Indiana Jones Rocket Sled

The new Indiana Jones movie came out this past weekend, the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It is set in 1957 with fun fitness and iconry of the era, for future blog posts. Today - the Rocket Sled.

In the early part of the movie, Indiana Jones and the Soviet Russians brawl through a US military testing base in Nevada. Jones and a Russian officer wind up on a rocket sled, which blasts them on a speed track into the desert.

Rocket sleds are one of several devices that create and test the effects of high acceleration on equipment and the people who use them. High acceleration forces occur when jets take off quickly, when launching a space flight, to eject from a hit (compromised) fighter jet, on roller coasters and spin and fall rides, when you fall from a height, and any time you change speed and/or direction quickly. Interesting changes occur in the body under acceleration. Acceleration is one of the areas of my study as a research physiologist and was my work for a time at two facilities testing air vehicle and human systems.

G-force is a measure of acceleration, not force, but the term g-force is also used for the reaction force that results from acceleration. More on meaning, spelling, and math of g and G in another post. Too much g-force can result in g-LOC (Loss of Consciousness), pronounced "jee-lock"in English, but just as meaningful when using the Cyrillic pronunciation of "loss." When piloting a multi-billion dollar property (the fighter jet) G-LOC is not a good thing for anyone. The pilot may convulse, called "doing an Elvis" because the flailing looks like playing an air guitar - a real air guitar. Then the pilot may "ding" (lose consciousness) and the vehicle may "descend below the level of the terrain" (crash) and "disperse energetically" (explode) and "value unfavorably" (be destroyed), and the crew and anyone they land on may "achieve a negative health status" (die).

So we test.

A rocket sled is a small platform. Rockets propel it on the ground on rails. It creates high onset g-forces for a time limited to the length of the track. When personnel or equipment riding it sit as in a car or plane, they experience acceleration pressing them from front to back (on an x-axis).

To measure the higher g-forces with short onset experienced in jet bail-out procedures, a vertical ejection tower can be used. A small seat is propelled quickly upward by a contained blast force under it (like lighting a bomb). If they are positioned to sit upright, the acceleration acts on them from head to foot, on their y-axis.

To experiment with varying accelerations over different amounts of time and onsets, one device used is a centrifuge. A long support arm swings around and around a center anchoring point -like swinging a ball on a string around your head. A container, often ball shaped, at the end of the support arm holds the equipment or personnel being tested. The ball can rotate to position the people inside at any angle to simulate the changing positioning of a cockpit during maneuvers, for example.

What happens to the people in these testing devices? Often they throw up all over my nice equipment. Some of my test subject pilots used to have contests who could eat the worst thing to redisplay on testing day. One ate plastic bugs just for the fun he was sure to cause - then he didn't throw up, no matter what we did to him. In vertical (y-axis) ejections, there is high impact and acceleration forces on the discs and spine. Back injury is a concern for ejection scenarios. Vibration, both during acceleration and non-acceleration situations, such as for helicopter and jack hammer operators seems to be a high contributor to back pain. It is not known if the various vibration devices sold as fitness devices are of the kind (vibration frequency or amplitude) that contribute to joint pain. G-LOC is another consideration. Why do we test it? To see how to prevent it, if we can screen for who is more likely to get it, if we can train those prone to it to be more resistant, and so on, in g-force tolerance improvement programs (g-TIP).

The set of photos at right is a well-known one of USAF Colonel John Paul Stapp, M.D., Ph.D., riding the rocket sled. He was a pioneer of acceleration study and is also known as the originator of the expression "Murphy's Law" for things that can go wrong. The effect on his face along the x-axis is not from his high speed, but the acceleration which is increasing in photos ii and iii, and decreasing in v and vi. Even though his speed is greatest in photo iv, speed is not increasing or decreasing much, so there is little effect.

More on the interesting effects of acceleration and environmental testing from roller coasters to jets to movies in posts to come.

Labels: aerospace, circulation, disc, g-force, injury, lower back, performance enhancing modality

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Feeling Better Than She Ever Has Part II - Fixing Herniated Disk and Reclaiming Active Life

Barbara lives in a little town of 300 people in Yukon Canada - map at right. Part I of Barbara's story last Wednesday described why it didn't take six weeks to fix Barbara's herniated discs and severe sciatic pain and numbness, but it was six weeks until the "light went on" and she did the things to stop the cause of the injury, so it could stop hurting and start to heal.

