Smoking!

SMOKING, A CAUSE OF BACK TROUBLE?

Epidemiological studies strongly imply that smoking may be a risk factor for back problems. It has been speculated that this is due to frequent coughing, unhealthy life style or osteoporosis in smokers.

All of these hypotheses, however, do not accord with the experimental evidence. A new theory is therefore proposed. It suggests that smoking leads to malnutrition of the disc which in turn renders it more vulnerable to mechanical stress.

Malnutritition can be brought about by carboxyhaemoglobin formation, nicotine-induced vasoconstriction, arteriosclerotic vessel wall changes, impairment of fibrinolytic activity and changes in the flow properties of blood.

Future studies should test the above hypothesis experimentally.

No Pain No Gain? Surely Not!

Sources of Back Pain:

Herniated Discs - As people age, the outer rings of their discs weaken and may tear. The gel-like inner portion of a disc bulges outward, putting painful pressure on nearby nerves. This is commonly called a “slipped disc.” People who are obese, use improper lifting techniques or have bad posture are all at risk.

Slipped Vertebra - Joints or discs weaken and can no longer hold spine segments in place, causing one vertebra to slip over another. Shifted bones push against nerves, causing pain.

Disk Degeneration-Discs start out spongy, but lose water with age, becoming brittle. Weaken discs collapse under weight from above, causing vertebrae to scrape against each other.

Strains/Sprains - Sudden traumatic injuries or repetitive motions can stretch and tear muscles or ligaments. The damage may be accompanied by painful spasms and inflammation.

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Acute & Chronic Pain

Doctors make a distinction between acute pain and chronic pain. Acute pain usually goes away quickly. It's useful, because it warns you of sources of harm and tells you to protect yourself while the body heals.

Chronic pain can be just as unpleasant but lasts much longer. If you have pain in the same place for 12 weeks or more, it is likely to be classified as chronic pain. Because it lasts so long, it's of less value as a warning.

Most people have acute pain, and common painkillers usually help if taken regularly and according to instructions. The body also produces its own natural painkillers called endorphins. Exercise and treatments such as Chiropractic Therapy, Manipulation and Acupuncture, help increase the endorphins in your body.

Chronic pain is more difficult than acute pain to help and sometimes does not respond to treatments such as over-the-counter painkillers and conventional physiotherapy alone. People with chronic pain often need specialist advice and support and are sometimes referred by doctors to Specialist Chiropractic Clinics.

Understanding your symptoms:

People injure their backs in all manner of ways, and often the pain is a result of a strain rather than a dramatic accident. So why do we experience so much pain and what can we do to reduce our risk of injury? Download a free copy of “Where Does It Hurt?” today a unique book about Back Pain, Treatments and Rehabilitation.

Sport & Low Back Pain:

About 80 per cent of the world's residents suffer from low back pain at one time or another, and an athletic lifestyle offers no warranty against the problem.

low back pain is a common ailment among runners, cyclists, and other athletes, and until now no one has been exactly sure what sports-minded people should do to alleviate - or prevent - the complaint. Now, thanks to research carried out at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, it appears that special co-ordination exercises can help get athletes' backs 'back on track'.

The Copenhagen investigations add some clarity to what has been a muddled picture concerning the proper therapy for low back pain. Sports scientists have been pretty certain that inadequate strength and endurance of the back muscles increase the risk of low back pain, suggesting that back-strengthening exercises would be an ideal preventative.

However, it's been impossible to determine which back-muscle strengthening programme is optimal, and recent research has even called into question the validity of traditional back-strengthening therapy. For one thing, scientists have shown that some popular low back exercises actually magnify 'intradiscal pressure' in the spine, possibly INCREASING the risk of difficulties. In addition, other studies have suggested that back-strengthening exercises are no more effective than short-wave diathermy or ultrasound at ameliorating low back pain.

Developing smoother back movements:

So, the Copenhagen investigators decided to take a new tack. Instead of assuming, as almost all other researchers have done, that muscle-strengthening routines are the answer for low back pain. The Danish researchers reasoned that healthy functioning in the low back does not depend on muscle strength, endurance, and flexibility alone - but also on the CO-ORDINATION of movements involving the lower back.

