The Natural Back Pain Solution

EXCLUSIVE REPORT!

http://www.BackPainRelief4Life.com

Disclaimer

The statements in this book have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug

Administration. This e-book does not intend in any way to provide medical

advice. The information here does not represent medical advice. If you are

seeking medical advice contact a licensed medical practitioner. All

information provided is for informational purposes only and represents an

expression of opinion of the author(s). The products and information in this

book are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you

have a severe medical condition, see a physician of your choice.

While every effort has been made to ensure the information provided is

accurate, the author and publisher make no warranties with respect to the

accuracy or completeness of the contents of the book.

Neither the publisher or author shall be liable for any loss or damages.

Contents

Disclaimer ........................................................................................................................... 2

Contents ............................................................................................................................... 3

Preface.................................................................................................................................. 6

1. Congratulations On Making It This Far! .................................................................... 6

2. This Information in This Book Is For Cumulative Not Acute Back Pain and

Injuries ............................................................................................................................. 6

3. What Does This Mean? .................................................................................................. 6

4. The Commitment Required From You to Heal Yourself ......................................... 6

5. The Benefits of Self Education and Taking Responsibility ............................................... 7

6. One More Thing… .......................................................................................................... 8

Part 1 – The Story of Why You Have Back Pain....................................................................... 9

1. The Influence of Western Society .................................................................................. 9

Why Do Less Westernized Societies Have Lower Rates of Back Pain? ........................ 9

Why Are Western Societies’ Back Pain Rates Getting Worse?.................................... 9

The Story behind our Cumulative Damage From Childhood ..................................... 10

What Causes the Cumulative Damage? ................................................................... 11

2. Environmental ............................................................................................................. 13

Lack of squatting ..................................................................................................... 13

Soft Surfaces With No Feedback ............................................................................. 14

Chairs and Beds of Poor Design ............................................................................... 14

Sitting All Day ......................................................................................................... 15

Isolated Strength Training ....................................................................................... 15

Cardio Training ....................................................................................................... 16

Diet......................................................................................................................... 16

3. Emotional Factors ........................................................................................................ 17

Stress and Fight or Flight syndrome ........................................................................ 17

Lack of relaxation .................................................................................................... 18

4. Poor Body Use ............................................................................................................. 18

5. Initial Damage to Spinal Structure ................................................................................ 18

6. Initial Damage to Muscles ............................................................................................ 19

7. Longer Term Damage .................................................................................................. 20

Part 2- Why common medical treatments fail us ................................................................. 21

Surgery ............................................................................................................................ 23

Back Support Braces ........................................................................................................ 23

Inversion Therapy ............................................................................................................ 24

Osteopath and Chiropractic Manipulation and adjustment .............................................. 24

Muscle strengthening programs ...................................................................................... 24

Massage .......................................................................................................................... 25

Acupuncture ................................................................................................................... 25

Physiotherapy ................................................................................................................. 25

Effective treatment must address the root cause ............................................................ 26

Part 3- How to Get Long Lasting Relief ................................................................................. 27

1. Stop the Damage Occurring & Train your Body for Optimal Use ................................... 29

Identify Poor Use Patterns and excessive tension .................................................... 30

Identify excessive Muscle Tension........................................................................... 32

The Fundamental Directions and Techniques for Good Use..................................... 33

Learn correct movements and positions ................................................................. 35

Semi supine to learn neutral position ...................................................................... 44

Manage stress in life to avoid tensing of muscles and overuse ................................ 46

Avoid bad positions and movements....................................................................... 46

2. Treat the Damage ........................................................................................................ 47

1. Repair of the muscles .......................................................................................... 47

2. Repair of the spinal structure .............................................................................. 55

3. Repair of the whole body .................................................................................... 55

3. Strengthen the supporting muscles ............................................................................. 58

Beginner Exercises .................................................................................................. 58

Medium Difficulty Exercises .................................................................................... 62

Advanced exercises ................................................................................................. 65

Summary............................................................................................................................. 66

Preface

1. Congratulations On Making It This Far!

You have taken a great step towards getting permanent relief for your back

pain!

First a couple of important points…

2. The Information in This Book Is For Cumulative Not Acute Back Pain

and Injuries

Most back injuries result from the cumulative effects of months and years of

poor posture, faulty body mechanics and the subsequent stress on the body.

Cumulative back pain is not usually the result of only one specific injury event.

3. What Does This Mean?

This information is designed for people with back problems that have occurred

over a period of time. If you have a specific injury that you think caused your

back pain such as a car accident then I recommend consulting your doctor.

However the information may still be of value to you, as the more educated

you are the better you will be able to make more informed decisions about

looking after your back.

4. The Commitment Required From You to Heal Yourself

The common medical treatments for back pain only treat the symptoms of the

problems - for example taking pain killers, chiropractic adjustments or even

surgery. None of these methods treat what caused the damage in the first

place.

However to treat the damage before it occurs requires you to make changes

in the way you treat your body – the way you move, sit and stand. It also

involves taking a holistic approach to treating your back pain and treating it

from many angles of approach – all of these are explained in this book.

This system will take more involvement from you than simply taking a

painkiller or getting the chiropractor to „crack‟ your back. The more

involvement required from you means that not many people are prepared to

put the effort in to get the results.

If you are prepared to put the effort in and apply the learnings from this

system you will get far longer lasting results.

5. The Benefits of Self Education and Taking

Responsibility

Research has found that the attitude, beliefs and health

literacy of people about their back pain directly affects how

successful and long-lasting their relief will be.

To get long lasting results, a recent study found that you

need to have:

A positive attitude about the pain and not focus all

your attention on worrying about it getting worse

A positive belief that permanent relief from back pain

is possible

Been well educated in the causes of back pain

and be able to direct your own treatment.

6. One More Thing…

The book is laid out with a lot of information on the cause behind back pain at

the start, which will take a while to read through. It is important though, so

please read it BEFORE getting to the treatment instructions later on…

Part 1 – The Story of Why You Have Back Pain

1. The Influence of Western Society

Why Do Less Westernized Societies Have Lower Rates of Back Pain?

It is an interesting fact to note that those people living in less industrialized

and westernized countries, such as those in South-East Asia and Africa, have

much lower rates of back pain than people in western countries.

Why is this? It stems from the fact that the people in these countries live in a

more „traditional way‟ and do not do the same damage to their bodies as we

do. They use their bodies in the way it was designed; we explain what this

means later on.

Why Are Western Societies’ Back Pain Rates Getting Worse?

Up to 80% of people in western societies will experience back pain in some

part of their life. Rates of back pain are also increasing. Countries becoming

more industrialized and westernized such as India and China are starting to

report more and more cases of back pain.