Here is an insider's peek behind the scenes week-by-week:

"Dear Dr. Bookspan,
"This is a bit of a long one, and probably reaffirms everything you've ever received in hundred and hundreds of emails and stories, but I wanted to share this with you anyway. I can’t thank you enough for working hard and sharing all your knowledge. I am almost completely pain free!

"After 6 weeks of severe sciatic pain and numbness and weakness of my left leg and foot, something just clicked on Thursday night and I became more determined than ever that I could get rid of the pain. Through your website, the Fitness Fixer, and reading lots of personal stories (on your web site and book), I realized that I had to fix (the) causes. I know this might sound dramatic, but you’ve changed my way of life.

"Pre-sciatica lifestyle:
"A cycle of: 1) a few months, everyday, of "power" exercising with all the unhealthful postures and movement habits you talk about, then sitting at the computer in all the unhealthy ways you talk about and drinking coffee and smoking, feeling like I’d accomplished something in my day; 2) followed by a few months of complete laziness (not even power exercising). Power exercising consisted of running (without stretching at all) with bad form, and Hatha Yoga (forcing myself into the stretches and tons of forward bending).

"Sciatica struck.

"First two weeks:
"I did absolutely nothing about it. I read stuff on the internet and was convinced from the stories that I had some debilitating disease that would affect the rest of my life. I thought the cause was that I didn’t keep up with my "power" exercising. But, I continued to sit bent forward in a chair, hunched over, bending wrong, doing yoga forward bends, smoking and drinking coffee. I know, how sad."

Here are posts and information Barbara used:

• Why bad forward bending is a major mechanism in disc degeneration and eventual bulging and herniation: Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix
• Avoidable sources of bad bending that go unnoticed in common exercises: Common Exercises Teach Bad Bending
• How to avoid herniating forces on the lower back discs during yoga and fitness stretches for the hamstring:Healthier Hamstring Stretching

"Third week:
"Had to go back to work in the morning, teaching 4 and 5 year olds in a kindergarten class; in the afternoon, teaching reading strategies to Grade 1 and 2's - sitting in a chair all afternoon. No longer could I hobble around the house holding my backside and leg - full on activity - and pain, tingling, numbness in my left foot, and total weakness in my left leg. Felt like I was walking around all day with a Charlie horse going down my entire left side. Amidst all my continued Internet searches, stumbled upon your website when a friend said that slight forward bending doing dishes and getting ready in the morning leaning over the sink might be a cause. Your website made so much sense to me - if a slight forward bend is a bad thing, how much more unhealthy would my Hatha yoga program be, with all its constant forward bends. I might add here that the two people at work who talk about slight forward bending being a bad thing continually hunch forward while sitting and exercise using forward bends. Just something I’ve begun to notice."

Major news stories quote physicians saying that back pain is often a mystery and that no one knows why stretching isn't working. My readers regularly report that once they understand the simple principles, they see the unhealthful positioning that causes pain frequently - at the gym, in fitness magazines, and in exercise videos and classes:

• Fast Fitness - Fix Positioning by Watching Others
• What Does Stretching Do?
• Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy?

Barbara continues:

"I started with lying on the floor propped up, upper and lower back extensions, pec and trapezius stretches, isometric abs, being continually aware of my posture and not doing ANY bad forward bending. Tried to do the lunges and squats for daily good bending, but my muscles were so weak and I practiced them half-heartedly. I tried to apply them in daily life but life seemed so fast-paced at work and I was in so much pain constantly, that I would get _ way into it and then just try to lean to the side to pick things up - result, I was contorting my body in very odd ways! I ordered a support brace and special support backrest (now I know why I never needed them) and seat cushion for my chair from other web sites, but also ordered your book Fix Your Own Pain, along with a few of your other books."

These are some techniques used above:

• Lie on floor propped on elbows - Fast Fitness - First Morning Stretch
• Pectoral stretch - Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain
• Trapezius stretch - Nice Neck Stretch
• Lunge for daily good bending - Strengthen Legs Without Knee Pain - Standing Lunge
• Half squat for daily good bending - Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending.

