HealthyWealthyandHappy

One of the exercises we recommend for helping with back pain and sciatica is walking - good old, plain and simple walking. It may even seem too obvious - life wasn’t meant to be that straightforward right?

Well actually Yes, sometimes it is.

The bonus is if you do enough walking you can also lose a useful amount of weight and improve your overall fitness, as well as helping your back.

There is a great story below about a woman who was overweight big time and had back problems. Eventually she started walking, only a short distance at first, but gradually increasing and after a period not only did she lose a huge amount of weight, but her back problems went away too.

Reality Check
If you’re an average person in an OECD country such as the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, France etc you are not exercising enough.

The modern sedentary lifestyle is bad for you and bad for your back.

At the end of the day it’s your choice what you do with your time. If you invest in the effort of exercise you will most likely get similar benefits to the woman in the story.

Remember:
In the long run regular, moderate exercise of the right type and a good diet and are two of the keys to a long healthy life and a healthy back.

There are also specific back exercises you can do to help your back and stop sciatica.

A story about losing weight and losing back pain through walking
Claire Elliot is from Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands of the UK.

Claire, a mum-of-two, was overweight and suffering crippling back pain, then 18 months ago she started walking and has now shed eight stone - hiking her way back to health.

She was a size 28 at her biggest and is now a size 14, dropping from 21st 6lb to 13st 6lb in the process. She achieved her transformation after joining a slimming club and taking long daily walks.

“I have never been as slim as this - and my body has changed beyond all recognition,” she says happily.

For Claire weight problems started in childhood.and she was a size 22 by the time of her wedding, in August 1997.

Then when she later got pregnant with her first child James, she used it as an excuse to eat what she liked. Everyone assured me the weight would fall off afterwards, but it didn’t and I went up to a size 28.”

Three years later, Claire was thrilled to be pregnant again, but by now the weight was affecting her mood. “Last time, I’d been proud of my baby bump - but this time I felt massive,” she recalls.

“Even though I was miserable, I reassured myself that I was still healthy. I’d never suffered high blood pressure or fluid retention.”

Then over the next three years, although she managed to shed about three stone, she was in too much pain to exercise and was bothered by sever sciatica and back pain.

Eventually she determined to do something, and joined WeightWatchers at which time she was 17st 8lb.

Immediately, Claire started a healthy eating plan and took up walking. “Every morning I’d set off in loose jogging bottoms and baggy tops. Initially, I could barely make it to the end of the road, but I improved quickly.

“I went from half a mile, to one, then two, until I was walking five miles a day and I dropped from a size 20 so by the summer I was a size 14.”

Claire realised there were other benefits, too. Her back pain vanished and the regular exercise boosted her mood - enabling her to reduce her prescription medication for depression.

Claire is now down to 13st 6lb and still walks every day. She says “My legs are half the size they used to be, my bum has just disappeared, my arms are thinner and even my cheekbones are showing”.

So the moral of this story is walking is great - remember there are also specific back exercises you can do to help stop back pain.

One of the points we make regularly is that poor nutrition is often a contributor to back pain and sciatica.

This doesn’t necessarily sound logical when you first hear it because siatica and back pain are “mechanical” problems, so what does nutrition have to do with them?

The answer is that much of the food in the western world is nutritionally poor. It’s over processed, full of chemical additives, probably several months old, likely treated for long term storage and so on.

The US is clearly the worst in this situation, because the regulations are heavily biased towards profitability for the food suppliers, not health for the consumer.

Many foods and/or their treatments used in the US are actually illegal in European countries.

Going back to sciatica and back pain, if your body is deprived of vital nutrients and vitamins (in a form it can assimilate) for long enough, it starts to malfunction - just like a machine fed the wrong fuel and lubicants would break down too.

Because your spine is such a complex, important and sensitive organ, it is likely nutritional problems will show up there. Also, if you do get a back injury, its going to be difficult to heal.

The solution is remarkably simple:
(a) short term take a food supplement
(b) longer term - start to eat fresh, natural foods.

However, it’s actually time consuming and often difficult to buy fresh, natural and healthy foods, so many people carry on taking a supplement as insurance and because it works for them (it costs less per month than one coffee a day).