We will show why there is a link between western and industrialized society

and back pain. We then will explain how this relates to you, and how

understanding the reasons for this link will help you permanently resolve your

back pain.

The Story behind our Cumulative Damage From Childhood

When we were born we had no back pain and our bodies were in good

working order. What happened between then and now?

If we look at the following diagram it shows that the damage to your back

occurs well before you feel any pain. Since your back was in optimal

condition since you were born, most of us have been doing gradual damage

to our back. This is called cumulative damage. Cumulative means the total

damage successively builds up over time from many individual damage

events. Often we first experience back pain early on in life and it goes away,

causing us to think it has been fixed. But the damage is still occurring, and it

often returns later in life, often for good.

Figure 1- The Cumulative Damage Occurring to your Back is Hidden Until it reaches the pain threshold

However this is not known to us because the damage is hidden until it gets to

the level at which we feel pain. This is why we can hurt our back bending

Chronic

back pain

Condition

or health

of our Back

Cumulative damage

occurring from our habitual

poor body use

Back pain goes

away temporarily.

But damage is still

occurring

First experience

of back pain

over to tie our shoelaces or reaching for a book on a high shelf. It wasn‟t that

one simple movement that actually caused our back to „pop out‟. It was the

years of damage accumulating, and that one movement just put it over the

pain threshold.

What Causes the Cumulative Damage?

We will show in detail the reasons behind the cause of the cumulative

damage to our backs. We will show in this book that the root cause for any

damage occurring is a result of using the body in a way it was not designed

for. This happens because of poor body use patterns.

The diagram below shows this and where pain can arise at different points of

the damage occurring.

Root Causes

Symptoms

4. Poor Body Use

Poor use vs how the body is designed to be used optimally

Spinal Structure and support muscles in poor positions for long periods

Tensing muscles for long periods

6. Initial Damage to Muscles

Support muscles overworked, fatigued & weakening OR

Support muscles adopt long term tightness and new incorrect position

Muscle „Imbalances‟

5. Initial Damage

to Spinal Structure

Initial Damage to Spinal Structure

Temporary Posture Dysfunctions

Compressed discs

2. Environmental:

Sitting on chairs

Lack of squatting, other

poor body use situations

3. Emotional/Mental:

Constant Stress

Lack of relaxation

7. Longer Term Damage

Long Term Posture dysfunctions (eg Scoliosis, Kyphosis)

Nerve Impingement and Pain (Spinal stenosis, Sciatica)

Lumbar Disc Herniation, Spondylolisthesis

Discetomies, Laminectomies Surgeries

Spinal Fusion Surgery

No Pain Felt

(The damage

being done is

“hidden”)

1. Western Society Influences

Changes in the way we use our bodies

Back Pain

from

muscles,

nerves or

spinal

structure

Back Pain

from

muscles

Back Pain

from

Spinal

Structure

The evolution of back pain from the root cause to the symptoms and points that back pain can arise at

2. Environmental

Lack of squatting

One of the important factors that impacts on our ability to move, sit and stand

in a way that does not harm our body is the lack of squatting we now do in

daily life. Squatting is important because it maintains flexibility in the hips and

hamstrings. This helps us sit without doing damage to our spine. It also

allows us to bend down to pick things up and lift heavy things without doing

damage to our back. We no longer squat often enough to maintain this

flexibility.

In the past, over thousands of years, humans squatted when they needed to

stop and rest, or sat on their lower legs with their feet bent under them. This

maintained the length, freedom and space in the spine. By squatting often,

humans naturally had great technique for lifting. This is something only seen

in the best weightlifters today. They could lift heavy objects without injuring

their back.

Note this person can squat with her

heels flat on the ground and keep

length in her spine, without her

lumbar curve collapsing outwards.

Note modern humans have tight

hamstrings and poor hip mobility. Hence

when they squat their lumbar curve

collapses outwards, putting pressure on

the invertebrate discs.

People that still live in the traditional way can still squat all the way to the

ground with their spine in a neutral position whilst keeping their heels on the

ground. They also have more flexible hamstrings which allow them to bend

down and do many other activities whilst keeping a neutral spine position.

Most people in western countries cannot do this. Try this and see how far

your lower back collapses out when you squat with your heels on the ground.

Soft Surfaces With No Feedback

Nowadays we often sit on very soft and heavily cushioned seats, chairs and

beds. What happens when we sit or lie on such surfaces is the body

collapses into the surface. This is because it does not receive firm and

accurate feedback from the surface it is resting on. The body needs firm

surfaces and feedback to activate its supporting muscles for the back and

spine such as the transverse abdominal muscles (T/A).

Sitting on seats with backrests also has this affect. We collapse into the

backrest and don‟t use our core muscles to support ourselves. Hence our

core muscles weaken and aren‟t able to provide support when we need them

to protect our spine from damage.

Chairs and Beds of Poor Design

The chairs that we sit on in our daily life also often have a poor ergonomic

design. Normally the chairs slope backwards. This causes our lumbar curve

to collapse outwards as our core muscles cannot hold our spine in its neutral

position. Good chairs should slope forward so our hips are higher than our

knees.

Sleeping on beds that are too soft and collapse inwards also have a

detrimental effect on our muscles. This can cause our lumbar curve to

collapse outwards when sleeping and our muscles adapt to this new

shortened position. Consequently our spine then changes its shape to this

new, damaging orientation.

Sitting All Day

In the modern way of life, people are often required to sit in the one position

for great lengths of time for their work or to carry out other tasks. This may be

office work, truck driving, farming or other sitting type situations like sewing or

sorting goods. Modern ways of standing and other poor habits also have

effects on your back, but we will discuss these later.

The sitting position places the spine under at least 35% more stress than

standing. Sitting for work, such as the driving of motor vehicles, has been

found in studies to increase the risk of an acute herniated lumbar inter-

vertebral disc.

The effect of not squatting very often and hence having tight hips and

hamstrings means sitting with good posture is difficult for most people. This is

further aggravated by the soft seats and chairs of poor design that we sit on.

Hence our lumbar curve collapses when we sit, putting a lot of pressure on

the invertebral discs and support muscles. This results in compressed discs

that are at risk of herniations, as well as muscle fatigue and tightening.

Isolated Strength Training

Nowadays any strength training we do is commonly working on one muscle in

isolation. For example, using any weights machine at the gym. However to

develop our core stability strength our strength training needs to be full body

functional, dynamic and instability training. What this means is training with

our body weight or Swiss balls so that our core muscles activate and we do

not only work on one muscle. This has the effect of training all our muscles to

be equally strong, perfectly balanced and working together.