"Fourth Week:
"Limping and terrible pain, my boss told me to visit the nurses station -living in a town of 300 in the far north, we have one general store and a health centre, doctor visits once every two weeks - and take every afternoon off during this week to rest up. He still needed me at work in the mornings. Taking my new prescription of Naproxen and trying the lunges and squats and some stretches but not really trying to apply them to the rest of how I was moving and bending and sitting. I would be in quite a bit of pain coming home from my mornings at work. In the afternoons I would basically throw in some stretches, but generally read (sitting badly) and nap for an hour. A lot of the pain would dissipate after my stretches and a good nap - only to be set into full force the next morning at work.

"Your book came in on the Friday and I was very excited. I read through it and practiced the retraining stretches that show how to restore straighter positioning throughout the day. I felt much better by Sunday night with the stretching. Still only half-hearted attempts at lunges and squats."

"Fifth Week:
"Decided to start my morning off by doing my full range of stretches instead of sitting in the computer chair smoking and drinking coffee. I felt pretty good when I left for work. People at work were starting to call me "feisty" saying that I seemed to be walking better (that was probably because of my better posture from applying your method instead of just doing stretches!) Sitting in a chair almost killed me - after 25 minutes in a chair the pain was almost unrecoverable - to be endured for the next hour and a half at work."

Barbara was getting the idea about healthy movement, but was sitting in the same way that causes discs to be pressured. She thought it was "taken care of" because she used a commercial lumbar support she purchased the first week. However she was still sitting in unhealthy ways, right over the support:

• The Cause of Disc and Back Pain
• Does an Exercise Ball Make You Sit Straight?

Barbara continues:

"I could manage the pain better with frequent relaxing on my stomach propped up on arms and stretching, but I never felt complete relief until I got home at night. I still didn't realize it was bad sitting position, so decided to get rid of my chair and stand to teach. This was better, but the pain still kicked in(especially in my left buttock!). Once my left buttock got hit with pain it went downhill - down my whole leg, followed by the numbness and severe tingling. Midway through the week I went to see our visiting doctor - quick visit and the prognosis that I had a herniated disc L5-S1. He said it would heal. I was feeling pretty positive about this, as it seemed to coincide with what you say about herniated discs. Meanwhile, the sciatica was taking it out of me. I felt I was always either in pain, or awaiting a painful episode. I made it through, relieved that the weekend was underway. I decided to trying walking - every couple of hours I'd walk on my treadmill for 20 minutes and then do my stretches. I did this two times in the day, and then went for a walk outside in the evening (-35 degree weather so I bundled up really well). My dog and I headed out for what was to be the most agonizing walk for me. Half hour into the walk I started to get that butt pain but I was only half way home. By the time I got home after an hour walk, I wanted to hit the roof and I although I could alleviate some of the pain through lying on my stomach propped up, and stretches, I could still barely sleep. I was also completely consumed by whether or not I had slacked in my posture somewhere along the line while I was walking, or whether I was too tight or loose (still missing the big picture)."

"Sixth Week:
"Still determined. Began the week at an all-day staff meeting where I lay on a gym mat on my stomach, propped up on my elbows- all day. Stretching at lunch and a couple of other times I walked out of the meeting to stretch. It almost floored me to do a 20 minute standing stint that we had to do during our meeting. Followed by a 2 hour course via video-conferencing where I did the same thing. When I got home the pain was less and I didn’t want to "over-do" it again, so I gently did my stretches throughout the evening- I didn’t try to walk. Next day at work, the pain was pretty bad from the beginning, but it was -60 degrees F outside and not many kids came to school - more time out to stretch when I needed to. Wednesday - more of the same. I tried to walk at night but got discouraged when I couldn’t walk for more than about 10 minutes without pain. Thursday - same thing, but I almost ran out of the school at the end of the morning to go to the nurses station. (We both wrongly assumed that I had overdone walking, not just walked in injurious ways.) She prescribed more Naproxen and told me to make sure that I walked but more frequent intervals. She also told me to keep stretching, but that lunges and squats were simply out - don’t do them. I kept wondering about this advice as I reread Ivy’s story and looked at the pictures of her doing those amazing squats and lunges. I spent most of my evening on the internet reading and rereading stories."

