The good news for sufferers of serious back pain is that it can usually be treated at home.  In fact, a do-it-yourself back pain treatment is often more effective than any drug or massage regimen.  These methods can be used to prevent back pain before it occurs or remedy the problem when it’s already in place.

Here are some of the things we can do around the house to ease back pain or prevent further damage to our backs:

Lumbar support rolls.  These rolls are available in some shops.  If unavailable, you can use a rolled-up towel or jumper by placing it in the small of your back to help support its natural curve.

Avoid straining your back.  When washing dishes, see that you don’t have to slump over the sink and strain your lower back.  When doing such chores as preparing vegetables, do them sitting down instead of standing up so that you avoid bending over.

Check your mattress for suitability.  Lie on your back and slide your hand palm down into the small of your back.  If there is a large gap, the mattress is probably too hard.  If you have to squeeze your hand in, then it is probably too soft. If your hand slides in fairly easily, the mattress is probably just right.

Make a butterfly pillow.   If you have neck pain, a butterfly pillow can help.  This is done by tying a bandage or stocking around the center of the pillow, then rest your neck in the middle.

Keep your upper body upright.   When doing such chores as vacuuming, always keep your body straight.  Pull the cleaner close to your body so you make short sweeping movements.

Iron only the essential items.  By ironing only your street clothes, you lessen the stress caused by this backbreaking chore.   Also, make sure your ironing board is at waist level.

Don’t stoop too much.  Make beds by kneeling down to tuck in corners rather than stooping.

Avoid heavy loads.  In doing your groceries, take several short trips rather one big purchase.  Use the trolley instead of carrying heavy items in a basket.

Warm-up exercises.  At the garden, try doing some little warm-up exercises before working on your trowel or similar tools.

Don’t slouch.  In your chair, do not slouch but make full use of the chair movement, especially when reaching behind you for something like the phone.

Change position.  Try to alter your position when using the keyboard for long periods of time and move your feet forwards and behind.

When uncomfortable, move.   Make an effort to adjust any other chairs you sit on in the office so that they are comfortable for you.  If you are uncomfortable, move around.

Take a break.  Changing your posture and taking frequent breaks from your desk will help keep your muscles working.

Have PC monitor at eye level.  Before the computer, operate your keyboard when it is directly in front of you and have your monitor square on so you don’t have to turn your head to look at it.

Use a document holder.  By using a document holder, your work is closer to you and you minimize the glare on the screen.

Minimize head movements.  Rearrange the items on your desk according to the frequency in which you use them. The items that you use must be closest to you while those you seldom use should be farthest away.

Read “THIS IS WHY YOUR BACK HURTS” book and live a pain free life.

Fact: Tall people have the same number of spinal vertebrae (24 total vertebras) as shorter people. They just have taller vertebrae and discs and longer muscles. This adds more support to make up for the higher center of gravity.

I have a 6’8 tall NFL football player as a patient from the Seattle Seahawks who comes in for an annual

treatment of his lower back. He makes sure to get one treatment a year. That’s all he needs despite the fact that he took a pounding for 15 years as an offensive center. He only needs maintenance care because he works out daily, uses perfect posture and uses proper body mechanics in everything he did in the past and presently.

The bottom line is: everybody, tall or short, has an equal chance of getting back pain. The difference is in how we take care of our backs, not in our height.

Fact: For more than 2.5 million years, we have been standing straight and evolution has compensated for this through proper posture and curves in the spine. So standing for millions of years on two legs has allowed a normal C curve in the back, which makes it stable.

Let’s take look at four-legged creatures such as dogs or horses. I used to treat horses at the Laurel Maryland Race Track, so I’ve personally observed this. They have a C-curve too, which somewhat prevents their discs from bulging out.

With humans, standing upright puts an S-curve in the entire back and a C-curve in the lower back. The C-curve prevents the discs from bulging. However, in developed countries, we don’t have a normal smooth consistent “C” curve due to our bad posture. We sit for hours, bend, lift incorrectly, stand and walk incorrectly. Depending on your actions throughout your life, the smooth “C” curve of the lower back may be too small or too big, both of which contribute to various back problems. Due to millions of years of evolution, walking on two legs should have no more pressure on the lower back discs than walking on all fours.

That Secret is Good Posture and Keeping Active.

Bad posture does more than just make us look older or heavier than we are. It does more than disappoint our mothers. As I have said, I have been able to treat the majority of people—90 percent in fact, who have come to me for help after being told that there was no help to be had.

Most of us sit in an office chair, suffering in pain even though we are doing nothing more than type on a computer in that cushy chair. Now, imagine if your boss told you to put a ream of paper on your head and hike it up to the top floor. You would faint! Now imagine that a woman in Haiti twice your age is asked the same thing.  She would pop that ream of paper on top of her head and get to the top floor and she would smile as she does it!  The difference, we learned, is not that she is stronger and she is certainly not younger—it is all proper posture and lots of activity that allows her to do what we think as impossible. 