Cardio Training

The common way to train nowadays is to do endurance training which

exhausts the muscles and does not give them time to repair and build

strength. Often this is done every day or many times a week. Training to

failure (which means strength training until muscle exhaustion and you can do

no more) once a week has been shown to be a far more effective way to build

muscle strength.

Diet

The common diet that most people consume nowadays has an added effect

on back pain. Often the diet is much higher in sugar and carbohydrates than

the body is designed for. This has the effect of most people carrying extra

weight than their optimal body weight. This puts additional stress on the spine

and increases back pain.

The common western diet also inhibits healing with many foods that cause

inflammation or restricts healing, such as sugars, dairy and other

inflammation-causing food. This all has a worsening effect on back pain.

Digestive problems, kidney and liver problems can also be caused by poor

diet and this has been shown to contribute to back pain.

3. Emotional Factors

Stress and Fight or Flight Syndrome

Stress increases respiration, pulse rates, blood pressure and often muscle

tension. When this stress reaction is turned on it is called the “fight or flight”

effect. This is designed for humans to help them either fight or evade danger

in their environment.

Stress can be both a good and bad thing. It is only a problem when we are

under stress for too long.

In a modern environment, we are bombarded with stimuli all day long in the

form of deadlines, noisy environments and stressful actions (i.e. driving). In

this case we don‟t fight or flee but we endure this stress and the body‟s

response is activated again and again for long periods of time.

Under stress the body‟s muscles also shorten, especially the head and neck

which is pulled down and back. This interferes with the natural movement of

the body which affects the back.

Where it also relates to back pain is in people holding excess tension in their

muscles for long periods of time which fatigues the muscles.

Emotional stress can also have an impact on the health of the entire body and

hence can contribute to back pain. People undergoing stress and changes in

their life often hold tension around the pelvic region which affects the lower

back as the muscles become fatigued and do not provide support for the

spine.

Lack of relaxation

Another effect of the busyness of modern society is that we rarely take

sufficient downtime to relax. We are always rushing off to somewhere else to

do some other job that is next on the list. Activating the relaxation response is

important because it has the opposite effect to stress and instead it reduces

muscle tension in the body and promotes healing.

4. Poor Body Use

5. Initial Damage to Spinal Structure

One effect of these poor body use habits is placing the body in damaging

structural positions for long periods of time. It is important to note that the

body can handle positions to the extremes of its movements, but it cannot

handle these for long periods of time or under load.

The overriding effect of all the western society influences on us

is that we exhibit poor body use. In fact using the body in ways

it was not designed has become a habit for us, so we have poor

movement and postural habits.

By poor we mean using the body in a way that damages it. In

part 3 of this book, we show how to retrain your body with good

habits that are optimal to avoid damage.

The initial damage to the spinal structure comes in the form of accelerated

disc degeneration; this is now seen in most people over 30 years of age in

western countries. The back wall of the disc will start to weaken at this time,

putting it at risk of herniation.

The facet joints which connect the vertebrae together at the back can also be

irritated at this time causing pain.

6. Initial Damage to Muscles

The initial damage to our muscles can occur from elevated muscle tension for

long periods. Muscle tension is needed to hold good posture and move in

daily life, it is only a problem when we hold more tension in the muscles than

needed for long periods.

Elevated muscle tension can occur from 2 causes: habitual tension or injury.

Habitual tension is when we tense our muscles continuously, usually because

we are stressed. The elevated tension can become a habitual feedback loop

between the muscle fibers and the nervous system. This means it becomes

elevated all the time without us even being aware of it anymore.

The other cause of elevated muscle tension is from injury. This can be an

acute injury such as when we put our back muscles outside their normal

range of movement or put them under too much load. It can also be a

cumulative injury from overuse by trying to hold good posture with the wrong

muscles. If we used muscles that are designed to move us, not stabilize the

spine then they become fatigued and suffer overuse damage.

The muscles surrounding the injured area will then go into elevated tension or

spasm to protect the injured area.

The long held tension in the muscle can then cause changes at the cellular

level. Collagen will be deposited in the area and fibrosis and mineralization

can result. This is what we often call a “knot” in our muscle. This can be very

hard to repair and results in reduced range of movement, usually

permanently.

7. Longer Term Damage

The elevated muscle tension described above and reduced range of

movement can cause postural dysfunctions that are very hard to reverse.

Examples of these are scoliosis –a curve in the spine from side to side, or

kyphosis – a hunchback type curve of the upper spine.

As the height of the invertebral discs decreases due to the degeneration, this

has an effect on the amount of space available for the various structures in

the spine. When the space available for the ligaments and the spinal cord

sheath decreases, pressure is applied to the segmental nerves causing pain

(at either that location of referred pain in another area).

Sciatica can also appear at this time. It is commonly thought that sciatica

occurs from disc material impinging (compressing) on the sciatic nerve,

however it is important to note there is muscular causes for this condition as

well.

The worst case result if the postural dysfunctions and poor use continues is

permanent spinal structure damage. For example conditions such as

ruptured and herniated discs.

Part 2- Why common medical treatments fail us

There are many treatments available for back pain. The question is why don‟t

they produce long term relief? Commonly they only produce short term

results, by treating the symptoms only such as the pain.

The diagram below shows that to get effective treatment that results in

permanent relief it must begin at the root cause. Unless the root cause of the

damage is treated, the damage will continue to occur over and over again.

However most mainstream medical treatments only address the symptoms as

shown below.

Common medical treatments address only the symptoms of back pain, not the root cause

Root Causes

Symptoms

4. Poor Body Use

Poor use vs how the body is designed to be used optimally

Spinal Structure and support muscles in poor positions for long periods

Tensing muscles for long periods

6. Initial Damage to Muscles

Support muscles overworked, fatigued & weakening OR

Support muscles adopt long term tightness and new incorrect position

Muscle „Imbalances‟

5. Initial Damage

to Spinal Structure

Initial Damage to Spinal Structure

Temporary Posture Dysfunctions

Compressed discs

2. Environmental:

Sitting on chairs

Lack of squatting, other

poor body use situations

3. Emotional/Mental:

Constant Stress

Lack of relaxation

7. Longer Term Damage

Long Term Posture dysfunctions (eg Scoliosis, Kyphosis)

Nerve Impingement and Pain (Spinal stenosis, Sciatica)

Lumbar Disc Herniation, Spondylolisthesis

1. Western Society Influences

Changes in the way we use our bodies

Scoliosis Braces

Surgery Spinal

Fusions Discetomies Laminectomies

Massage Physiotherapy

Acupuncture Muscle

strengthening

programs

Chiropractic Adjustments

Osteopath Manipulation

Inversion Therapy

Surgery

For some people the first stage of their back pain treatment begins at the end

of the line - surgery. The vertebral column has long been thought of by

doctors as the sole cause of back pain hence the reason for surgery. However

this is not the case, it can arise from muscle and nerve pain as well.