• Walking wasn't Barbara's problem. She was overarching the lower spine while walking, making a hidden problem - Spotting Back Pain During Running and Walking - What Do Abs Have To Do With It?
• Barbara was lying face down propped up on elbows for long periods in a way that hurt instead of help. Instead of letting the entire spine gently extend backward so that the upper back "unrounded," she was "folding" a crease at the lower back, increasing pinching in the lower back.
  
• Posts about how reader Ivy stopped the same sciatica problem: Inspirational Ivy and Inspirational Ivy II - Beating Foot Drop and Sciatica, and Getting Healthier

"Friday of the Sixth Week: True Awakening!
"I took Friday off work and first thing in the morning while I was doing my usual morning stretch routine, it just hit me! I became so obsessed with my posture, thinking that stretches should magically make my pain disappear, but I wasn’t viewing my body as how I used it during regular activity; I was also very guilty of giving up on certain things when they got "too hard" (lunges, squats). My balance was bad (despite trying to practice it while putting on my socks and shoes), my walking gait was horrible, I wasn’t really trying to do anything that required some effort, and I was continuing my bad habits of resting for hours before I tried to get back up and stretch again. Having reread some of the personal stories, I worked on my walking: feet straight ahead, feet hip-distance apart, heel to ball of foot, using my whole foot to walk - I was so focused on posture that I was holding myself stiff while walking instead of walking naturally with a bit of rotation at the waist). When I thought I was using my muscles, I was really just tensing them right up instead of truly using them. Reading posts and walking also made me realize how tight my Achilles tendon, hamstrings, and hips are. I decided to work on this through my stretches too. Next hour I was back up and walking, and stretching those areas after (using a counter to hold onto while doing a full squat, doorway hamstring stretch, and stretching my hip sitting on a chair rather than lying on the floor). Every hour I walked and stretched, and every walking session was longer, every stretching session I could actually stretch farther! Halfway through the day - now it was time to really engage myself in those lunges and half-squats - just do them and do them properly - no excuses - I need them for everyday life and unless I go beyond what I think I can do, I’ll never get to that point. They’re definitely not just part of an exercise routine, but unless I could do them with strength and stability in my living room, I knew I couldn’t do them in a fast-paced setting when I needed them.

"Time to stop making excuses. I was up and about constantly all day, walking, lunges and squats, stretching. By the end of the day, I can’t even describe my feeling of elation when I went to bed completely pain free, with my left leg hardly stiff at all, and some of the numbness in my left foot gone! Actually having been rather lazy, and in fear of lunges and squats doing more damage, they turned out to be the best stretches and strengtheners...now why wouldn’t I want to use these in all situations to get a beautiful natural stretch during my day! The confidence and calmness that all using your principles, and truly using my muscles to engage in activities is giving me give is fabulous. Not to mention all the energy! This is a new way of life for me. And quitting smoking is not a different story...it’s the same story...and my next step is to look into my eating habits and to quit smoking. It’s my life and my body is a temple...I’m sick of mistreating this temple with lethargy and apathy. No more unhealthy exercises in "power" work-outs and yoga for me...strength, balance and flexibility will is every moment, every day. Now I'm ready for your Healthy Martial Arts book...

"Thank you! Thank you! You (and Ivy) are my inspiration!
Wishing for you all joy and true happiness in life (which I know you already have :) ).
"Fondly, Barbara

"I'm truly thankful for your hard work and great insight into pain and how to live healthy in every day life!!

"PS I was frightened when I was told I had a herniated disk at L5-S1, and this was great news to me as I know I'm healing and I won't need any physiotherapists, etc. to help me through this! Your book Fix Your Own Pain is amazing - I think I've almost memorized it; two people at work have borrowed it already (including my boss) - I think they're seeing how much it has helped me. I'm thinking about giving your book to people for Christmas."

Summary "take-home" message - Barbara found that she doesn't have to "do" any exercises. That is the difference with this method and others. Moving for daily activities using the retrained healthful positioning stops the source of the injury. At the same time, it just happens to give much built in functional healthful movement. That is how exercise is supposed to be - a natural part of your human life.

There is more good news to Barbara's story, but that's enough for now.

Labels: disc, fix pain, gait, hamstring, injury, lunge, readers inspiring story, sciatica, sitting, squat, walking

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Fast Fitness - First Morning Stretch

Here is Fast Friday Fitness - straighten out first thing in the morning and help your back feel good.