They theorised that individuals who moved clumsily might put inordinate strains on their low back muscles, connective tissues, and spinal structures, even if their basic muscle strength was pretty decent, leading to the onset of pain. As a result, the Danes hypothesised that training to improve co-ordination - but not necessarily muscle strength - might help individuals develop smoother movements of the lower back, which would then decrease the risk of harmful stress on the low back and thereby reduce the risk of pain. Forty Copenhagenians aged 18 to 65 with chronic low back pain took part in the study.

The subjects had all experienced low back pain for at least three months in the preceding year, but none of the individuals suffered from serious problems such as osteoporosis, painful osteo-arthritis, inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis, or disc degeneration.The subjects were divided into two groups, each of which trained for one hour two times per week over a three-month period. One group carried out conventional endurance/strength training for the low back, while the other conducted the special co-ordination training. After a 10-minute warm-up, the endurance/ strength group completed four key exercises:

Leg Lifts, in which subjects stood by the end of a table, leaned over into a prone position with the hips against the edge of the table and the chest flat on the table, and then lifted both legs behind them to the greatest possible height.

Trunk lifts, in which subjects lay prone on a table with their hips at the edge and the upper part of the body extending out over the edge of the table face-down (a strap over the calves kept individuals from toppling off the table). With hands behind their heads, the participants lowered their trunks and then lifted their trunks upward to the greatest possible extent (very much like traditional 'Roman-Chair' exercise).

Abdominal contractions (sit-ups), in which individuals lay on their backs with their knees flexed, feet on the floor, and arms behind their heads and then slowly 'sat up' in a straight- forward direction; and
Lat pull-downs, in which participants sat on a seat, grasped a weight lever, and then pulled the lever down behind their necks and shoulders, lifting a weight stack which was attached to the lever.

During the strength/endurance workouts, subjects did as many repetitions of each exercise as possible (but no more than 100), with 30-second pauses after each set of 10 repetitions.

At the end of the workout, participants completed about 10 total minutes of stretching, using 30-second static stretches of the various muscle groupsLike the strength/endurance people, the co-ordination-trained subjects started their workouts with 10 minutes of jogging and warm-up activity. They then completed four co-ordination exercises, including 1) "Knee-elbow touches'' in which they started in an upright, standing position and then rotated their trunks to the right, lifted their right knees while standing on their left feet only, and touched their right knees with their left elbows. They then returned to the standing position, rotated their trunks to the left, lifted their left knees, and touched their left knees with their right elbows. This alternating pattern - left elbow touching right knee and right elbow touching left knee - continued for up to 40 repetitions. 2) 'Balancers,' in which subjects started out on all fours (hands and knees on the ground) and then extended their left legs straight back and their right arms straight ahead, while remaining in balance on their right knees and left hands.

They then went back to the starting position and moved their left arms ahead and right legs back before alternating this pattern for a total of up to 40 reps.
3) Modified sit-ups, like No. 3 from the strength/endurance training except that instead of sitting up straight ahead, subjects moved forward alternately to the left and then to the right as they did their 'crunches'; and
4) Proprioceptive training, in which the participants stood on a wooden disk with a sphere attached to its undersurface. Subjects tried to keep balanced on the sphere without letting the edges of the disk touch the floor - while twisting their bodies and bending at the knees.

Participants stood on both feet at the beginning of the study but progressed to one-footed balancing (alternating feet) after several weeks. Post-workout stretching was the same as for the strength/endurance group.

And the results?

After three months of training, both groups had less low back pain, better mobility of the low back, and less trouble carrying out their daily activities, and the co-ordination group improved just as much as the strength/endurance group. Consumption of drugs to control low back pain was reduced by about two-thirds in both groups as well. Notably, back-muscle strength increased in the strength/endurance group but not in the co-ordination subjects, yet each group made similar improvements in low back function, demonstrating that an upgrade in strength is not the only thing which can heal a 'bad back'. Supporting this idea is the fact that there was not a strong correlation between improved back strength and reduction in low back pain in the Copenhagen research.

What does the Danish research mean to you?

