There's an epidemic of musculo-skeletal dysfunction in our community. Ask any group of people 'Who here has either got a who's got back pain and at least 30% of people will put their hand up.
The good news is that in 80% of cases it's not a medical problem, it's a fitness problem. Chances are you're not strong enough or flexible enough to keep your body in good alignment.
The solution? If you're going to fix back pain you need a good strength and flexibility training program to straighten yourself up.
There are two key principles involved here.
1. Tight muscles pull bones out of alignment. That’s the bad news. The good news is that by loosening tight muscles the bones will go back into alignment.
If you do the right exercises, long enough and often enough, there’s a better than even chance you’ll straighten yourself up. Poor function will be restored to good. You’ll start to feel better. Your pain will go away. All you have to do is find the right exercises.
2. The cause of the back pain is rarely at the site of the back pain – so a rub down and a hot wheat bag on the spot where it hurts may give you some temporary relief but won’t treat the cause of the problem. Over the years it will just get worse.
With lower back pain there’s a chain of dysfunction. Tight calf, hamstring and buttock muscles take your pelvis out of alignment. When that happens, the bones above it are taken out of alignment as well.
It puts pressure on the muscles, tendons, ligaments and discs in your lower back. They ‘feel the pinch.’ You tell people you’ve back pain.
Loosen off your calf and hamstring muscles and you start sitting up straighter. Do that and you square your pelvis up and take the pressure off the bones of your lower back.
Then there’s that better than even chance that millimeter by millimeter, your lower back pain will start to go away.
On the track
On the stepper, 30 minutes at level 8: 608 steps and 465 calories.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and if it’s weak strengthen it; if it’s tight loosen it.
John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com
Showing posts with label back pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label back pain. Show all posts
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
THE PARABLE OF THE BUTTERFLY - Sunday 2nd May 2010
A man found a butterfly cocoon.
One day a small opening appeared and the man watched the butterfly as it struggled to force its body through the small hole. It appeared that it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther.
The man decided to help the butterfly, so he got a pair of scissors and snipped off the remanding bit of the cocoon.The butterfly then emerged easily, but with a swollen body and tiny, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly, expecting that at any moment the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shivered wings, never able to fly.
What the man had not understood was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved freedom from the cocoon.
Some struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we might otherwise be.
And we could never fly...
-Author unknown
On the track
On the stepper, 40 minutes all over level 8. Now that's a good workout, expending 643 calories.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and spread your wings and fly.
John Miller
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
One day a small opening appeared and the man watched the butterfly as it struggled to force its body through the small hole. It appeared that it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther.
The man decided to help the butterfly, so he got a pair of scissors and snipped off the remanding bit of the cocoon.The butterfly then emerged easily, but with a swollen body and tiny, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly, expecting that at any moment the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shivered wings, never able to fly.
What the man had not understood was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved freedom from the cocoon.
Some struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we might otherwise be.
And we could never fly...
-Author unknown
On the track
On the stepper, 40 minutes all over level 8. Now that's a good workout, expending 643 calories.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and spread your wings and fly.
John Miller
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
Friday, January 8, 2010
WELLBEING TEST - Health Bogarithm, Thursday 7th Januarey 2010
I recently had lunch with a mate of mine, Neil Gray who runs Australia's leading fitness trails business ( www.fitnesstrails.com.au ) and before we got stuck into it he passed over the ten finger wellbeing test.
It's yes or no. One point for yes, 0 for no.
1. I really love my job.
2. I always get enough sleep and wake up refreshed.
3. I'm within 2.5 Kg of my ideal weight.
4. I don't smoke cigarettes - or anything else.
5. I keep track of my blood pressure.
6. I know and use at least 3 methods to reduce stress without resorting to alcohol or drugs.
7. I engage in vigorous physical activity at least 3 times a week.
8. I follow sensible eating habits.
9. I have less than 7 alcoholic drinks a week.
10. I have a positive mental attitude.
On the track
Spent 30 minutes on the treadmill all over 130 bpm.
Had a good strength training session in the evening at the gym.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and next time you do the 10 finger wellbeing test score higher than you did today.
John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
It's yes or no. One point for yes, 0 for no.
1. I really love my job.
2. I always get enough sleep and wake up refreshed.
3. I'm within 2.5 Kg of my ideal weight.
4. I don't smoke cigarettes - or anything else.
5. I keep track of my blood pressure.
6. I know and use at least 3 methods to reduce stress without resorting to alcohol or drugs.
7. I engage in vigorous physical activity at least 3 times a week.
8. I follow sensible eating habits.
9. I have less than 7 alcoholic drinks a week.
10. I have a positive mental attitude.
On the track
Spent 30 minutes on the treadmill all over 130 bpm.
Had a good strength training session in the evening at the gym.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and next time you do the 10 finger wellbeing test score higher than you did today.