The results of surgery are less than satisfactory for many people. They have

complications and side effects. The root cause of the problem has not been

treated, so by still using the body in a poor way it continues to be damaged.

Surgery makes rehabilitation harder as once the deep supporting muscles

have been cut though, it is much harder for them to repair and strengthen

satisfactorily.

Recent studies on the use of MRIs showed that some disc degeneration is

evident even in people that do not currently have back pain. Often such disc

degeneration is used to justify surgery, even though now it has been shown

that the degeneration itself is often not the cause of the pain and hence

surgery will not have a beneficial effect.

Disc degeneration was once thought to be irreversible, but recent studies

have also shown that disc degeneration can be reversed.

Back Support Braces

Back braces are often used to provide support for back pain sufferers to

support the spine in a more neutral position. Whilst providing temporary

support, these braces do not of course address the root cause of the problem,

and the body can become even weaker by relying on them.

Bracing is also often used for scoliosis and other conditions to try to hold the

curve from progressing further. For scoliosis that has developed after birth

however, a much more effective approach is to address the root cause of the

problem.

Inversion Therapy

Inversion therapy is used to reduce the pressure on the invertebral discs and

allow the discs to return to height. This can also help the spinal column

realign itself somewhat. Inversion therapy is a useful tool to reduce the

damage done to the discs. It can however be too aggressive a position for

some people and can induce greater muscle spasm if they have tight muscles

that connect to the spine. It also does not address the cause of the discs

becoming compressed in the first place. In part 3 of this book, we show an

inversion treatment therapy that is much more gentle on the body.

Osteopath and Chiropractic Manipulation and Adjustment

Chiropractic and osteopathy focus on a lesion or disturbance in the spine as a

cause for a person‟s lower back pain. Chiropractors manipulate this back into

place with short, fast adjustments (“cracking your back”), whereas osteopaths

are more focused on slower, soft tissue adjustments. Neither treatment

however addresses what caused the disturbance in the first place.

Muscle strengthening programs

Muscle strengthening programs such as a series of exercises to strengthen

the „core‟ or supporting structure of the spine are practiced by personal

trainers and bodywork practitioners. If the proper exercises are given these

can provide tremendous benefits.

However often exercises are given to people who have very poor body use

patterns, lifting and movement techniques. Lifting weights with poor body use

and technique has the result of increasing the stress on the body, and

accelerates the damage done to the body. The poor body use and lifting

techniques must be addressed before undertaking a strengthening program.

Additionally, „ab crunches‟ or sit ups are often given as strengthening

exercises for people with back pain. These exercises do not strengthen the

corset shaped, multilayer abdominal muscles that wrap around the entire

body. Instead, ab crunches strengthen the hip flexors which are already often

overworked in people with back pain.

Massage

Massage is an excellent treatment for releasing tension in muscles and also

breaking up any fibrosis or mineralization that has occurred in the muscles. It

is important to find a skilled masseuse that does not focus on any muscles

that are already fatigued and inflamed as massaging these will cause more

inflammation and pain.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is another excellent technique for short-term relief, it releases

muscle tension as well as promotes blood flow which aids healing in the body.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapists work on relieving muscle tension and strengthening the

supporting muscles (as opposed to chiropractors who work with the spinal

structure). They often are very effective at relieving pain in the short term, but

usually can‟t supply lasting results as they generally don‟t teach better body

use.

Physiotherapists can sometimes teach a form of good body use in the way of

ergonomics, such as appropriate sitting and workstation posture. Often

however they will encourage patients to „work‟ to pull their shoulders back etc

into good posture. This can often cause tightness in the shoulders and other

areas. We will show that good posture must be achieved by doing less (using

fewer muscles) not more, so as not to exhaust the muscles or hold excessive

tension.

They also often use the “Mackenzie method” which treats disc problems by

exerting reverse tension in the discs to attempt to return them to their normal

position. This is only a short term solution and is quite aggressive and a

dangerous way to return the disc to its normal position. This technique is also

often applied generally to all patients, when for some it is not at all suitable

and will aggravate their problem causing more pain and damage.

Effective treatment must address the root cause

People can gain significant relief from these methods, but

always find the treatment doesn’t last, as there is no focus on

what caused the disturbance in the spine’s alignment or the

muscles tension or exhaustion to begin with. If the

disturbance was due to a car accident or sporting injury, then

it is not necessary to treat this cause as it is unlikely it will

occur again.

However if the cause is poor body use and the damage

accumulates over time, then the issue of poor body use needs

to be addressed. We explain how to treat the root cause of

cumulative back pain – poor body use – below.

Part 3- How to Get Long Lasting Relief

For back pain treatment to be effective in the long term it must address the

root cause of the problem. But it also must address the symptoms as well, to

reduce pain and allow the back pain sufferer to undertake a strengthening

program to prevent further damage and pain.

The natural back pain solution addresses all 3 stages, as well as being an all

natural, holistic treatment that treats the body as a whole.

The Natural Back Pain System – 3 Steps to Long Term

Relief

1. Stop the Damage Occurring & Train your Body for

Optimal Use

2. Treat the Damage

3. Strengthen the supporting muscles

The natural back pain solution treats the problem at all stages including the root cause

Root Causes

Symptoms

4. Poor Body Use

Poor use vs how the body is designed to be used optimally

Spinal Structure and support muscles in poor positions for long periods

Tensing muscles for long periods

6. Initial Damage to Muscles

Support muscles overworked, fatigued & weakening OR

Support muscles adopt long term tightness and new incorrect position

Muscle „Imbalances‟

5. Initial Damage

to Spinal Structure

Initial Damage to Spinal Structure

Temporary Posture Dysfunctions

Compressed discs

2. Environmental:

Sitting on chairs

Lack of squatting, other

poor body use situations

3. Emotional/Mental:

Constant Stress

Lack of relaxation

7. Longer Term Damage

Long Term Posture dysfunctions (eg Scoliosis, Kyphosis)

Nerve Impingement and Pain (Spinal stenosis, Sciatica)

Lumbar Disc Herniation, Spondylolisthesis

1. Western Society Influences

Changes in the way we use our bodies

Effective Treatment Must Treat The Root Causes

Step 1: Stop the Damage Occurring & Re-train the body for optimal use

Step 2: Treat the Damage

Step 3: Strengthen the supporting muscles

1. Stop the Damage Occurring & Train your Body for Optimal Use

The first part of any effective back pain treatment program must be to stop

the damage that is occurring. This means treating or stopping the root

cause of the problem. In the case of cumulative back pain this is poor

body use.

