of low back pain in children is the backpack they carry on their way to school. These backpacks are reasonably heavy and can even lead to life-long low back pain. Poor postures, misalignment of vertebrae, accidents, stress and sport injuries are some of the factors due to which pain cases in children is skyrocketing. Research says low back pain in children in between age 11-18 can result in sever psychological and emotional imbalance. Therefore, low back pain among children is a serious concern that needs attention of parents and medical professionals as well.

Chiropractic treatment is a highly effective way for treating pain without any surgery or medication. Chiropractors believe on the theory that “Proper alignment of body spinal structure will enable the body to heal itself without any need for surgery or medication.” Misalignment of spinal vertebrae in an adult or in a child is known as vertebral subluxation. It can lead to various kinds of body aches when left untreated. But, professional chiropractic doctors can alleviate it with great success. Chiropractic provides you relief from pain by restoring mobility to joints which are restricted by tissue injury that can be caused by any traumatic event, stress or sitting without proper back support.

Dr. Steven Read, clinic director of Ortega Chiropractic Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida said “I treat many kids in my practice and a common theme is poor posture due to bad habits and over loaded back packs.”

“Chiropractic offers a gentle and effective treatment for Low back pain Early diagnosis is the key to early cure and the wise thing to do is to seek early and preventive chiropractic care for your children. You can bring your children to of Ortega Chiropractic Clinic in Jacksonville for free check-up “Dr Steven added.

Chiropractic provides effective, natural and drug-free relief from to pain regardless of the cause for pain. So, if your child complains of back pain or if you notice any other symptoms like difference in his way of walking, sitting or if he has suffered any sports injury, do not ignore these symptoms. Start early treatment by contacting nearest chiropractic care doctor today and gift your child a problem free health.

The long awaited report on how low back pain should best be treated in the UK was published recently by National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE for those who do not know is an independent group set up by the government to evaluate the available research on a particular condition. Its job is to publish clear guidelines for the best way to treat a particular condition in the UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals or at Primary Care Trust (PCT) level i.e. Direct referral via you General Practitioner (GP/MD).

This new guide covers non specific back pain. This represents all the mechanical causes of lower back pain a Chiropractor typically sees. It includes pain coming from joints, discs, muscles, tendons and ligaments and according to Richard Nelson, a Chiropractor in Derby ”forms over 99% of the causes of lower back pain that a typical Chiropractor will see in every day practice”.

Specific back pain is where there is a non mechanical cause for your pain such as cancer, infection or fractures. Your chiropractor has under gone extensive medical training to able to distinguish between the two classifications so can decide which patients are suitable for Chiropractic treatment and those that are not. In a typical Chiropractic practice Specific back pain usually forms less than 1% of all cases.

NICE recommendations are:-

Any persistent or recurrent low back pain lasting more than 6 weeks and less than 12 months one of following three options should be offered taking in to account the patients (’your’) preference.

1. A course of manual therapy - up to 9 sessions over 12 weeks (manual therapy encompasses manipulation, mobilisation and massage).
2. Acupuncture - up to 10 sessions over 12 weeks.
3. Group physical exercise programme 8 sessions over 12 weeks.

NICE stated that manipulation can be performed by Chiropractors or Osteopaths. Chiropractors and Osteopaths are experts in manipulative techniques and along with mobilisation and massage they have been the core treatment methods of the two professions in the UK for over 100 years. It’s ironic now that research now ‘proves’ that the hands on approach that the professions have adopted for many years really does ‘work’. So NICE makes it clear that the Chiropractic and Osteopathic professions should be used for the provision of low back pain treatment in the general population under the NHS.

Doctors and Physiotherapists who have undergone specialist post graduate training in manipulation are also included as suitable providers of manipulation treatment. However, generally manipulation is not taught to Doctors or Physiotherapists as part of their standard training in the UK and so the majority of Doctors and Physiotherapists do not perform it.

NICE further recommends that if one chosen treatment does not result in satisfactory improvement another one of the 3 options should be offered to you.