John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
Saturday, December 19, 2009
EXERCISE EXAGGERATION
Health Blogarithm for 18th of December
I read in the paper today a report from the Exeter University that most people exaggerate the amount of physical activity they do. To put is bluntly they lie.
15,000 people were asked to recall how much activity they had done in the previous month. The results showed that 39% of men and 29% of women claimed to have met the Government guidelines of 30 minutes of necessary level physical activity on at least 5 days of the week.
When 3300 of the people were then monitored for a further week during which they wore accelerometers, only 6% of men and 4% of women met the guidelines.
The moral, when it comes to aerobic fitness activity, perception and reality are two different things.
For starters 30 minutes of minimum activity is like my walk three mornings week. Unless your heart rate gets over 120 BPM it's not something you'd really call aerobic fitness activity. It's a health walk. I give it 1 point per minute for aerobic fitness. I don't know how people can get fit doing that. I'm sure it has some benefits. You feel better. It wakes you up, gets a bit more oxygen into your body, stimulates the bowel, releases a few endorphins so you feel better, all that sort of stuff. Maybe it contributes to metabolic health, but fitness, that's a different animal.
Anyway the boffins at the University asked the wrong question. It's just more useless junk research. What have they found out? That people lie! Duh!
The question should have been, how fit are you? How many 20m laps can you walk, shuffle, jog or run in 5 minutes?
This is the most basic of measure of good health. The lowest level of aerobic fitness I've seen is 9 laps. The best 60. If you can do 40 laps you're not in bad shape, 45 is better and 50 pretty good. It means you're training. You don't have to ask, just measure the output, not ask questions about the input. Just watch people doing the test.
There aren't many people who can bluff their way through a fitness test.
It's ironic that aerobic fitness is never measured by a doctor, and yet it is the most fundamental measure of good health. They take your blood pressure and send you off to the pathologist to check your cholesterol and glucose (both of which can be done for less than $10 in the surgery) . They don't take you out the back and see how fit your are.
The good thing is that it can get better.
A couple of years ago a member of Fit and Healthy, (my fitness centre at the time) Patricia, completed 23 laps in 5 minutes. ( 9 months later and after she'd lost well over 20 Kg she reached 37 laps. How's that? She was one of the best and most consistent trainers in the gym.
On the track
Got in a quick 30 minutes on the stepper before the 30 minute walk with Peter and Frank. Heart rate over 140 so that's 150 aerabytes. Weight; 85.8 Kg. That's better.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and don't fool yourself. Do the 20 minute run test and report back.
John Miller
http://www.fitandhealthyonline.com/
I read in the paper today a report from the Exeter University that most people exaggerate the amount of physical activity they do. To put is bluntly they lie.
15,000 people were asked to recall how much activity they had done in the previous month. The results showed that 39% of men and 29% of women claimed to have met the Government guidelines of 30 minutes of necessary level physical activity on at least 5 days of the week.
When 3300 of the people were then monitored for a further week during which they wore accelerometers, only 6% of men and 4% of women met the guidelines.
The moral, when it comes to aerobic fitness activity, perception and reality are two different things.
For starters 30 minutes of minimum activity is like my walk three mornings week. Unless your heart rate gets over 120 BPM it's not something you'd really call aerobic fitness activity. It's a health walk. I give it 1 point per minute for aerobic fitness. I don't know how people can get fit doing that. I'm sure it has some benefits. You feel better. It wakes you up, gets a bit more oxygen into your body, stimulates the bowel, releases a few endorphins so you feel better, all that sort of stuff. Maybe it contributes to metabolic health, but fitness, that's a different animal.
Anyway the boffins at the University asked the wrong question. It's just more useless junk research. What have they found out? That people lie! Duh!
The question should have been, how fit are you? How many 20m laps can you walk, shuffle, jog or run in 5 minutes?
This is the most basic of measure of good health. The lowest level of aerobic fitness I've seen is 9 laps. The best 60. If you can do 40 laps you're not in bad shape, 45 is better and 50 pretty good. It means you're training. You don't have to ask, just measure the output, not ask questions about the input. Just watch people doing the test.
There aren't many people who can bluff their way through a fitness test.
It's ironic that aerobic fitness is never measured by a doctor, and yet it is the most fundamental measure of good health. They take your blood pressure and send you off to the pathologist to check your cholesterol and glucose (both of which can be done for less than $10 in the surgery) . They don't take you out the back and see how fit your are.
The good thing is that it can get better.
A couple of years ago a member of Fit and Healthy, (my fitness centre at the time) Patricia, completed 23 laps in 5 minutes. ( 9 months later and after she'd lost well over 20 Kg she reached 37 laps. How's that? She was one of the best and most consistent trainers in the gym.
On the track
Got in a quick 30 minutes on the stepper before the 30 minute walk with Peter and Frank. Heart rate over 140 so that's 150 aerabytes. Weight; 85.8 Kg. That's better.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and don't fool yourself. Do the 20 minute run test and report back.
John Miller
http://www.fitandhealthyonline.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