Exercise 1: Identify Poor Use Patterns and excessive tension

As our poor body use habits become familiar to us and our body, we can no

longer tell when we are sitting lopsided or standing with poor use. We have

an unreliable sensory awareness.

To demonstrate this, find a full length mirror and stand in front of it, only in

your underwear (if a mirror is not available, ask someone else to observe you

or get them to take photographs).

Close your eyes and stand in a symmetrical standing position before opening

your eyes. Now observe in the mirror whether or not you are really standing

symmetrically. Is your head tilted to one side, is one shoulder or hip higher

than the other?

Now close your eyes and lift both arms out to the sides so they feel horizontal.

Now open your eyes. Is one arm higher than the other? Close your eyes and

from the elbow, point your arms straight up whilst leaving your upper arms

horizontal. Open your eyes – how level are your arms, is one hand higher

than the other?

You can also try this by standing on two bathroom scales to see whether you

place even weight on both legs. This exercise can also be done by sitting on

a chair front on or side on to the mirror. Experiment moving your head into

different positions with your eyes closed and guessing where it is before you

open your eyes.

What this demonstrates is in fact we are often not sitting or standing straight

when we think we are. At the moment we cannot rely on the body to give us

accurate feedback on good or bad use. Over time as our good use improves,

our sensory awareness will improve.

Exercise 2: Identify Excessive Muscle Tension

Operating our bodies with good use in regards to muscle tension is doing

everything with the minimum possible muscular effort.

You can hold tension in your muscle without actually contracting the muscle.

You can try this same exercise, but hold your bicep as you write. The simple

act of holding a tiny pen and moving it across the page should take little effort,

but we can use huge amounts of tension in our upper arm. This has

developed from when we first learnt to write and we were under pressure as

children to get it right for our teacher! The habit of holding tension has stayed

with us from an early age.

To demonstrate this - allow your arm to hang down by your

side. Place your opposite hand on your bicep. Tense your

bicep as much as possible as if you’re flexing it to show it off.

Feel the tension you create.

Now bending at the elbow, move the arm to the horizontal

position and feel the tension in the bicep created. Now

experiment lifting the arm up and down with the most tension

you can, making the muscle work very hard.

Now imagine that there is a string tied to the end of your finger

and as you lift your arm to a horizontal position, the movement

is lead from the end of your finger. You should notice a large

reduction in the tension in your bicep.

In everyday life we hold far too much tension in our muscles. The first step is

to identify this tension in our daily movements, and the second step is to

choose to release this tension and perform our movements with much less

tension. We explain how to do this below.

Exercise 3: Learnthe Fundamental Directions and Techniques for Good Use

The 4 fundamental directions

for good body use

1. Think of allowing your head

and neck to release

forward and up.

2. Allow your torso to

lengthen and widen,

3. Think of your legs releasing

away from your pelvis

4. Allow your shoulders to

release out to the side.

The practical application of giving directions or cues for good use is difficult to

apply. Stand up and get someone to put their hand on the muscles around

your knee. Now soften your knees. Ask them to remember the amount of

muscle tension. Now “think of” softening your knees and allow them to go

forward if they want to, but don‟t actually move your knees. Your partner

should feel a noticeable decrease in muscle tension.

The first time you bend your knees you were using your bad habitual body

use. The second time you were using good directions which encouraged

good use. Instead of you actually telling the body what muscles to use, you

just gave directions of what you wanted done, and your body then was able to

follow these directions, using only the minimal amount of muscle tension

needed.

The body naturally wants to use a minimal amount of muscle tension to

perform your daily movements. It is only ourselves that interferes with this.

To return our bodies to good use that we had as a child, we simply need to

give directions and let the body do the rest.

Learn correct movements and positions

Exercise 4: Learning to Sit Correctly

You can repeat the exercise above in daily life, by placing your hand on your

lower back when sitting and noticing the tension you hold. Now give good

directions – allow your head to release forward and up, allow your spine to

lengthen upwards and downwards. Allow your knees to go forward and away

from your hips. By giving good directions you should notice a reduction in

muscle tension.

It is also useful to practice sitting in front of a mirror and notice what your body

is doing as you practice these exercises.

Feel for excessive muscle tension

when sitting Check your sit bones are pointed

straight down and directly

underneath your shoulders and hips

By placing a hand under your buttock you should be able to feel your sit

bones at the bottom of your pelvis. Slump and notice the sit bones move

forward. Now arch your back and notice them move all the way back. Now

sit whilst giving the directions for your head to release up (think of it being

pulled up with a hot air balloon), notice your sit bones pointing straight down.

Initially it will be hard to hold positions of good use for long periods without

becoming tired. This is because although you are decreasing muscle tension

in a lot of muscles, your large stabilizer muscles such as your deep transverse

abdominals will be activated for the first time. They will not be accustomed to

being used for such a long time.

Exercise 5: Moving from sitting to standing, and vice versa

Moving from a standing position to sitting is something we do often during our

day, yet is it one of the most difficult movements to practice with good use.

Most people hold extreme tension in their bodies when performing this

movement. The way they do this is to pull the head back and down whilst

reaching for the chair with their bottom. This compresses the spine and once

you are seated it makes it hard to take a good position of good use.

The correct way to move from standing to sitting is to release the head

forwards and up whilst bending at the hips, knees and ankles. It needs to be

thought of as the same as moving to a full squatting position on the floor

Note the head looking forward and pulled down

and back and the legs not bent enough. This means

there is no length in the spine and it is compressed

at the neck and lumbar curve.

except stopping half way down. The movement is lead with the head then by

allowing the knees to go forward and all joints to hinge. Your eyes and head

should look down slightly as you do the movement to maintain length in the

spine. Practice this exercise in front of the mirror and also with your hand on

the back of your neck or lower back and try to complete the movement with a

minimum of tension.

Note the head is now looking down slightly and the

legs are bent more. This means there is more

length in the spine and it is not compressed as

before.

Exercise 6: Standing

Learning to stand correctly again is a great way to train your abdominals to

support your back. Stand side on to a full length mirror in only your

underwear (if you don‟t have a large mirror then get someone to take photos

of you). Notice your alignment. Are your ears, shoulders, hip bones and

ankles all in line?

Learning to stand correctly

1. Give your directions – allow the head to go forward and

up. Another cue useful for allowing your head to go

forward and up is to imagine a hot air balloon tied to a

small string to the top of your head

2. It is important at this point to remind you that by

allowing the head to release forward and up we don’t

try and force this by activating our muscles. Simply

think it and allow your body to do the rest. It will work

out which muscles to release.

