Have you ever wished there was a cure for back pain?
Dear colleague,
One day three people from the same family decided to do something about their ‘bad backs’. Each lives in a different part of the county and took whatever advice they could find locally.
As it happened, each person chose a different kind of remedial exercise. This was two years ago. Today, despite following his exercise program every day, one of them continues to suffer regular, debilitating pain. But the back pain has disappeared for the other two, never to return. How did they do it, and what was the crucial difference in the kind of exercise they took.
The answer lies in some recently published research. Apparently, most people fail to treat back pain successfully because of three commonly accepted myths.
The fact is, with the right treatment, most people could eliminate back pain altogether.
Three people, three different treatments
The three people described above belong to my family. My sister, my younger brother and I have suffered from back pain for more than 20 years.
We all have the same problem – low back pain that flares up if we sit for too long, or whenever we forget and lift something, like a suitcase out of a car.
But over the past couple of years things have changed dramatically. My brother’s lower back still regularly flares up. But mine doesn’ ;t and nor does my sister’s. We just don’t suffer any more. It may be tempting fortune, but here’s why:
Frankie, my sister, took up Pilates two years ago. Her back problem quickly went and didn’t return. No more pain. She was so impressed she became a Pilates instructor so she could pass on the remedy.
A similar thing happened to me. I was given an exercise routine by a specialist therapist and since then the pain hasn’t returned. So both Frankie and I are doing OK.
But my brother Mike’s back has got worse. His work takes him all over the world and he needs remedial massage after each journey to treat the agonising pain that follows.
It’s not that Mike isn’t fit — far from it. Before his back pain became acute, he was a distance runner and swimmer. It’s just that Frankie and I had the advantage of expert advice (which we both had to pay good money for). It turns out that the advice we were given was strikingly similar.
Exercises that prevent pain
So what’s the great secret? The answer became clear when I asked my sister to explain exactly what her exercises entailed. It turns out both her and my exercises build up the endurance (rather than the strength) of the core stabilising muscles of the back.
My brother’s exercises take much longer and are designed to strengthen the back and torso and keep the back mobile. But although they do this well, they do little to build the endurance of the core torso muscles. This is the crucial difference and why his back problems persist and ours don’t.
How the core stabilising muscles function
This crucial information about back pain hasn’t yet filtered down to the average person, and perhaps it never will. But I was heartened to see it confirmed in a study published by Sports Injury Bulletin, the monthly newsletter for sports people.
Sports Injury Bulletin explains how the core stabilising muscles of the back function, why you need to build up their endurance and how to do it.
Most people are not aware of this, but the torso’s stabilising muscles are needed whether you plan to do heavy weight lifting or simply sit at your desk for a couple of hours. Both situations put a strain on your lower back and invite trouble later.
Without working the core muscles and building the all-important ‘endurance factor’, you have back pain just waiting to happen. Unfortunately, the average person can go for weeks or months without exercising them in the right way. The muscles are not being used and not getting the blood supply they need to function normally. They weaken and ‘stagnate’ and you are left with a ticking bomb ready to go off at the slightest wrong movement.
There is no such thing as a ‘bad back’
Sports research has established two important facts:
1. There is no such thing as a ‘bad back’
2. Most back pain can be eliminated without medication, surgery or long exercise routines
Many problems associated with a ‘bad back’ are simply the result of neglect or the wrong kind of activity. In this respect, your back muscles are no different from other groups of muscles. If, for example, you didn’t use your right arm for two weeks, the muscles would lose their tone and weaken. You would be unable to exert your arm (when gardening or playing tennis for example) without a painful reaction. But you wouldn’t have a ‘bad arm’ — just a weak one that needed building up again with the proper exercise. As soon as you start your exercise, you arm begins to return to normal.
The exercises my sister and I take keep the core muscles refreshed and prevent the back muscles from seizing up. My exercise takes around three minutes a day.