What can you do? Next time you visit your GP you can ask;

As per NICE guidelines for low back pain will you (your GP) refer you for Chiropractic treatment for your low back pain in the NHS? If not, ask them why not? As this is what the NICE guidelines recommend for its treatment.

Richard Nelson comments:

Rome wasn’t built in a day! Don’t expect to be referred straight away. The more of you who ask and the more often you ask the sooner Chiropractic will be available to you and others on the NHS!

Sciatica is general term given to the pain experienced by the lower part of the body staring from the lower spine working downwards. This may be due to a number of causes, each of which determines the specific treatment to be meted out to the individual suffering from it. Some pf the diagnosed causes include trigger points-specific points in the human body that take in over pressure applied on to the parts of the body like the spinal curve, long hours of pressure at work combined with acutely hard postures affecting the lower back and thighs, pressure in the piriformis muscle and more dreadfully, the bulging of the herniated discs. Some of the important forms of natural cures for sciatica include stretching exercises that relieve the pain in the human body, massaging (specialized treatments in specialized medical institutions for the purposes and spas), herbal cures, homeopathy, food habits, hydrology and reflexology.

Hydrology is a specific treatment criteria where in the sciatic patients are asked to take a hot bath, preferably in a bath tub for about twenty minutes or in a hot shower, for people who feel excess pain in case of tubs. These showers or baths must start with warm water and a series of such baths are prescribed. Each of these specifies the approximate temperature range for the shower/ bath.

Yoga exercises are also prescribed, where in, a variety of stretching exercises like the knee-chest stretching exercise, criss-cross stretching exercise and those others that point to special stretching exercise depending on the part of the body feeling pain boast of successful implementation in this area.

Food habits are also observed to be a successful treatment criteria for sciatica pain. Potassium, has been, found to be a perfect cure for sciatica pain, though not always the reasons are known. Natural fruits like bananas, apples and oranges are also prescribed by doctors. In many places across the world, sciatic patients with pain due to abnormal pressure exerted in their trigger points and due to excess pressure because of staying in a particular posture for a long time have been finding peace due to these fruits. For people with chronic sciatica, because of hernial disc and piriformic nerve pressure, it is strictly advised that they consult a doctor immediately. Not always, these natural cures work and in these cases, strict medical advice is recommended. Reflexology is also another method advised by many experienced people.

Chiropractic videos for patient education were born on August 6, 1981 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was there as the Peter Graves video from Renaissance International had its worldwide debut. Since then, patient education videos have earned an important place in the education of new patients.

Chiropractic Video Benefits

The idea of using this new fangled thing called a VCR to educate patients was a new idea. No one had ever done it before. But upon closer inspection, chiropractic patient education videos made sense:

Avoid repetitious explanations. Most chiropractic report of findings consists of an orientation and anatomical background that applies to just about every patient.

Saves time. Obviously, if you’re not giving a radiographic seminar with every patient because they already saw it on video, it can free up five- to ten-minutes that you can do something more productive.

Consistent and complete. Some chiropractors will abridge their patient explanations if the reception room is backing up. Video is consistent. Same message every time.

High impact. With graphics, sound effects, music and other video effects, the chiropractic message can have a much greater impact than a verbal description.

Patient accepted. If you follow the guidelines below, you’ll discover that patients expect to watch a video when they are having a health care procedure performed, whether vision correction, dental implants or virtually any type of elective surgery.

Like any tool, the use of chiropractic videos can be abused. A chiropractor can quickly use up his or her limited social authority by imposing patient education videos that are inappropriate. In fact, choose the wrong chiropractic video and it can create more headaches than it solves!

Chiropractic Video Guidelines

Here are the most important considerations when contemplating the purchase of chiropractic videos for educating your patients:

Short. How short is short? Short. With the reduced attention spans of today’s new patient, you want to be sure that each video is no more than 7-8 minutes. Naturally, if you can secure videos that are spellbinding and keep patients on the edge of their seat (unlikely), you can go longer.

Relevant. Remember, patients want to consult a chiropractor, not become one! The key is to walk the line between what a patient wants to know, and what a patient needs to know. It’s a fine line. Who knows for sure what’s relevant to a patient? Patients. The key thing to remember is that the videos aren’t for you, they’re for patients. Consider having some of your better patients’ critique the available choices before you purchase.