3. Now give the directions for your spine to lengthen. It

may be helpful to think of your tailbone as the end of

your spine and imagine it extending well below your

hip joints and pelvis. Think of a small weight hanging

off the bottom of your spine, your tailbone. Now think

of the hot air balloon pulling your spine up. Again only

“think” these directions, don’t actually “do” them by

forcing your body in any particular way.

When standing correctly the ears, shoulders, hips

and ankles are in line. Use the cue or direction of a

hot air balloon pulling your head up and a small

weight hanging off your tailbone.

Exercise 7: Walking

When walking, first think of releasing your head up and your spine to

lengthen. Now think of your knees directing your legs away from your pelvis.

Think of releasing your buttock muscles. Again remind yourself of your spine

ending below your hip joints. Hence your spine should stay stable and still

whilst your legs hinge from your hips. Think of your knees being pulled up by

a piece of string as they step forward. Your legs should swing freely.

When walking correctly, the legs will swing freely

Exercise 8: Bending down to the floor

For the moment, the way to bend down to the floor will be by squatting down.

Point your feet outwards slightly and let your knees bend over the top of your

feet. It is important to note our hips are designed to let our legs, knees and

feet point outwards from parallel when squatting. Trying to bend down with

parallel feet as advised by some gym trainers will lead to knee, hip and back

trouble. When squatting, apply the same directions of allowing your head to

release up, and the spine to lengthen from your head to your tailbone. Allow

your heels to lift up from the floor as you will not have the flexibility yet to keep

them on the ground whilst maintaining alignment in the spine.

Note length in the spine and feet pointing outwards

Sleeping

When sleeping it is best to sleep on your side or back. Avoid sleeping on your

stomach as this is a damaging position for your neck.

When sleeping on your side it is helpful to use pillows to lift your knees and

arms up so you don‟t collapse on your front and your body stays on its side.

Always use the firmest pillow and mattress you can find to support your body

securely and provide feedback to the body. Avoid soft mattresses and pillows

at all costs. Latex on dense foam mattresses and pillows are best. Choose a

bed with a firm bed base (or place a large board under your mattress).

Driving

When driving use a pelvic support such as a rolled up towel to stop your

pelvis from collapsing back and down into the seat. This will prevent the

lumbar curve of your back from being compressed.

Exercise 9: Semi supine to learn neutral position

The final, but most important exercise to re-learn good body use appears a

little strange when first explained. It also doubles as a decompression and

healing exercise for the spine. For re-learning good body use its benefits are

retraining the body‟s awareness as to what is a neutral position for the spine.

It also allows us to practice giving our directions of releasing the head

lengthening the spine and widening the torso in a relaxed position.

First set aside 20 minutes of time when you will not be interrupted. Take the

phone off the hook. Turn off the TV, radio and other distractions. Find a

warm room with enough space on the

floor for you to lie down. Carpet is a

perfect surface, if you have floor boards

put down a yoga mat or 2 towels.

To find the height of the books you will

need for this exercise stand back against

a wall with your heels to the wall. Stand

in a relaxed way and give your directions

and get someone to measure the gap

between the back of your head and the

wall. You now need to collect a book or

books that will give this height.

Place the books on the floor. Now with

careful use squat down to the floor then

roll onto your buttocks. Now place your

feet out in front of you and use your hand

to support your head as you lay down Measure the height of books you

need

and place your head on the books. Keep your legs bent, your heels close to

your buttocks and your knees pointing up. Your feet should be shoulder width

apart.

Now relax and allow your head to release away from your spine. . Allow your

back to spread out on the floor like honey oozing out over a flat surface.

Notice what points of your back are making contact with the floor. Don‟t

readjust your position, just notice and allow your body to release tension.

Do this for 15-20 minutes, all the time thinking of allowing your body to

expand and release. This will train you in good body position and body use.

Although this exercise seems simple, its importance cannot be overestimated.

Complete it at least once a day.

The semi supine position: Powerful for relearning

the correct use of your body.

Manage stress in life to avoid tensing of muscles and overuse

It is important for us to manage the stress in our life otherwise this will

manifest in us holding excessive muscle tension. Things like scheduling in

relaxation time as well as taking time to meditate or some form of anaerobic

exercise can help relieve stress.

Avoid bad positions and movements

At the early stages of rehabilitation and re-training your body in correct use it

is important to avoid activities and sports that put the body in situations where

it is difficult to maintain good use (you will be able to resume these sports later

once you have mastered the principles of good use).

These include cycling because of the hunched over position and the need to

pull the neck back and up to look ahead at the road. Stationary cycling where

you can ride upright with the spine keeping its alignment is okay.

Running puts too much pressure on the body and should be avoided at this

stage. Any sports with complex movements including twisting should be

avoided, such as football, weight lifting and most gym work.

Walking is okay. Swimming is only okay if you can swim freestyle skillfully

and breathe evenly on both sides. Otherwise, contrary to common advice it

should be avoided at this stage.

2. Treat the Damage

There are 3 stages of repairing the damage that has been done to your back

and body causing the pain:

1. repair of the muscles

2. repair of the spinal structure

3. repair of the whole body

1. Repair of the muscles

The repair of the muscles must address several factors:

the release of excessive tension including any fibrosis or mineralization

strengthening of any overused, fatigued, damaged and overstretched

muscles.

The release of excessive tension including any fibrosis or mineralization

The first step for release of tension is to apply good directions and practice

good use in your daily movements. This is explained in the chapter above.

Time must also be spent in the semi-supine position each day.

Stress management techniques must also be applied in daily life as mental

stress can manifest as physical tension in the muscles.

For release of any fibrosis and mineralization in the muscles deep tissue and

remedial massage techniques are excellent. Try several massage

practitioners before selecting the best one. You will need weekly

appointments initially to break up the tension in your muscles. If you cannot

afford weekly appointments, hire a book from the library and teach a family

member to massage or self-massage your muscles. The massage sessions

will be quite painful initially.

Exercises to break up tension in the muscles

Stretching

Stretching is also an excellent way to release the tension in your muscles in

combination with massage treatment. To start you need to warm up before

you stretch as an increase in your core muscle temperature results in a large

increase in flexibility. An appropriate exercise for this would be fast walking,

stationary cycling or some stair step-ups.

Stretching is best done only once or twice a week to allow the muscles time to

repair and heal. A partner can help a great deal with stretching.

There is such a wide variety of stretches to do depending on your condition,

but the best way to stretch is with Contract-Relax or PNF stretching. This is

the best form of stretching and yields far greater results that any methods

taught.

