No More Back Pain
Written By Mike Saros
Issue 9
Please print this out and read it very closely. It will help you get rid of back pain.
Table Of Contents:
1. Opening Comments: More Constructive Ways To Combat, Eliminate And Manage Each Cause Of Your Back Pain.
2. Articles of Interest
a)HOW EXERCISE HELPS BACK PAIN: A GROWING NUMBER OF RESEARCHERS SAY THAT EXERCISING-DESPITE AN ACHING BACK-IS NOT ONLY OK,BUT MAY BE THE KEY TO A HEALTHIER ONE
b)BUILDING UP THE WHOLE BODY-STRENGTH TRAINING BUILDS MUSCLE BUT IT CAN STIMULATE BONE GROWTH AS WELL
3. TEN Back Relief Tips To Help You Get Rid Of Back Pain.
4. Affiliate Announcement
5. Next Newsletter
Opening Comments:
In this issue of my newsletter I would like to look at question 13 in order to determine more potential causes of back pain.
Questions To Determine Your Cause Of Back Pain/Circle All "Yes" Answers
1. Do I suffer from a congenital condition or was I born with a spinal
condition?
2. Do I not pay attention to my posture either sitting or standing?
3. Do I not practice good posture either sitting or standing?
4. Have I suffered from a recent car accident or fall and subsequently
experienced back pain not long after?
5. Do I do a lot of heavy lifting or bending over in my job or at home?
6. Do I perform an unnatural repetitive motion at work or at home?
7. Do I not practice safe lifting techniques?
8. Am I 20 pounds or more overweight?
9. Do I not eat enough fruits and vegetables?
10.Do I not drink enough water? 8-12 glasses per day?
11.Do I eat too many sweets and foods containing sugar?
12.Have I been diagnosed with osteoporosis or arthritis?
13.Do I lead a sedentary lifestyle? Am I a couch potato?
14.Am I under a lot of stress? Do I suffer with anxiety?
15.Do I have trouble sleeping?
**Question 13**
Do I Lead A sedentary Lifestyle? Am I A Couch Potato? Yes!
Mike's Comments:
The worst thing you can do for your spine and overall health, besides eating poorly, is to lead an inactive lifestyle.
For one thing, exercise or increased physical activity acts like the spark plugs in your car. It fires up your heart, dilates blood vessels, increases blood flow and delivers fresh nutrients and oxygen to areas of pain and inflammation that sorely need it for proper healing. The more active you become the more efficient your entire cardiovascular system becomes. A strong cardiovascular system will lead to reduced back pain and overall optimum health.
Regular exercise leads to improved muscle flexibility. In contrast, a sedentary lifestyle leads to tight and constricted muscles. When muscles become more and more constricted they tug and pull on ligaments and muscles of the spine. The ligaments and muscles of the spine begin to pull the spine out of alignment. This can cause scoliosis (abnormal spine curve and/or twist), spondylolisthesis (one vertebral body slipping off another), pinched nerve, etc. Of course all of this adds up to a lot of back pain.
Regular exercise or most physical activity increases muscle strength and bone density. Since muscle mass and bone density tend to decrease with age, it is paramount that you find a way to be as physically active as possible. Stronger muscles offer much more support for your spinal column putting less stress on vertebrae. Increased bone density prevents the wear and tear of vertebrae in the spine that can lead to osteoporosis, kyphosis (humpback) and future back pain.
A little footnote to women about muscle mass and bone density. Do not be afraid that strength training will make you look bulky. For women especially, because of their lack of testosterone, strength training will produce more of a toning effect to muscles. In fact, in terms of losing weight, several studies have shown strength training coincided with a cardio routine to be more effective than cardio alone. And don't be worried about increasing bone mass. Strength training will increase your bone density but bone mass may only increase slightly if at all.
Now if you are a "couch Potato" it is never too late or you are never too old to change and incorporate physical activity into your lifestyle. Strength training and exercise regimens in general even in nursing homes have shown a vast improvement in the elderly in terms of muscle strength, endurance and mobility.
And you don't have to join a gym or purchase exercise equipment to benefit from exercise. Just being active around the house keeps muscles and bones from wasting away and increases stamina. Doing household chores such as vacuuming, mowing the lawn, gardening, cooking, etc. all count as forms of exercise. A walk around the block or at the park is great exercise. Here are some other tips for getting exercise throughout the day.
-Take the stairs instead of an elevator
-In a parking lot, never park too close to an entrance. Allow yourself some distance to walk
-Get a quick workout before eating lunch.