Instead of sitting on the bed first thing in the morning, which loads the discs, try this:

1. Before getting out of bed, turn face down propped gently on elbows
2. Hold briefly
3. Get out of bed without sitting.

Don't droop your head downward, jut your neck or chin forward, hunch your shoulders, or fold back sharply at the lower spine. Find a low gentle position that makes your whole back feel good. The idea is to feel better and straighter, not strain, force, or make your posture worse. That would be silly.

For most people this first morning stretch works well. If it hurts your lower back, go to a lower position. If you flatten completely straight and still feel pain or pinching in the lower back, then how can you stand up straight without the same problem? Don't use this First Morning Stretch until you find why it is not comfortable. One common reason is front hip tightness. Try the Quick Relaxing Hip Stretch.

Labels: disc, fast fitness, hip, leg stretch, lower back, posture, stretch

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Tax Preparation Health

Taxes are due April 15th. Piles of papers, forms, schedules, receipts. Readers have asked how to be healthier while working at the desk, and how to keep their cool during tax preparation.

Several readers asked how to stop neck pain when looking down over deskwork. Reader John M, specifically asked "How do you suggest someone look down (to look at a chart etc at work) without pushing the (herniated neck) disc out more (or aggravating symptoms)?

Three photos above show tilting the neck forward and/or jutting the chin forward. Holding the head forward of the neck and body is a major source of upper back and neck pain. The "forward head" is hard on the soft tissues, the joints of the vertebrae called facets, and the discs of the neck, and is a major overlooked cause of "upper crossed syndrome." The forward head is just a bad posture, and easy to stop. It is not necessary to jut the neck or chin forward to look downward.

Check how you are sitting right now. Are you letting your neck hang forward, are you jutting your chin forward, or are you pushing or rounding your neck and upper body forward? Instead, keep chin in, loosely and gently. If needed, bring your chair closer in closer to the desk and lean the upper body back instead of rounding your lower back against the chair back and leaning the upper body forwad.

To look down comfortably - tip chin down in relaxed straight position instead of jutting the head and neck forward. That is healthy positioning for everyone - injured or not. No need to lean or hang the head or neck forward, or round your upper back to look downward.

More posts with quick techniques to feel better during desk work:

• Stretch upper body in your chair - Tax Stretch
• Stretch and relax upper body - Quick, Feel-Good Upper Back and Chest Stretch
• Stretch and relax lower body - Quick Relaxing Hip Stretch
• Stretch and relax your breathing - Do Breathing Exercises Work?
• Stretch and relax your spirit - Fast Fitness Friday - Strong Spirit.

Labels: disc, facet joints, fix pain, holiday, neck, posture, sitting, stress, upper back

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Feeling Better Than She Ever Has Part I - Fixing Herniated Disk and Reclaiming Active Life

Barbara's story came in over several weeks. Barbara thought she was healthy and active, and had done years of yoga. She had years of lower back pain, then a sudden onset of severe pain, leg weakness, and numbness. She couldn't push off effectively with her left foot, or stand on tiptoe. The heel of her left foot was completely numb, as well as the left side of that foot.

Barbara lives six hours from the nearest big town (there are 300 people in her little town in the Yukon and one general store).

Her doctor found that she had a herniated disc in her lower back, put her on anti-inflammatories. She was in continuing pain, and fearful of her future of pain and reduced activity, which would mean getting more out of shape and feeling worse. She was frightened that she had some "debilitating disease."

Barbara found my web site and this Fitness Fixer column with free information of how discs become pushed outward (herniated) through bad sitting and bending habits, and began trying some of the information. She wrote me excitedly the first week,

"I decided, after reading one of the many great patient stories you included in your book showing what to do, to lie on the floor on my stomach propped on my elbows to read your book. This felt amazing and when I got up again I could walk straight!"

Another e-mail followed that she was feeling worse again after that. I asked if she had gone back to all the injurious habits that cause the pain. She was surprised to realize that she had. Bad forward bending puts outward and eventually herniating forces on the discs. Barbara was bending badly all day at work when she need to pick things up, bending badly at home over the sink, counters, and while doing housework, then going to yoga class and spending much time bending over forward. Even in a yoga class, herniating forces occur from chronic forward bending, both sitting and standing bent over. It isn't magically good for the discs by calling it a stretch. Barbara also had been told by her health care providers not to do any lunges or squats. She later realized they were just the healthy bending she needed to do normal daily reaching and bending at work and around the house. Without them, she would only be doing the same bad bending that was contributing to the original problem.