If you suffer from low back pain or want to minimise the risk of low back pain in the future, improving your back-muscle strength is a decent idea, but it's not the complete answer. You should also carry out the co-ordination drills completed by the Danish athletes to 'smooth' and co-ordinate the functioning of your lower-back muscles and spine, and you should probably also improve the flexibility of your low back by stretching out your low back muscles AFTER they are thoroughly warmed up.

With improved strength, co-ordination, and flexibility in your low back, you should be able to exercise more efficiently and with less fatigue in your low back area. In addition, the prevention of low back pain should allow you to train more consistently, leading to higher-quality performances.

Pregnancy Back pain

Answering "Help" - severe back pain in early pregnancy :

I am 6 weeks pregnant and last week I nearly passed out due to pains across my lower back, it was so intense I had to lay on the floor at work. I went to the doctors and he diagnosed me with a kidney infection and gave me pregnancy safe antibiotics.

The pain was still continuing and not lessening after id finished my 7 day course of antibiotics so I returned to the doctors who told me to go to casualty if I got the pain again. Soon after returning home I got the pains and went to the casualty at the hospital. They referred me to the gynaecology ward & took a blood and urine test & found no signs of a kidney infection and both tests were fine. They prescribed me some pregnancy safe painkillers and said that it was probably high hormone level or ligaments softening for pregnancy.

It has now been 9 days and I’m still suffering with such severe lower back pain that I cannot stand up when it comes, leave the house on my own, drive or go to work. The only symptoms I get are pain in my lower back that comes every 8-10 hours & lasts for about 15 minutes (no bleeding so not ectopic). I’m so upset and distressed now as I cant believe that the ligaments softening is so unbearably painful that I nearly pass out each time it happens and have to lay on the floor and I have no idea of how long this is going to last. The doctors aren’t very helpful either, as they haven’t given me any further medication or any definite answer of what it is. If this is "ligaments softening" has anyone had or heard of anyone suffering pain as severe as this? Please help because I’m at my wits end.

Little Lady one of the priorities of assessment of early pregnancy symptoms of pain and bleeding is to exclude an ectopic pregnancy, as it can result in loss of life. Traditionally, a history of pain disproportionate to bleeding with signs of pain on vaginal examination (cervical excitation) or reduced blood volume (hypovolaemia) will lead to a laparoscopy (See Gynaesurgeon.co.uk - Laparoscopy) to diagnose and treat the ectopic pregnancy.

Over the last ten years, the introduction of routine transvaginal scanning, rapid serum HCG estimation, combined with advances in laparoscopic surgery, has led to a major change in the way that we diagnose and treat ectopic pregnancy.

If the pain persists and you are distressed don’t think that all will work out! Please seek help, see a medical professional as soon as possible…GP ..

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Nutrition & Back Pain

Good nutrition is really an important part of your overall health including the health of your back. Back pain can be reduced by providing proper nutrition.

Those of us who consume too many calories and eat relatively unhealthy foods are more than likely a bit heavier than we should be. Common sense should tell us that the more we weigh the more stress is placed on our spine as well as other joints in our bodies which causes extra wear and tear.

Extra body weight can also lead to poor posture which is a leading cause of back problems and back pain. Using good posture and body mechanics is essential for a healthy back and spine; the more aware we are of this fact the more likely we are to continuously look at the way we do things.

So, before you have that third Jam Doughnut or finish off the last of the triple cheese pizza ask yourself if you really need it? Your back will thank you.

Drink water! Dehydration is bad for your body; in general most of us need to drink more water. The discs between the vertebrae of our spine need to be nourished and kept hydrated.

Do you smoke? If you smoke you probably don't want to hear this but studies show that there is a direct relationship between smoking cigarettes and having back problems. Smoking slows down your circulation and cuts down the oxygen supply in your bloodstream. Adequate blood flow and oxygen supply are needed for good health and for proper healing to occur.

If you have never tried juicing you may want to get a juicer and give it a try, it'll provide you with a good amount of vitamins and minerals plus it's a simple and quick way to consume your daily fruits and vegetables. My favourite juice is apple and carrot, it tastes great! By eating properly and drinking sufficient amounts of water you'll be one step closer to having a healthier back and you'll improve your overall health as well.

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