(I used to work for a company that had a gym on the premises. I would
work out for about 15-20 minutes and then eat lunch. Perhaps your company
has this also.)
-Create a mini-workout routine that you can do while on a work break
or at home when you have some free time.
(I like to do a little routine involving push ups, making big circles
with my arms extended to the side and squats)
I know it is especially difficult to concentrate on exercise during the
busy holiday season. Food especially seems to reign supreme during this
time of year. But try to incorporate these things into your lifestyle.
A permanent solution and the best way to facilitate healing is through
the use of regular exercise and sound nutrition.
The more you exercise and the stronger your heart becomes, the more your body will be able to fight pain and inflammation in your spine, joints, muscles and everywhere else in your body.
Articles Of Interest
HOW EXERCISE HELPS BACK PAIN: A GROWING NUMBER OF RESEARCHERS
SAY THAT EXERCISING-DESPITE AN ACHING BACK-IS NOT ONLY OK,BUT MAY BE THE
KEY TO A HEALTHIER ONE
Health Shape, Nov, 2003
By Catherine Clifford
Ask anyone with a chronically bad back what she has tried in the way of
treatment and she's likely to respond, "What haven't I tried?"
Massage, medication, manipulation or stretching may provide relief, but
for most sufferers, the reprieve--if any--is relatively fleeting.
Surprisingly, a number of recent studies suggest that what most back-pain sufferers should try is a back-muscle workout that will probably leave them in increased pain--at first, that is, but feeling much better in the long term. "It's not hard to help someone with her back pain one time, but the challenge is to keep her from having to come back," says Vijay Vad, M.D., a sports-medicine specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery, an affiliate of Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. "That's where exercise is crucial. The first couple of weeks you're going to be more sore, but the long-term solution for back pain lies, basically, in exercise."
For instance, a study led by Vad that's still under way has found that although patients with disc problems who followed a carefully designed exercise program were in more pain for the first three weeks, after that they started feeling better than a control group who used daily medication and a nightly back brace. More significantly, one year later, 70 percent of the exercise group reported that their pain was reduced by more than half, as opposed to only 33 percent of controls.
Of course, exercise has been recommended for back problems before. The catch: Usually patients were cautioned to stop if it hurt. "But studies have shown that when someone has an incidence of back pain, back muscles atrophy very quickly, and surprisingly, even if the pain goes away on its own, which it usually does, the muscles stay weakened," says Vert Mooney, M.D., a clinical professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of California, San Diego, and president of Measurement Driven Rehabilitation Systems Inc. "So almost anything you can do to make those muscles work is a good thing. If exercising causes sharp pain, exactly the kind of pain you're trying to treat, then you're doing something wrong. But you should feel discomfort or achiness, the way you do whenever you start moving something that hasn't been moved in a long time."
More pain, more gain?
How does exercise help alleviate back pain? "No one really knows," says James Rainville, M.D., chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation at New England Baptist Hospital and an assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "But our data on approximately 2,000 patients per year who undergo rehabilitation suggest that most who exercise, even if it is painful, experience a substantial improvement in the amount and intensity of exercise they can perform. And that is associated with a decrease in back pain.
"Their backs become more tolerant to the stresses of exercise, and are more resistant to producing pain messages after movement and strenuous activities," he adds. "But we don't know where this improved tolerance or desensitization occurs--whether at the back tissues, the spinal cord, brain stem or cerebral cortex."
Part of the explanation is psychological: Pain perception is made much worse by worry, fear or the expectation of pain, Rainville notes. "People are afraid that if they move, stretch or exercise their backs, they'll harm them further," he says. "But there's no indication in the medical literature or our vast experience that exercise is unsafe or unreasonably risky for people with back pain."
High-tech help
Some of the underpinnings of the exercise-till-it-hurts approach come from the relatively recent arrival of more sophisticated hardware. Some of the exercise machines used by back centers (and some gyms) are able to home in precisely on strengthening crucial muscles like the lumbar extensors, transversalis or paraspinals (back muscles that, with other exercises, tend to let stronger muscles nearby do all the work, Mooney explains). Based on patients' individual progress, doctors and trainers then can make informed recommendations on how hard a particular patient should push herself to maximize payoffs while minimizing pain.