Reassuring. Besides laying a foundation for your own chiropractic explanations, the videos you use should be perceived by patients as reassuring and hopeful. Including positive comments from actual patients can be instrumental in this. Also, avoid showing actual chiropractic adjustments. It often looks more violent to an observer than a participant and could actually undermine patient compliance.

Chiropractic Video Implementation

The best chiropractic patient education videos are the ones you create yourself. This can be difficult and time consuming. The next best is to purchase videos from one of the top three or four companies that provide patient education supplies. Regardless of which videos you choose, here are some implementation suggestions:

Staff introduction. Before showing video, your paraprofessional staff should introduce the video, explaining why it is being shown and how it benefits the patient. It might sound like this, “Before you see Dr. Smith, she would like you to watch this short, five-minute video that explains what you can expect on your visit today.”

Be consistent. Staff changes or an uncooperative new patient can cause an interruption in patients seeing the videos. This can interfere with patients having a complete orientation and is often the cause of poor follow through and even referrals.

Chiropractor follow up. It’s essential that the chiropractor acknowledge that the patient has seen the video and solicit their feedback. This communicates the importance you place on the videos and paves the way for patient acceptance of future videos. “What was the greatest surprise or new piece of information that you picked up from our video?”

Chiropractic videos will never replace a personal, knee-to-knee explanation of chiropractic principles. However, if you want to help a lot of people, it’s essential that you use technology where appropriate to save time, increase the impact of your communications and set the stage for long-term patient relationships.

Lower back pain is one of the most significant health problems affecting Americans today. Look at some quotes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

* Seventy to 85 percent of all people have back pain at some time in their life.

* Back pain is the most frequent cause of activity limitation in people younger than 45 years old.

“Nearly everyone has low back pain sometime. Men and women are equally affected. It occurs most often between ages 30 and 50, due in part to the aging process but also as a result of sedentary life styles with too little (sometimes punctuated by too much) exercise….”

These are pretty frightening statistics. Apparently, there are few people who haven’t felt the shot of electricity running from their foot right up into their lower back. Agony. Better than a TASER any day. And you would wonder what the medical profession is up to. These numbers represent a lot of suffering for you and me. And it means a lot of money lost to us because of time off work, inconvenience and treatments. I ask myself regularly, “why isn’t the government really behind getting an effective remedy for this epidemic?” For, if practically the whole population gets it, it is an epidemic.

This is a real puzzle for me. Especially since I managed to figure out how to get rid of mine myself. You probably don’t want a long winded story about my particular experience with back pain. My friendship with the back pain dragon would stretch over fifteen years with repeated bouts of strong pain keeping me off work and making life a misery. I was in a prison of suffering and misery. And the road to the cure started with a visit to a member of the medical profession - my dentist! But I’m getting ahead of myself here…

The pain of sciatica and lower back pain is depressing. If you are like me, you feel a great sense of fear that it will never be better again. Well you can breath a sigh of relief - it does get better. It can even disappear completely and you can be back to a normal pain free state in a short time. And what’s more you can stay in this healthy state. Instead of facing of facing a future where you are not in control and your pain is in control of you, you can find yourself back in control again. And this is the key - control.

Before I dive in, let me say I learned these techniques from my own experience with back pain. I’m aiming this at people who don’t have cancer or some other serious illness. For most of us that isn’t the reason we have chronic pain in the lower back. And now I’ll tell you about my trip to the dentist. He’s not really a butcher, but he doesn’t like giving his patients painkilling injections “unnecessarily”. His explanations about the ill effects of novocaine and the fact my wife has known him so long make me put up with it.

So, there I am sitting back in the hot seat, waiting for the drilling to commence. And an article which I’d read about research carried out at the University of Turin, Italy a couple of years ago came to mind. It was all about pain, morphine and the placebo effect. The problem of lower back pain has to be approached in two ways or on two levels. This is because there are two causes for chronic pain. They are the amount of stimulation which the nerves experience and for how long. And the responses the brain learns to the pain. The researchers discovered that the brain can manufacture its own pain killers.

