Help Fix My Aching Back
Don’t Just Sit There Do Something
Some time ago, I received a note from Esther asking if I could help fix her aching back. She thought that sitting down was the cause of the problem, but I suggested that there was more involved than just sitting.
Here in Canberra (Australia’s national capital), I used to run the Global Back Care Clinic two nights a week – where people spent an hour doing some of the vital strength and flexibility exercises that we all need to do to keep our backs, necks, shoulders, hips and knees in good shape.
Indeed, it kept my skeleton in good shape.
In November 1994, I hurt my back (I blamed the rowing machine), and for a few years, it felt like someone was pushing a red-hot poker into it every time I sneezed or coughed. But it all disappeared when I started doing the exercises outlined in the How to Fix Back Pain ebook. Since 2000, I’ve been pain-free.
None of this stuff is rocket surgery. Many of the exercises I do and prescribe have come from people I’ve met who have said, ‘Have you seen this one?’ A lot has come from China. You can bet on most exercises from China, which has been around for 2000 years.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, here’s the reply to the letter.
Dear Esther
Yep, you’re right. Sitting down is the killer, and here’s why.
If you were to sit down at work, on the floor with your legs straight out, or if you were to do some of your work standing up, you probably wouldn’t get a crook lower back and sore shoulders because the muscles of the calves and hamstrings would stay their standard length.
However, after sitting in a chair for over 20 years, the pelvis is dragged backwards by the ever-tightening calf, hamstring and buttock muscles. You end up in the slump dog position.
Other tight muscles around your pelvis twist or drag one side lower than the other. The bones of your vertebrae immediately above the pelvis become the meat in a very painful sandwich. They become twisted, pull on ligaments, tendons and muscles (hence the pain) and force disks ‘out’. If the disks pinch the spinal column, it hurts like hell. If they hit the sciatic nerve, you get sciatica.
The hollow in the lumbar spine disappears. The nice ‘S-shaped curve of the back becomes a ‘C’ shape.
So, here’s what I suggest you do.
Sitting at your desk, your chair is as close to the desk as possible, with your abdomen pushing into the desk. The back of the chair will be upright and pressing under your shoulder blades. That way, you’ll be encouraged to sit up straight with a hollow in your lumbar spine. (Once you lose the hollow, you’re in strife!).
In addition to purchasing the Fix Back Pain ebook, I recommend you buy Pete Egoscue’s book Pain-Free. It’s an excellent book that explains what’s gone wrong.
In the meantime, stay tuned, highly tuned and remember: if you’re religious about doing back pain exercises for an hour or more each night, you should be in much better shape in a couple of months.
Regards
John Miller
If I can help you with more information, please feel free to contact me at this link https://www.globalbackcare.com/contact-us/
