Health and Nutrition

Back problems are the most common physical complaints among American adults today. People who are active with sports or do a lot of physical labor develop good muscle tone in their backs and legs. Back problems are a frequent cause of disability in the United States. Greater than 75% of people will experience back problems during their life. Back problems can be caused by an inordinately wide range of problems. It can exist alone, or it can be caused by a condition that occurs elsewhere in the body, with the pain being transmitted to areas of the back by the nervous system.

You can avoid some common back problems:

• Try and lift an object by bending your knees and squatting to pick up the object. Keep your back straight and hold the object close to your body.
• Lifting things away from your body is also likely to cause damage. When you pick up anything, no matter how heavy, get it as close to your body as you can and keep your back as straight as you can and don’t twist with it.
• Walking on high heels puts abnormal stress on both the front and the back of the knee.
• Walking, lifting, reaching, climbing stairs, getting out of bed or into a car — you learn to accomplish all these routine activities, pain-free.

Acute low back problems are characterized by short episodes of pain or discomfort in the lower back, or by pain or numbness that moves down the leg (sciatica). The guidelines suggest that spinal manipulation can be helpful in relieving pain, especially within the first four weeks — and that surgery may be appropriate when there is a serious spinal condition or when people have severe, disabling and persistent sciatica. Acute pain comes on suddenly and intensely, usually from doing something you shouldn’t be doing or from doing it in the wrong way. The pain usually lasts a short while.

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