As I discovered from the Haitians that survived the holocaust, hard work does not break our backs but protect us from back pain instead.  After shaking off the tragedy, the Haitians went back to the business of living with the same inclination for hard work as before.  While they work, they walk or sit straight, never stooping or slouching.  In effect, they observe good posture whatever they do. The result is nothing short of astounding.

There were Haitians as old as 90 who came to our makeshift clinics for treatment of injuries suffered from the earthquake.  They maintained their excellent posture with no one complaining about back pains.  I interviewed patients with age ranging from 70 to 90 and never heard of complaints about aching back or joint.  Most of these aged Haitians had maximum use of their knees and spines. The same healthy back condition may be observed among people in other developing countries where hard work is a requisite for survival.

The lesson I learned is that manual labor combined with good posture protect our backs from future pain.

Once the Haitians had buried their dead, they resumed their normal lifestyle which is characterized by hard work.  After recovering from the injuries many suffered, they were back on their feet, working as hard as they used to do.  Despite the destruction all around, they resumed their day to day activities with a smile on their faces and a spring in their steps.

I treated hundreds of patients, young and old, men and women.  In doing so, I discovered something else that is simply incredible.  Like people in most developing countries, Haitians have perfect and excellent posture. They stand, sit, and lie down in the right way so as to put less stress on their joints.  This enables them to live free from arthritis, disc herniation, muscle spasm and other conditions mostly associated with people in the developed world who observe a sedentary lifestyle.

As I treated these senior Haitians, I was amazed to find that they had good-to-full range of motion in their spine, hips and knees. This was due to manual labor combined with good posture. Climbing up mountains with usually a 25-pound load on their heads, standing upright at all times or doing hard manual labor with proper body movements prevent arthritis from attacking their joints and backs.   

Myth

Fact: Tall and short people are built with the same number of spinal vertebrae totaling 24. The tall ones just have longer vertebrae, discs and muscles that give them a higher center of gravity.  But when it comes to back pain, height or the lack of it does not matter.

Did You Know?

When the Skylab Astronauts returned to Earth, it was discovered that they had grown 1.5 to 2.25 inches. The zero gravity of space had both lengthened and straightened their spines. 

I have a 6’8” tall NFL football player from the Seattle Seahawks who comes in for an annual treatment of his lower back.  He makes sure to get one such treatment a year. That’s all he needs despite the fact that he took a pounding for 15 years as an offensive center. He only needs maintenance care because he works out daily, uses perfect posture and uses proper body mechanics in everything he did in the past and presently.

The bottom line is: everybody, tall or short, has an even chance of getting back pain. The difference is in how we take care of our backs. .

Did You Know?

You are taller in the morning than you are in the evening time because of the compression of discs during our daytime activity. 

The key muscles that support our back are the following:

Neck Flexors and Extensors – these muscles are very important to the spine and back because the flexors or front neck muscles pull the head down slightly while the extensors at the side and back of the neck hold the head on the frame.  When the head moves slightly forward, the chin goes slightly down so that the head pulls on the spine to elongate it. This action forces antigravity on the spine which helps prevent slow degeneration or arthritis.  If the neck is not positioned correctly then the low back and spine will be thrown off balance.

Multifidi Muscles – when you mention multifidi muscles, most doctors will go multifidi what? These are commonly misunderstood and unacknowledged muscles and yet 80 percent of people suffering from back pain do so because of weak or atrophied (wasted away) multifidi muscles.  These are the muscles that run up and down your back right beside the spinous processes or the bumps in the center of your back. They run from the sacrum to the base of the skull and hold up, lengthen and support the spine.  In effect, they are the key stabilizers of the spine.

Within 24 hours of a back injury sustained from such as activities as llifting a box incorrectly, sleeping in a twisted position or having a car accident, one can injure a single joint and the surrounding multifidi muscles will lose their size by 25 percent. This leads to instability that causes disc herniation, arthritis and other problems.   If one side is atrophied, the vertebrae will shift and become unstable.  It’s like a car tire that was misaligned – the tire and vertebrae will wear out and the tire or disc will blow out.

Core Muscles – in addition to the weak multifidi muscles, weak core muscles play a major role in back pain. Core muscle support the pelvis and lower back. These are mainly the abdominal and pelvic muscles (mainly the Psoas muscle). If you have weakness here, the posture collapses.

Abdominal Muscles – the Abdominal Erectus and Transverse muscles are at the front and sides of the belly and just like the multifidi muscles, which help the spine from falling forward, these muscles help in preventing the spine from falling backward.

Psoas Muscles – these are found deep in the back, connecting the lumbar spine to the pelvis. These muscles play a key role in supporting the spine in relation to the pelvis and help with elastic support to hold up and stabilize the spine. They also influence the diaphragm for breathing.  Quite often, these muscles become too tight and go into spasms, in which case one can feel pain in the groin or lower abdominal quadrant.

Too many abdominal situps or leg raises or sitting all day or walking, the way most of us do, shorten and tense this muscle. I t needs to be relaxed and elastic to allow free movement of the hip, legs, spine and diaphragm. Proper posture as one can see, allows proper breathing and less tension and a relaxed, pain free body .