So back in the dentist’s chair, I simply told my lower brain to switch off the pain signals. Simply repeating the message over and over led to my hardly feeling a thing, while my friend drilled holes in four of my front teeth! That’s how I deal with back pain. When I feel it coming on, I start instructing my brain to switch off the nerves and reject the message. Try it yourself and see!

c James Barrington 2009

http://www.thestrongbackbook.com/

Like many people, I have a bad back. I think it comes with the territory these days. We all sit hunched over desks and computers and then we come home and slump down on the couch. We don’t stretch; we don’t exercise and so we have bad backs. My sciatica used to be so bad that I’d miss a week of work a few times a year. Shooting pains down to my ankle, hurt to sit, or stand or lay down.

Two things I did have helped me and I want to share them with you. The first is so obvious I shouldn’t have to say it: I lost some weight. I shed about 25 pounds and I feel worlds better. But what really helped my sciatica is change number 2 — I got a memory foam bed.

I did not think it would be such a dramatic difference but it was. It took about a week of sleeping on the new mattress before I started waking up feeling energized and ready to meet the world. I think it is the best $1,200 I ever spent. You probably just gasped at the dollar amount I named. Yes, it was expensive, but worth it.

I like a queen mattress. I like the size; it is big but not huge. So you have to spend a bit more if you are buying a larger mattress. Of course a full or twin is loads cheaper, just like with sheets. If you need to look at a cheaper alternative, a memory foam mattress pad is the way to go. You get the benefits of sleeping on a foam pad without the hefty price tag. A queen sized pad of memory foam will set you back at least a hundred dollars and for good quality, you might want to bump that up to $200.

How does it work and why is it so great for back pain? Memory foam is also called visco elastic foam and what that means is that the foam reacts to heat and weight. It becomes supple when heat is applied. And when weight is applied, the foam cells settle down and compress, instead of trying to spring back. The reason it is a god-send to bad back sufferers is the visco part. The foam reacts to your body temperature as you sleep and where you body is in contact with the mattress, the mattress conforms to your body. This relives pressure points. So you sleep in full support. Once NASA released memory foam into the commercial market, one of the first products was a mattress designed to eliminate bedsores.

So if you are waking up every morning in pain, you probably need a new mattress. Buying a memory foam mattress or topper should give you a great night’s sleep, but don’t take my word for it.

Unfortunately, most back pain sufferers don’t know that lower back stretches is beneficial for back pain and is something that everyone should educate themselves on at some point in their lives because odds are, everyone will experience back pain at some point in their lives. Sometimes no matter how well we know the right and wrong ways to lifting objects, the unexpected happens. Car accidents and the like are often out of our control, after all.

If your having lower back pain, then muscle relaxers aren’t going to do you any good. The biggest problem when taking any medication is it really never helps to treat the main cause of the situation. They just mask it enough to let us get through each day. Obviously, without fixing the problem itself, a person will continue to have to live with back pain unless they visit a chiropractor who is experienced with back stretching exercises in treating this problem.

There are many ways of assisting with lower back pain with one of them being back strengthening exercises including lower back stretches. These methods can be far more effective than medication.

First, It’s a natural way to treat the problem. Your not taking any medications or relying on anyone to assist you with your problem. It is only you and your body working together in treating the pain. Because it is all natural, you do not have to be concerned about side affects when taking medication.

Another clear benefit of doing a stretching exercise for lower back pain is it can help prevent future injuries. How many different medications can boast that claim? When working on giving your back muscles more strength your also reducing the chances of injuring them with the many stresses we give our backs on a daily basis. You are also keeping your muscles limber and flexible which allows them to extend and flex whenever and however you need them to.

Lower back stretches do not only help you strengthen your back, it also helps the rest of your body as well. When you keep up with your daily exercises you will be helping your entire cardiovascular system. You become a healthier and better fit person. Staying fit and in shape helps keep your immune system strong and helps keep you back muscles from causing pain.

It is in your best interest to staying active and healthy. Lower back stretches not only helps your back, but keeps you healthy as well.