Mooney estimates that perhaps only 10 percent of back doctors in the United States are on board with this exercise-centered approach (chiropractors and physical therapists are, similarly, found on both sides of the fence). Still, a number of facilities around the country operate practically as medical gyms, where back sufferers can learn how to exercise the right way. At the Spine & Sport Centers owned by Mooney in California and Tennessee, for example, many patients are set up with a six- to eight-week, twice-a-week program with on-site equipment. Trainers make sure that workouts are done correctly and track progress.
One of the leaders of the exercise-centered movement is The Spine Center at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, headed by Rainville. It specializes in evaluating people with complicated spinal disorders--two-thirds or more of its 400 new patients a month are referrals from other doctors, typically cases in which, after years of various treatments, the patient is still in pain and hoping to avoid spinal surgery--or another spinal surgery. (The remainder are mostly referrals from other patients.) For 5 percent of patients, the center does recommend surgery, but for more than half of extreme cases it instead prescribes a very aggressive program of personally tailored exercise, continually tracking those patients for back strength, pain, flexibility and the ability to perform everyday tasks.
To view this article on the web just click the following: (Be advised
some articles may no longer be posted)
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0846/is_3_23/ai_108836446
Mike's Comments:
I can't tell you how happy it made me to find this article. I wholeheartedly agree that exercise initially will or might cause you some back pain or soreness at first. After a while, perhaps 2 months, the pain or the aching will subside. I can remember first starting out doing squats at the gym. It was not easy but I worked my way through some tough and painful times. Keep in mind, I did not suffer with sharp pain. Sharp pain or numbness is not what you are seeking. You are seeking a dull, tired muscle ache. This will force the muscles in your back to adapt to the stress it is put under. Once you break through this wall of pain, the rewards are incredible. Your back will thank you for it as long as you maintain. This means you must exercise regularly and eat the right kinds of foods mainly lots of fruits and veggies and plenty of water.
In my Secrets To A Pain-Free Back "Power-Pack" I show you personally all the exercises I do to strengthen my muscles and end back pain. Click here to learn more.
BUILDING UP THE WHOLE BODY
STRENGTH TRAINING BUILDS MUSCLE BUT IT CAN STIMULATE BONE GROWTH AS WELL
BY ALISON FREEHLING
November 29, 2006
Quick: What comes to mind with the phrase "weight lifting" or
"strength training"? For many people, it's sweaty men with bulging
muscles trying to outdo each other on the bench press.
But a different type of workout has emerged today, fueled by a growing number of studies on the health benefits of strength training. Outside weight rooms, group classes have added weights to pump up aerobic routines for women and men of all ages and muscle sizes.
The programs are ideal for people who are pressed for time or intimidated by weight rooms, said Mike Revere, site manager for the Sentara Hampton Health and Fitness Center. Women, in particular, often don't get the strength training needed to build bone mass and prevent osteoporosis, Revere said.
"We want to make it efficient for people to fit in all of the exercises we recommend, even busy working people or parents with little kids," he said. "These classes tend to have lighter weights and high repetition, which works toward endurance and toning."
The Sentara Center has one group class built entirely around strength training and a more traditional step class that incorporates dumbbell weights. Similar classes are multiplying locally, and they tend to fill quickly.
On a recent weeknight, 22 people gathered at the Newport News YMCA for a one-hour session of PowerCut, a
popular program that mixes dance music, step work and lifts with plate-loaded bars and handheld weights.
In the front row, Jill Allen of Newport News grimaced as she slowly rotated a 20-pound bar up and down in front of her chest. As instructor Angie Moore-Lobach had warned the class, "Tonight is a night of little movement but lots of pain. You're going to feel it."
Keeping their muscles tense as they worked legs, arms, shoulders, abdomens and lower backs, Allen and her classmates lifted, lunged and dropped down for push-ups in rhythm to the music. At times, their muscles visibly shook with the effort.
"It's challenging, but it makes you feel so relaxed and powerful," said Allen, 39. "It's motivational to be in a roomful of people - you can't quit like you might if you're lifting weights alone."
Drawing more people into strength training is important for overall conditioning and bone health, Moore-Lobach said. Doctors now know the body is constantly rebuilding its skeleton, breaking down old bone tissue and creating more. Weight-bearing exercises and resistance training stimulate the cells that build bone.
"You really can prevent bones from breaking down the road," Moore-Lobach said. "The more we know about how the body works, the more we know we need to add classes with a lot of variety." In fact, she no longer teaches classes without some element of weight lifting. PowerCut aims to hit every muscle group in the body, which people are unlikely to do on their own.