Barbara wrote,

"I realized that part of my problem all week was that I had been half-heartedly doing "exercises" then going back to wrong bending while getting completely frustrated because it would seem things would start to feel better in the morning, but I'd feel like garbage by night. I wouldn't do all the things you recommended first thing in the morning, and I would get halfway through a lunge or squat to bend or pick something up and then bend forward out of frustration. So, I pampered myself yesterday - really, truly practicing and applying how to move in real life, especially concentrating on those lunges and squats when I needed to get something. It also finally clicked with me that while I was trying to concentrate on tucking the hip to neutral spine to walk, I was totally ignoring the forward bend of my upper back while standing and walking all week. I was walking all stooped over and feeling like an invalid."

I wish I could write that Barbara followed everything I said and was better the first day. What actually occurred was that it was six weeks until the "light bulb went on" and Barbara realized that "doing" a stretch or exercise doesn't magically erase the injury. Stopping the injurious bad movement habits that harms the disc is needed to let it heal. Using healthy movement in daily life for daily bending and reaching would improve strength and balance. Barbara said that reading the Fitness Fixer stories from Ivy sparked her "turning point" to understand. She then started feeling relief.

Barbara wrote.

"In short, I’ve come from having pain, and muscles completely unaccustomed to healthy movement lifestyle, to feeling stronger, more flexible and agile, pain free, along with a new attitude to everyday life and health, with fresh energy and a renewal of love of life. I know this might sound dramatic, but you’ve changed my way of life.

"Your website has been a godsend actually; especially when I surf the net and see "surgery" splattered everywhere.

"PS My principal just ordered your book - he borrowed Fix Your Own Pain for a week (I didn't think I'd get it back) and would like his own copy. That's saying a lot - he's doesn't take well to other people's advice."

It was six weeks of half-way recovery and recurring pain until Barbara got the idea that "doing exercises" doesn't heal an injury if you go back to bad movement habits the rest of the day. She also noticed how some of the most common exercises contribute to the original problem. Here are links to the information Barbara used:

• Sitting Badly Isn't Magically Healthy by Calling It a Hamstring Stretch
• Common Exercises Teach Bad Bending
• Bending Right is Fitness as a Lifestyle
• How Good Would You Look From 400 Squats a Day - Just Stop Unhealthy Bending
• Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix
• How to bend using the lunge - Strengthen Legs Without Knee Pain - Standing Lunge
• How to bend using the half-squat - Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention -Healthy Bending
• Neutral Spine or Not?
• Lying comfortably propped on elbows to unload discs - Fast Fitness - First Morning Stretch
  
• Inspirational Ivy
• Inspirational Ivy II - Beating Foot Drop and Sciatica, and Getting Healthier
• and the books.

Barbara generously wrote up her story to help readers see that they can fix pain sooner, rather than waiting six weeks. Coming next, Feeling Better Than She Ever Has Part II - a look behind the scenes.

Labels: disc, fix pain, impingement, injury, lunge, readers inspiring story, sciatica, squat, stretch, yoga

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Readers Ask About Watching Body Positioning

How many of you caught that the photo in the Fast Fitness post - Fix Positioning by Watching Others is of terrible body positioning that is a common source of upper body pain and injury?

I received letters asking about the photo. Several readers did not catch that the reason for the photo was that both people were standing in terrible rounded forward posture. Some readers thought the photo was not of bad posture, but showed people with interest in the game or that they way they were standing was a needed position to see the ball.


The rounded and tilted forward position of the upper back, neck and head is a bad positioning that is a major cause of:

• Upper back pain sometimes called Upper crossed syndrome
• Herniated neck disc
• Numb fingers
• Shoulder pain and rotator cuff injury

Here are short posts to show you how to spot the cause of upper back and neck pain and what to do:
Breasts Causing Upper Back Pain is a Myth
Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain The Cause of Disc and Back Pain
Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix

One way to tell is to check your arm rotation, shown in
Thumbs Can Show Tightness That Leads to Upper Back Pain

Crunches, many common Pilates exercises and many other exercises done every day done for "health" are in rounded forward or bent forward positions. They are counterproductive to health, to posture, and to strengthening:
Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy?
Common Exercises Teach Upper Back and Neck Pain
and The Stretch You Need The Least


Look in your fitness magazines and videos and look around during fitness classes and the gym to see if you can see the forward head and a rounded upper body. It's a handy reminder that it is not healthy, and to exercise in better, healthier ways.