Here is a link to a great article on food supplements - a so called superfood - http://www.naturalnews.com/022566.html

Importantly, there is a link in the article to a special offer on Boku Super Food. Get to their online store by clicking this link

It’s a time limited offer organised by Natural News whom I trust. With their offer you can get a 30 day supply for $20 which I think is a great bargain (usually $50).

In 30 days you should notice a difference in both your overall health and your back. I reckon it’s absolutely worth $20 to find out if it helps you.

I have no financial interest in this offer and get no commission from your purchase.

Good luck.

A key approach that we advocate in the Better Back System is educating yourself and taking responsibility for your own health and the condition of your back.

Exercise and diet are the two foundations of this approach.

Especially, don’t wait to get sick and then try and fix yourself, rather take steps in advance to look after your wellbeing.

We are unapologetically advocates of natural health practices. Personally, I think the general American public is under the spell of the powerful “drugs and surgery” lobby groups and their health is suffering badly as a result.

Don’t take my word for it, here are links to eBooks with well researched information on the dangers of mainstream “healthcare”, which by the way is such a classic “big lie”.

Sickness care is too kind also, as there’s more care about profit than for the patient in many medical practices, but it is closer to the truth.

Book 1:
Death by Medicine

Book 2:
Interview with Gary Knull best selling author of “Get Healthy Now”

The Scary Bottom Line:
More than 750,000 Americans are killed every year by American medicine.

Can’t possibly be true!? Read for yourself and you decide.

The spine is a large and complex organ and precise diagnosis of the causes of lower back and hip pain is notoriously difficult.

For example, a doctor may look at the back X-ray of a patient with severe pain and see nothing unuusal apart from “routine wear and tear”. On the other hand, people who are exeriencing no back problems may have X-rays that suggest they should hardly be able to walk!

The spine itself is full of joints, nerves and ligaments and is heavily interconnected with the surrounding muscles that support it.

Basically all the major nerves to your body’s extremities start by running down your spine and then branch out to these other areas. So for example if you have a problem with your middle or upper back you may find it affects the strength or feeling in your arms or hands.

The sciatic nerve exits the spine in your lower back and connects with your legs - thigh, calf, foot toes etc.

If your back suffers injury or degeneration it can affect the spine’s structure and/or alignment of the vertebrae (bones in your spine). This can result in pressure being placed on nerves as they exit the spine via gaps in the vertebrae.

This is what happens with sciatica - pressure is placed upon the sciatic nerve which results in pain and/or tingling and/or loss of function in your legs.

In terms of lower back and hip pain, the lower back is frequently affected by injury, degeneration or wear and tear because it is an area of high stress. Lifting, bending, twisting, sitting or driving for long periods all affect the lower back in particular.

Note: The “L4″ and “L5″ vertebra are 2 vertebrae in your lower back that are frequently impacted by wear and tear or injury and a cause of lower back and hip pain.

Once your back suffers an injury, or loss of function through general wear and tear (for example one or more disks may become thinner or distorted in shape), then 2 things are liable to happen:

1. The surrounding muscles are likely to spasm or “freeze” in an attempt to protect the spine from the threat of injury.

2. The wear and tear can cause the spine’s alignment and vertebral spacing to change, thus leading to pressure being placed on nerves in and around the spine.

Both effects are likely to cause pain.

The Solution:
Here are suggested strategies:

1. Get your spine back in alignment (as best you can allowing for injury and aging).
The options here include:
(a) active treatment from various therapists and specialists (physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors etc)
(b) doing items 2-4 below and waiting for healing to occur naturally
(c) doing a mix of (a) and (b) - this is my preference
(d) back surgery (be very careful with this)

2. Review your habits with the objective of eliminating bad movements and poor posture.

3. Improve your diet - eat good food.

4.3. Strengthen the muscles that surround and support the spine. This treatment of sciatica back injuries is the focus of the the Better Back System.

I recently came across the Clinical Somatics technique as a practice that appears to bridge a number of other techniques such as Yoga, Pilates and meditation.