The Contract-Relax (CR) method will help you gain flexibility, range of

movement and strength at the extremes of movement. To do a C-R stretch,

move the limb to be stretched into a gently stretched position and hold it there

for 15-30 seconds (depending on the size of the muscle). Once the muscle is

relaxed at that position, contract by attempting to pull the limb in the opposite

direction of the stretch for 5-10 seconds. Now stop and take a deep breath in,

on the breath out stretch the muscle further and hold there for 20-60 seconds.

Repeat this up to 3 times.

Note: stretching should not be painful and you must continue to breathe

throughout the stretch otherwise it will have no effect. Ensure you stay very

warm whilst stretching to promote flexibility.

Hamstring stretch

This is a great hamstring stretch for people with back pain because the back

is fully supported by the floor. Lie as shown. To increase the stretch, move

yourself closer to the door. Push against the wall for a contraction. If the leg

is slightly bent this is okay.

Hip Flexor Stretch Kneeling

Start kneeling as shown. To stretch the hip flexor let your tailbone drop down

whilst leaning back slightly. To increase the stretch push your hips further

forward. The stretch should be felt at the front & inside of the upper leg.

Hip Flexor leg lower

Prop yourself up on your elbows with your legs together. Raise one leg

straight up, then move it 45 degrees out to the side. Allow it to drop down

whilst counting to 10, keeping the leg straight. Give it a shake and move to

the other leg. Repeat until muscle exhaustion (about 5 repeats initially

working up to 12).

Floor Hip mobility stretch

This activity stretches the lower back as well as the muscles surrounding the

hip. It is a great one to do first thing in the morning to give lots of hip mobility

so you can bend at the hips instead of your lower back. Simply start on your

hands and knees, push your arms all the way forward and sit down on your

feet as shown. Experiment with a feet and knee width comfortable for you.

Hold for 30 seconds to 5 minutes, depending upon your condition.

Calf Stretch

This is a great stretch for very tight calf muscles and Achilles tendons. Kneel

as shown. Place the forearm on the knee and rest the weight on your upper

body to start the stretch. Push the ball of your foot into the ground as the

contraction.

Quadratus Lumborum stretch

Start as shown with your back to the wall. The towel and pillow supports the

leg if you have tight hamstrings. Raise your arm over your head as far as is

needed for the stretch.

The rest and then strengthening of any overused, fatigued, damaged and over stretched

muscles

Again the best rest for overused muscles is to apply good use in your daily life

and semi-supine at least once a day.

Make sure your massage practitioner avoids working these muscles at all.

Avoid trying to strengthen them initially.

Back muscle loosening exercise

To return some overall muscle looseness to your whole back, follow this

series of movements to return some good use and movement to your body:

1. Stand whilst thinking of releasing your head up. Allow your torso to

lengthen and widen.

2. Bend into a squat following the instructions given earlier.

3. Go onto your hands and knees, and think of lengthening outwards

from your head. You will be looking down at the floor.

4. Crawl forwards and backwards. Think of length in your spine and

freedom in your hips, where your legs will pivot from. Fold up with

your buttocks on your heels with your legs beneath you and your

arms outstretched in front. This will allow your pelvis and spine to

release.

5. Roll onto your back and bring your knees to your chest with an arm

on each knee. Rotate your knees in circles, one at a time to

introduce movement back into your pelvis and hip joint.

6. Roll over onto hands and knees, stop in this position for a bit.

7. Roll over into the semi-supine position and think of your directions of

good use. Allow your back to spread out on the floor. Now return to

standing. Repeat the sequence if necessary or do a 20 minute semi

supine.

2. Repair of the spinal structure

The gentlest healing exercise for the spinal structure is a decompression

exercise with the semi-supine as described above, with one variation. The

semi-supine is done with the lower legs supported horizontal, level with the

knees. A lounge chair, couch or bed will be good for this, but make sure the

supporting surface is not too soft.

This position is more powerful because it will allow the normally tight hip

flexors to reduce their pressure on the lumbar curve of the spine so it can

release fully. This position is also a good exercise to practice your directions

as it is easier to maintain than the normal semi-supine position.

3. Repair of the whole body

Here the last stage of healing is to work on the whole body.

Tight hip flexors reduce pressure

on lumbar curve in this position

Powerful but gentle spinal decompression: The lumbar

curve is allowed to decompress with the whole spine

Firstly, again look at stress reduction techniques. This is crucial as mental

stress manifests physically.

Next get enough sleep. Most adults need a minimum of 8 hours, but many

rarely get this. If you have been falling asleep whilst practicing the semi-

supine you have sleep deprivation and need to get more sleep! Sleep is

essential healing time for the body.

The most powerful healing technique for the body is with diet. By diet we

don‟t mean losing weight rather we are referring to an eating plan for healing

for the body. The importance of diet cannot be underestimated for the body.

A good diet will maintain a healthy weight, help positive mood and energy

levels and promote decrease in inflammation as well as repair of damaged

tissues.

The first step in a good diet is to understand what foods the human body is

designed to operate at maximum efficiency with. Most of our biology and

evolution took place before the age of agriculture. Hence omit these foods

from your diet almost completely as they disrupt healing:

Most carbohydrate including most grains ie wheat, barley and most

flours

Dairy (milk, cheese, etc)

Sugar (soft drink, any sweets or snacks)

What can I eat?

What the human body evolved eating as hunter gatherers - lean meat, fruit,

vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds.

Introduce a fruit only breakfast and fruit only snacks until lunch time.

Have a lunch of salad only. For afternoon snacks have a handful of freshly

shelled nuts.

For dinner have a small portion of lean meat (preferably fish, grass fed lamb

or beef), and vegetables.

Have 2 meat free nights per week to cycle your diet.

Drink a minimum of 2 liters of water a day, more in warmer climates, when

exercising and if you weigh more than 60kgs (if you weigh 90ks you need 3

liters a day minimum). Avoid coffee and black tea. Herbal tea is okay.

Take supplements to promote healing. Magnesium tissue salts will promote

the relaxation of your muscles. Glucosamine will promote joint healing in the

spinal structure. Take a quality multivitamin, vitamin C (1000mg) and a

quality oil supplement such as fish or flaxseed oil. Always buy your vitamins at

a health food store and never at a supermarket to ensure you get the best

quality. Supermarket vitamins are often filled with fillers and additives.

Eating this diet will encourage healthy weight loss if needed, however do not

restrict portions. It is far more effective to eat only healthy foods and avoid

sugar and carbohydrates completely. This will help reduce and maintain a

healthy weight.

Reducing sugar and carbohydrate intake will also increase your energy levels

and overall mood.

3. Strengthen the supporting muscles

Embarking on a strengthening program is the last stage of the healing

process for your back pain. If the poor body use habits are not fixed first, then

any strengthening exercises will only add to the damage on your body. You

should spend weeks to months on the first 2 stages in this chapter.

