Learning To Stretch Your Muscles

A person can "wreck their back" in many ways. In my opinion, the three most common ways people develop back problems is by not stretching, not paying attention to your movements, and being overweight. There are many ways to prevent yourself from developing back problems, too. It is always better to have good habits to prevent back pain early on, because it is much harder to reverse back pain after it has set in. Coaches of sports have always told their athletes to stretch before exercising. They know that injuries are common. They are less likely to occur if the athlete stretches first. It does not take that much time to stretch, either. Some athletes do not understand the importance of stretching, even though they have been taught to do it for a long time. The worst thing you can do is not stretch, come home with an injury, and regret the fact that you did not take proper precautions. An athlete only needs to spend about 10 to 15 minutes stretching before a game. If you do not stretch when your muscles are tight, you subject yourself to these things: increased risk to injuries, decreased reaction time, decreased muscle coordination, and decreased muscle metabolism. Even more so, the elderly should practice good stretching. They are already at a disadvantage for injuries because of their brittle bones and decreased muscle function. In addition, regular stretching would provide better blood circulation for them. This is important because it would not only prevent them from receiving an injury, but also allow them to recover from one quickly. As I mentioned before, it is critical that people practice stretching at early ages. Another common way for people to develop back problems is by not paying attention to your movements. Dan McMackin, a spokesman for UPS, says, "Improper bending and lifting causes back injury; that's all there is to it." When doing simple tasks that require a person to lift objects, you should pay attention to your body position. To prevent back injury, engage your abs to help support your back. There are many ways to successfully lift an object. Some of the things that that McMackin says to do are these: bend your knees and keep your back straight, keep the object close to you, never hold an item higher than your armpit or lower than your knees, and don't move something that weighs more than 20% of your body weight. It is much better to practice these good techniques instead of risking injury and being in pain. Also, when you have severe back pain, it is even harder to bear the treatments that the chiropractor has to use on you. Being overweight, in the opinion of the medical community, is the biggest reason of concern for people to develop back problems. When a person is overweight, things such as exercising will not be as easy. Sometimes, the overweight person may feel that it is impossible to exercise. Being overweight just causes the person to struggle with simple tasks such as walking. To the average person, this is a simple thing, but for overweight people, it is very tough. Another thing that contributes to back problems is sleeping on a bad mattress. I believe this causes a significant amount of back pain if the person is, in fact, sleeping on a bad mattress. Just the fact that your body is in the same position for an extended amount of time is really bad on your back. People may not even realize that this really causes major back pain. The best thing to do is consult your chiropractor if you experience unusual pains in your back. You may be tempted to just wait it out and hope for it to get better. This is the wrong decision to make. Once again, when you are experiencing pain and wishing that you could have done something to prevent it, it is much harder to make the pain stop. Three methods that chiropractors use to treat back problems are hands-on spinal manipulation, medicine, and surgery. Hands-on spinal manipulation uses a high velocity, low amplitude, controlled movement applied to a specific joint with the intention of restoring movement of that joint, thereby improving its function and reducing pain. Some reasons not to manipulate are if a patient has any one of these: bone disease, systemic inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, neoplastic disease, and ligament instability. Another way that chiropractors use to treat back problems is by medicine ("Blaser's Family Physiotherapy"). Medication for back pain is not the most effective way of treating it, since it can not heal a back injury. It is still used today because it can relieve pain and open a window for other treatments. "The first medication of choice for most people with back pain is an over-the-counter, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen or naproxen.

These are considered milder analgesics, and would be the first tier of treatment" (Jung, Jae). Although these drugs are the first ones that a patient should try, they are not limited to ones such as Tylenol and prescription-only NSAIDs such as celecoxib and meloxicam. Lastly, surgery is the method that chiropractors would rather stay away from. Surgeries are always risky and can cause other problems. In fact, they might not even work. One of the new methods that surgeons use is robotic spine surgery. Using the robot minimizes damage to soft tissue and improves recovery time ("Robotic spine surgery offers new way in treating back pain"). Dr. Jian Shen, an orthopedic surgeon, said," For certain spinal conditions it's a cure. I really do not expect the patient to come back for more surgery after fusion surgery." The bottom line is that it is best to be careful.