What caught my attention was the concept that your body and muscles become unwittingly fixed in their movements, which is a concept I subscibe to. These movements become habitual and place stress on related areas leading to pain and stiffness.

Certainly when this pain and stiffness affects the muscles in or around the back it forms a viscious circle of stiffness and restricted movement which places further stress on the back.

The exercises recommended in the Better Back Book are designed to break this cycle.

The Origins of Clinical Somatics
Clinical Somatic Education is derived from the work of Dr. Thomas Hanna who was a professor of philosophy, a theologian, a writer, and a revolutionary thinker.

His work in all of these areas hinged around the concept of freedom. During his travels, he noticed that people in industrialized nations had significantly more postural distortion than other countries, with more restriction of movement and more complaints of chronic pain or limited range of motion.

Tom found it even more astounding that people believed that as they aged, their bodies would inevitably become more stiff and less capable over time.

Following research in Medical school classes on the neurophysiology of development and control, Tom went on to develop what would eventually become Clinical Somatic Education.

Clinical Somatics clients (patients) learn slow, conscious movements assisted by specific feedback and guidance from the practitioner to create lasting, rapid improvement in flexibility and pain reduction.

The mark of effectiveness of the technique is evidenced by the number of clients who succeed in reaching their own goals of health without constant sessions with a Clinical Somatic Educator. Most clients need less than ten sessions before they have attained a higher level of functioning than ever before.

How is Clinical Somatics different from other disciplines?

What they say is that the Somatics client is included as an active participant in the process of healing at every step. The technique also recognizes the client as someone capable of infinite growth and learning. Sessions and the movements are designed to impart as much information as possible, while allowing for each person to have their own process, learn and experience.

How does Clinical Somatics work?

That say: “By using Clinical Somatic techniques, you will learn how to find the muscles you are keeping tight, and, in the words of Dr. Hanna, “If you can sense it, you can feel it. And if you can feel it, you can change it.” Clinical Somatic uses the muscles as a gateway into the Central Nervous System-the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. ”

By combining a practitioner’s feedback with slow movements to increase your own awareness and control, Clinical Somatics lets you take back control of your body and your life.

New ideas for sciatica exercises are posted regularly at www.healthywealthyandhappy.com.

Firstly Qigong, which is sometimes written Qi Gong is pronounced (more or less) “chee kung”.

Secondly, I subscribe to the “whatever works” school of health maintenance. Now Qigong also has some esoteric or “metaphysical” aspects, but what is important is “does the practice do something useful for you”.

If the answer is yes, well obviously use it, if not try something else.

Qigong originates from traditional Chinese medicine and involves the use of different breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body.

Qi or chi refers to the energy flows that occur both within the human body and in the external world.

Qigong asserts that the body’s “energy field” is generated and maintained by the natural respiration of the body; gong means work applied to a discipline or the resultant level of technique. Qigong together means “breath work” or the practice of managing one’s breathing in order to achieve and maintain good health.

Qigong offers benefits for both health maintenance and health restoration i.e. it can keep you healthy if you already are, or help you get healthy if you’re currently not. This applies to back health and pain also.

Qigong Exercise - Shoulder & Neck Stretch
If you get stiff in the shoulder and neck region this exercise is simple to do and is likely to make it better.

The great thing about this exercise is its simple and you can do it anywhere at any time for as long as you want.

Preparation:

1. Stand with your feet together and you back and neck straight.

2. Let your arms hang by your sides, palms facing your body.

3. Raise your arms to about a 45 degree angle (i.e. half way betwen hanging at your sides and poiting straight out at shoulder level), keeping them straight with your elbows locked.

4. Flex your wrists and raise your palms as far as they can go keeping the palms facing more-or-less down and your arms straight and your elbows locked.

Depending upon how flexible your wrists are, your palms may go as far as forming a 90 degree angle with your forearms. More commonly the angle will be greater than 90 degrees (it started off at 180 degrees with your palms hanging by your side).

The Movement:
Basically the movement is like shrugging your shoulders. Move your shoulders up and down whilst keeping your arms straight elbows locked and palms raised upwards.

After you have done a few you will probably start to feel a hot and/or stiff feeling in your neck and shoulder area. This is fine, keep going remembering to keep your arns straight and palms bent.