"I don't like those old 'jump-around-and-dance' programs," she said. "A class should tone, build up endurance and get the heart rate up at the same time."
Within group exercise classes, people can adjust for fitness level by deciding the amount of weight to lift. PowerCut, for example, has bars ranging from 12 to 27 pounds and a variety of dumbbells.
The programs don't duplicate weight room workouts for people who want to lift more, said Lisa McNeil, group exercise coordinator at the Riverside Wellness & Fitness Center in Newport News. Riverside has a class called Total Body Conditioning that combines intervals of four to five minutes of cardiovascular training - running, stair steps, jump rope and speed drills - with one to two minutes of strength training such as pushups and biceps curls.
"A lot of people focus on cardio and not enough on weight training," McNeil said. "The weight training segments are short so that they aren't really designed to replace a weight training program, but it's better than nothing at all. It's a great cross-training tool."
And attention dieters: Many people don't realize that strength exercises increase lean body mass and metabolism, which helps burn more calories all day, Revere said. Indeed, Peder Wennberg of Smithfield has dropped 32 pounds over the past two years by combining aerobic workouts and weight training.
Wennberg, 52, got more serious about fitness after suffering blood clots in his lung and leg. "I feel like I've turned my health around," he said.
Tom Kurz of Newport News, meanwhile, is determined to protect his good health. A former high school wrestler and military man, the lean 51-year-old came to PowerCut looking for an intense and motivating workout.
"It gets your adrenaline going," Kurz said. "This is for my general health and to avoid chronic conditions as I become an old man. That's my goal: to stay away from all prescription medicines."
Jill Allen puts it more simply.
"This workout," she said, "will keep you young."
To view this article on the web click the following link: (Be advised
some articles may no longer be posted)
Mike's Comments:
It is good to see that there are group classes now that are more inclined to incorporate weight training with aerobics. I urge you to find one for yourself or perhaps request it from your gym or gym instructor. I hope this article better explains how important a role strength training plays in terms of the benefits you receive from exercise. Especially as you get older, as your muscle mass and bone density decrease, it is so important. And believe it or not, strength training can be a lot of fun unless you drop a weight on your toe. It is fun to challenge yourself mentally and physically.
Mike's Back Pain Tips
Here are 13 more back pain tips for a pain-free back.
1. Be sure to breathe when lifting something really heavy.
2. Before lifting something heavy, mentally envision yourself lifting
it. Imagine lifting and placing the object in its desired location.
3. When lifting, keep the object as close to your body as possible.
4. When lifting, never twist your hips. Your upper and lower body should
move as one.
5. Always lift in a slow and deliberate manner.
6. If it's too heavy, stop!!! Don't kill yourself.
7. Use a dolly or some other creative means to move real heavy objects.
8. Never carry anything real heavy on your shoulder that might put your
spine out of alignment.
9. Wear gloves when lifting heavy objects to maintain a full and firm
grip.
10. Don't lift anything too heavy by yourself.
11. If something looks too heavy, ask a friend to help you lift it.
12. When lifting, always keep a little flex in your knees. Never lock
the knees and try to maintain good posture.
13. When lifting, keep your weight on the heels or balls of your feet.
Never your toes.
Affiliate Announcement
It is finally available right now. If you or someone you know owns a website and would like to become an affiliate of Exclusive Health Products or Back Relief Elite, please copy and paste www.ExclusiveHealthAffiliates.com in your web browser.
Let Jeff Brown, the CEO of Exclusive Health Products show you personally how to register as an affiliate once you open the website.
Next Newsletter
Next time we will look at how stress/anxiety and/or lack of sleep can be the causes of back pain. Why is this and What can be done about it?
By the way, if you did not hear my last back pain teleseminar you can
hear it in its entirety at
www.SecretsToAPainFreeBack.com/backpainteleseminar.htm
Quick Note
If you send me an email, please leave your full name or initials along
with place of residence. I would like to include this in the reader feedback/questions
section of the newsletter. Also if you have any other suggestions to make
my newsletter better, please let me know at mike@exclusivehealthproducts.com.
For customer inquiries please email customerservice@exclusivehealthproducts.com
Sincerely,
Mike Saros
No More Back Pain
P.S.
Check out www.BackReliefElite.com To End Your Back Pain Naturally!
Check out www.GreatNightSleep.com For A Great Night Sleep Naturally!
Check out www.SecretsToAPainFreeBack.com to end your back pain now. Let me show you how!