Very occasionally I feel that familiar twinge that tells me I might have done something too strenuous and I do the exercise then and there. It’s quick, very effective and prevents the recurrence of any muscular pain.
Overcoming fear of injury – three common mistakes
Like others, I used to avoid any movement or exercise that put a strain on my back for fear I would ‘pull’ a muscle. And when I was in pain, I just stayed as still as possible. I was probably doing the right thing. Taking remedial exercise when you have back pain is dangerous unless you have expert advice and know exactly what you are doing.
Once back pain starts, most people make one or more of these common mistakes. They:
1. Take a long period of rest
2. Take painkillers and muscle relaxants that reduce pain but do little else
3. Avoid exercising their back muscles for fear of further injury
You’ve probably heard people say: “I have to be careful. I have a bad back”. Or they take to their armchair or bed to ‘rest’. Unfortunately, these measures are the result of widely-held fallacies. Unless you are using your back muscles as they are meant to be used, debilitating pain will return again and again — probably forever.
The right exercises will eliminate a ‘bad back’, resolve any twinges and keep you pain free. You’ll enjoy normal activities and wake up the next day fully mobile. As I can testify, this is a wonderful escape from years of agony!
The back exercise routine, as published in Sports Injury Bulletin is now available on trial. This special ‘back pain’ issue gives the research findings that have changed the way top physiotherapists treat back injury. It explains the causes of back pain and shows how to resolve and prevent it. Your trial copy will be despatched, by return, for a nominal payment of just $xx to cover post and packing.
Why pain keeps coming back
If you think it’s just ordinary people who don’t know how to resolve muscular pain, here’s some interesting news:
Most athletes take a totally wrong approach to injury treatment and prevention. When an injury pops up, they treat it with anti-inflammatories, rest, and icing. Unfortunately this causes a real problem, as many athletes believe that these therapies are the \’cure\’ for their athletic wounds.
The truth is that this kind of treatment simply allows athletes to return to the precise activities and movement patterns that maimed them in the first place. Small wonder that 50 per cent of injuries are re-occurrences! Sports-active people need to strengthen – not just rest and ice – vulnerable body parts, so that those areas will hold up to future training stresses.
Boost performance by working on those weak points
Sports Injury Bulletin is the leading source of world research into the prevention and treatment of sports injury. This tactical, sinewy document – just 16 pages – is published ten times a year and shows how, by replacing out-dated training routines you can:
* Boost performance by working on your weak points
* Accelerate recovery, reduce pain and inflammation
* Discover the common causes of injury and pain and how to avoid them
* Prevent injury and pain recurring
Your trial subscription
To receive your trial copy now, simply click on the Trial subscription link:
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/prewp/sp-newbackmay06.html
You pay the nominal sum of just $9.99. Your full subscription won’t kick in until you have had a full 60 days to try out our proven exercise techniques.
If you decide you don’t wish to continue your subscription to Sports Injury Bulletin after you receive your starter pack, simply write and cancel your credit card order. All the material you have received is yours to keep with our compliments.
Expert advice from Sports Injury Bulletin
Resolving muscular pain is just one of the areas covered by Sports Injury Bulletin. We show how, if you want to stay injury free and perform at your peak, to increase your endurance, mobility and resilience. In short, you’ll discover how to work on, and build up your ‘weak links’
Luckily, the speed of the Internet means you can start to work right away.
Click on this link to start your trial subscription now and receive a pdf file of the special ‘back issue’ of Sports Injury Bulletin by return, together with other special benefits. Here is an example of the subjects we cover:
•Shoulder Tendonitis
•Mobility
•Wrist
•Knee
•Lower back
•Groin Leg
•Tennis elbow
•Ankle etc
You’ll find the latest research proves that the right exercise can resolve most kinds of muscular pain and injury, just as it did with our two back pain sufferers above. http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/prewp/sp-newbackmay06.html
Yours sincerely,
Sylvester Stein
Sports Injury Bulletin