Some people enjoy doing the movements to music. Something with a steady beat works well.

Keeping the correct posture and movement is the most important thing.

How many should you do?

The answer is it depends how fit you are and how much time you have. 20, 50, 100, 500 are all reasonable numbers for different people.

Once you get past a hundred or so, you will probably start to sweat noticeably.

As always use your common sense. Clearly, if you’re not particularly fit and decide you want to start off by doing 250, but feel like you’re going to die at any moment after 50 or so, its probably a good idea to stop!

Sciatica Exercise Video
You may find thia video of a yoga exercise to help with your back pain.

The Downward Facing Dog

Is Yoga good for your back? Generally Yes providing you stay within your limitations.

I have no idea how fit or supple you are, so make sure you read the disclaimer before you try any new exercise.

Many years ago when I first started doing Yoga-type stretches, they were difficult to hold for any period of time, and quite uncomfortable.

You might think the same when you start. but relief and flexibility come with practice, so keep at it - with care and judgement!

One of the videos (Downward Facing Dog) has some fooling around at the start, but the exercise is definitely worthwhile. (
** Hey any day my back feels fine is a fun day, but if you’re not in the mood for a bit of humor just ignore the fooling around.)

Go here for the back exercise videos

You can now watch videos on back pain relief and sciatica exercise at www.healthywealthyandhappy.com.

See how sciatica exercises are done and begin your own sciatica home treatment.

You can watch the first yoga exercise for sciatica.

Remember:
1. Your back wants you to exercise it the right way.
2. Stop if you experience pain.

Keep an eye out for more sciatica exercise videos .

Vipassana is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation and means to see things as they really are.

The technique was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2500 years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ills.

Many diseases are caused by our inner agitation. If the agitation is removed, the disease may be alleviated or disappear.

The purpose of Vipassana is not to cure diseases. However, someone who really practices Vipassana learns to be happy and balanced in all circumstances i.e. their stress is greatly reduced. This reduction in stress and positive mental / emotional context means that many ailments are either greatly reduced or disappear altogether.

Because the spine is such a sensitive organ packed with nerves, muscles, ligaments, joints it is particularly sensitive to stress and lower back pain is often a warning indicator of stress.

However, note that the objective of learning Vipassana specifically to cure a disease is a mistake that never works. People who try to do this waste their time because they are focusing on the wrong goal.

The goal is to learn Vipassana meditation properly. If you achieve that, it is likely ( and I am speaking from my own experience here) that you will succeed in getting rid of back pain as a very welcome side benefit.

Go to www.dhamma.org to find out about Vipassana courses and keep and eye on www.healthywealthyandhappy.com for back pain relief

I came across an article recently in a regular newspaper column written by a practising doctor.

It really caught my eye because it confirmed how little is still known about the mechanics of backs and how they operate, what goes wrong with them and how to fix them.

[start article]

The back is susceptible to pain because its mechanics include many pieces imprecisely put together, and it’s loaded with nerves.

[yep , know that]

The players in back pain can be the vertebral bones, the connective tissues, such as ligaments and tendons, the muscles, and, of course the nerves, which must navigate through these muscles and connective tissue.

[true]

The vertebral bones are essentially round with a hole in the middle for the spinal cord to go through, but also flare out in many places to form joints with other vertebrae and to connect to ligaments and muscles.

[yep]

Because of this complexity in the back, only about one-fifth of all cases of back pain have a pinpoint diagnosis.

[interesting !] Only a 20% chance your doctor will know what is wrong with your back?

The generalist physician often suffices with making sure there are no alarming signs suggesting inflammatory arthritis, infection, fracture, cancer or significant interference with the spinal cord.

Usually, this strategy works: Most people’s back pain goes away with simple treatments such as pain medicines and exercises.

exercise is what we recommend - especially exercises to strengthen your back so it has less chance of getting injured in the first place>

Back surgeries are not always successful - possibly because, though no fault of the surgeon, the diagnosis was not pinpointed correctly in advance of the surgery.

[Ouch! Only a 20% chance they'll know what they're trying to fix . . . think very carefully about surgery]