Hamstrings – these long muscles are found at the back of the thigh and often get too short among westerners who sit all day and night. These, along with the Gluteus muscles, maintain the proper extension of the pelvis and flexion of the knees.  If too short or tight, the hamstrings cause the pelvis to shift posterior, which can put a lot of stress on the lumbar discs.

The Feet – these form the base of the entire structure. To have a healthy base is a great start in avoiding back pain but many of us walk in shoes that have too much support and do not allow the foot muscles to work naturally.  Restrictive shoes such as high heels distort the feet and cause them to lose the arch.  This will cause bunions and plantar fasciitis, which lead to destruction up the body.

When we talk of posture, we think of standing up ramrod-straight like a military man or woman.  This positioning uses far too much energy and places far too much stress on your back muscles.  But for simplicity’s sake, I will use the word posture although I am realy talking about perfect human positioning in all situations, from standing to sitting and from bending to sleeping.

What is not taught well or understood in all the medical fields is that most back problems stem from bad posture.  Those who sit, stand, walk or lift incorrectly with faulty body mechanics dramatically increase their odds of suffering back pain.  Sport injuries, arthritis, weak discs and accidents will all have worse outcomes if the back is already compromised by bad posture.

If your car hits a pothole and a tire misaligns, then it wears out many times faster. The car will pull to one side and eventually the tire will blow all because of being misaligned. This is similar to the spine.

Back pain was not common until the 20th century.  Before that time, we used to have good posture which, in its best form, was taught from generation to generation.  But starting in the 1920s, it become fashionable to slump, and that marked the end of generations of good posture.

In the 1950s back pain became twice as common. People thrust their pelvis and necks forward and hunched their shoulder as a fashion statement. That was the death of the proper posture culture. We’ve been using computers, sitting on couches watching TV, lifting incorrectly for the last 90 years, and there’s no time enough for the spine to develop support for these postural issues.  Hence, the spine of today’s humans is highly susceptible to a breakdown.

By contrast, many people in traditional cultures in Africa, Haiti and other parts of Asia still retain proper posture that is embedded in their culture.  Only between 5 and 10 percent of these populations suffer from back pain versus 80 percent of those in western culture. When I visited these developing countries and observed those cultures, I saw them do heavy manual labor such as bending all day in rice fields, or carrying blocks of concrete on their heads. They hardly ever complained of back problems because they were doing it with the correct posture.

So, what are we really talking about here?  We are talking about poor posture that is the basis of most back pain.  Posture is held by core and multifidi muscles. How we stand, sit, lie down, walk, bend and lift should be taught in all cultures.  But in western society it is not.   We’ve been inclined to somehow take that for granted.  We slouch, walk by forcing our legs forward, work with computers or at a desk all day, watch TV for hours on a comfortable couch that has little support.

We do everything in flexion—even work out with weights or aerobics in flexion (thrusts forward).  We hardly ever work out the middle back, lower back, hamstrings, gluteus medius and hip muscles (abductors and adductors).  We work out the front body muscle —the pectoralis, anterior deltoids, quadriceps—which gives us that forward body tilt and too much pelvic tilt.  Later we grow that hump in the back similar to that of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.  This can happen as a result of normal activities such as sitting at a computer all day, hunched over or sitting on a couch that forces your spine to slump.

Proper posture entails retaining the natural curve of the spine called neutral spine. Not only should proper posture be used when standing or sitting, but it should also be observed in all activities of daily living.  Only thus can we minimize the amount of harmful stresses our spine must bear.  Standing up too straight as we were taught in childhood causes the spine to arch and compress, resulting in back pain injury.  On the other hand, slumping places too much pressure on the discs of the lower back.  These discs then bulge out and herniate to pinch the spinal nerves.

Going to the gym three times a week is good but it’s not necessary if you practice good posture and change your daily activities so that you walk more. Try parking your car further away and walking to work, climbing the stairs instead of taking an elevator, doing squats at work, etc.

Let’s look at a posture of a typical Haitian. Most Haitians stand erect. Their heads are positioned back but not too far back, the ears are over their shoulders and their chins are slightly down. Their shoulders are far back and down. The pelvis is rotated forward so as to give a C curve to the lower back.  You need a consistent C from L1-S1 or upper low back to the sacrum. Anyone, big or small, can learn to maintain this posture.

Notice that the hips of the Haitians are directly above their knees which are above their ankles. Their knees are straight up and down and slightly bent and not turned in but slightly outward. The pelvis has a lot to do with this.

They have good arches in their feet, since they walk heel first and that arch rotates the hips far forward. This is an indicator that the person has a healthy posture.

This excellent overall posture that forms part of the culture of Haitians and other people in developing countries gives them only a 5 percent chance of developing back pains.  Compare that to people in western society whose chance of getting back pain is 80 percent because of bad posture.

Back pain is a major health issue in the modern world.  The least we can do is look at the different postures we use and the problems that arise from them.