The strengthening exercises are ranked in order of difficulty. Note this is not

how difficult it is to complete them, but rather a rank of how strenuous these

are on your body. Depending on the severity of your damage to your back

and weakness will depend on how long you spend at each stage. As a guide

you should spend weeks to months on the beginner exercises and weeks to

months on the medium difficulty exercises, before attempting the advanced

exercises.

At any stage if you experience more than mild tightness in your muscles or

any more than mild pain, then discontinue the strengthening exercises and

revert back to stage 1 and 2 of this chapter until the pain and tightness has

stopped.

It is also critical during these exercises to pay full attention to them. This

means no listening to music or watching TV whilst working out. It is important

to listen to the body and pay full attention to your directions. This applies for

all exercises in this chapter.

Beginner Exercises

Correct use of body

The first strengthening exercise is correct body use. This means as you

practice good use of your body in daily life, your body will naturally strengthen.

Exercise 1: Cycle

This exercise will strengthen the transverse abdominals whilst maintain good

use in the body. To start, lie in the semi-supine position to start, with your

head on books.

Now lift one leg up and bring your knee to your chest by imagining a string is

lifting it up from your big toe. From your chest, still thinking of leading the

movement with your toes, extend your foot and leg outwards with your lower

leg to the horizontal. Maintain your spine in a position of length by still thinking

of your head going away and thinking of length in the spine. When extending

your leg out, if you feel your lower back start to rise off the floor, stop the

movement there.

Now return your knee to your chest and then foot to the floor. Repeat the

exercise with the other leg and alternate. Start with about 5 on each side,

working up to 10 and 20 after a few weeks. Always practice the movement

with as little as possible muscular effort. The cue of your toe being lifted by a

string will help this.

Exercise 2: Arm and leg out

This exercise strengthens the back muscles whilst maintaining good use and

length in the spine.

Start on your hands and knees, with your knees shoulder distance apart.

Allow your head to move away from your spine and your spine to lengthen.

To do this your eyes will be looking straight down at the floor.

Raise your left arm and right leg, thinking of lengthening from your finger tip to

the opposite toe. Only raise your arm and leg as high as you can maintain

your balance, and raise it no higher than your head. For a more advanced

exercise straighten your arm and leg as you raise them.

Exercise 3: Calm abiding

This exercise will allow you to widen across the torso and ribcage as well as

releasing your shoulder muscles. It promotes good body use.

Stand with feet shoulder width apart in a comfortable position and your arms

hanging down by your side. Think of your directions: allow your head to

release up and your torso to widen.

Now leading with your finger tips as if they are being pulled up by strings like

a puppet, raise your arms slowly out at each side to the horizontal with your

palms down. Stop and think of your directions again; allow the head to

release up, allow your spine to lengthen, release your buttock muscles if

necessary. Think of having space at your elbow so there is length in your

forearm and upper arm.

Now turn your hands so your palms are facing up. Allow your elbows to bend

and leading with your finger tips, raise your forearms up to vertical whilst

keeping your upper arms at horizontal. Hold this position for 2 minutes whilst

continuing to give directions of good use; allow your shoulders to widen, allow

space in your forearm from finger tip to elbow, allow your head to release up

and your spine to lengthen.

Medium Difficulty Exercises

Each of these exercises should only be done once or twice a week, to failure

(muscle exhaustion). More and more studies are showing training to failure

only once or twice a week is the most effective way to build strength. Training

every day exhausts the muscles and does not give them a chance to heal and

grow.

These exercises concentrate on the transverse abdominal (T/A) muscles.

They may seem easier than other exercises you have seen, however most

exercises do not activate the transverse abdominals properly. Often the hip

flexors or other muscles take over and the transverse abdominals do not get

used. These exercises will train you to use your transverse abdominals with

good body use and form.

Exercise 1: Double knee lift

Start this exercise lying on the floor on your back with your shoes off. Place a

folded up towel under your back in the lumbar curve of your spine. Lift your

feet off the floor so your knees are to your chest and your lower legs are

horizontal. Your hips will be just off the floor.

Now continue to think of your directions; let your head release away from your

spine and allow your spine to lengthen. Let your hips and legs move away

slightly, whilst keeping very strong directions. Giving the directions to

lengthen your spine whilst doing this will activate your T/A and you will feel

your abdominal area draw inwards towards your spine slowly. Bring your legs

and knees back to your body.

Repeat this, extending your legs as far out as you can whilst keeping good

use – until you can no longer give the directions and your spine starts to

collapse at your lumber curve. This means the T/A muscles are fatigued and

cannot support the spine in a good position any more.

Exercise 2: Double knee rotation

This exercise both strengthens and stretches the whole back. Start lying on

the floor with your arms outstretched to either side. Lift your knees to your

chest and then rotate them to one side and up towards your hand. Rotating

them to the side and up ensures the length remains in the spine and it also

stretches the lower back muscles.

Now whilst giving your directions of head out and away from spine and to

maintain length in the spine, draw the legs up and rotate back to your chest.

Ensure you give the directions strongly to maintain length in the spine as this

activates the T/A and ensures they get used. It is helpful to think of your tail

bone going out opposite to your head going out. This will activate the T/A and

not let your lumbar curve collapse and compress your vertebrae.

Advanced exercises

The best advanced exercises are done with a professional trained in correct

body use.

For those wishing to get back into sport, there are some sports that will

provide excellent strengthening, if they are performed with attention to always

giving the directions of good use.

Walking

Hills and stairs are excellent walking that will build strength. Always think of

your head releasing up and allow your legs to pivot at your hips.

Cycling

Cycling is a great activity if you can do it whilst maintaining length in the spine.

Bikes with higher handlebars are best for this.

Swimming

Swimming freestyle is an excellent activity (avoid other strokes). It is best to

learn to breathe on both sides to maintain length in the spine. Concentrate on

the directions of good use by allowing your head to release outwards and your

legs to release away from your hips. Work on minimizing muscular tension as

much as possible. When kicking, allow your legs to hinge from the hips and

your arms to rotate freely in your shoulder without stretching too far forward

on each stroke and rounding the shoulders.

Summary

Have you ever had this said to you before?

“Your back pain is something that will never really go away, and is something

you will have to live with for the rest of your life.”

This is NOT true, and you can now be positive about getting permanent relief

for your back pain, because now you have the resources you need.

By applying the techniques in this book, you can once and for all address the

real cause of your back pain – permanently. The road to recovery may be

longer for some, depending upon the extent of your injuries.

For more help, download my main program at

which shows ways to fast track the overall healing and recovery process.

Regards,

http://www.backpainrelief4life.com

Ian Hart, B.S., C.S.C.S.