Labels: arm, disc, fix pain, impingement, injury, neck, upper back

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Fast Fitness - Prevent Back Pain When Rowing

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - make rowing good exercise, not bad sitting:

1. Don't round your spine forward (left). Rounding pushes discs outward. Left drawing shows disc pushing outward by bending the vertebrae to that they open in back. Rounded sitting with chin forward shown in 1st and 3rd rower in left photo.
2. Chin in.
3. Stay straight during the pull (right drawing and photo).
   

Labels: disc, fast fitness, fix pain, lower back, rowing

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Long Sitting - Simple and More Comfortable

As you read this, we will have been on several days of flights and trains.

Sitting for long periods does not have to be uncomfortable, whether at the desk, on a flight, when driving. Most lists of instructions for sitting without hurting your back tell you to sit in exact ways at exact angles. This is not needed. Instead, it's better to understand the concepts of how and why strain and injury occur when sitting. Then you can sit in healthy ways that are comfortable, easy, and healthy.

Many desk chairs, even expensive ergonomic chairs are made so that you sit with your spine rounded forward. Sitting rounded eventually creates herniating forces on your discs, explained in The Cause of Disc and Back Pain and Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy?

Commercial airline, bus, and train seats often have a concave seat back, encouraging prolonged, enforced rounding. So do many car seat backs, even those saying they have lumbar support.

• If your seat back is too concave, pad the space with a small cushion.
• Use a pad about the size of your own forearm.
• Place the pad in the small inward curve of your lower back.
• Don't remain sitting rounding forward against the lumbar pad out of habit. A lumbar roll will not make you sit right.
• Lean your upper back against the chair. Don't press your lower back against the pad.
• If your lumbar roll hurts, it is not right. It should not be a hard material that hurts you. See if you have it positioned in the right place.
• At a desk, move your seat in closer so that you do not round or lean forward to reach or see the computer.

Future posts will cover more about lumbar roll use and misuse.

If the seat is very concave, you may need two pillows, one for the small inward curve of your low back, and the second above that one for your upper back, in the space still left by the rounded seat. The upper back has a small outward curve, however sitting with a large outward curve creates upper back pain.

Get up frequently to move. Here is the link to last year's travel sitting post on Exercise and Stretch for Long Travel Sitting.

Labels: disc, fix pain, lower back, lumbar roll, posture, sitting, upper back

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Fix Neck, Play Hockey, Use Brain, Fun Life

Rich Tarpinian, IT systems engineer, musician, hockey coach, and vegan, fixed grinding neck pain, back spasms, disc pain, and tension-type headaches. He had not been comfortable sleeping in any position. Rich said the neck grinding and discomfort, "felt like it was never going to go away."

Rich writes:

"Thanks again for your help! Here's my update. I stopped cranking my neck around and the grinding stopped within the 2 weeks or so that you had indicated.

"I am controlling my body positioning, more aware, and have eliminated lots of neck tension even though I work at a computer all day. The anxiety I was having about disc problems, etc., has mostly been replaced with good knowledge, a feeling of control, and an ability to heal.

"Every morning (instead of sitting on the bed) I get out of bed the way you have recommended - why? because it makes sense. I don't sit on the bed and then try to straighten my body as I start to walk. I get up from the face down position in the already standing position.

"I've always had an interest in the mechanical aspect of how the body moves and what the sources of problems can be which is why, when I was pouring over information on the internet, your information regarding cause/effect relationships instantly caught and held my attention.

"I eat a pretty good diet - vegan with a good amount of raw foods, but had not paid much attention to posture and movement. I will now.

"As a side note, I coached hockey for about 8 years and played up until about 4 years ago. I had an opportunity to get back into some coaching recently but was really worried about the neck issues that I had been having for weeks. I also used to get a lot of back spasms when I played/coached. After experiencing the progress from your recommendations, which came just in time, I stepped confidently back on the ice a couple of weeks ago and have felt good given some expected muscle soreness that is now gone. The hardest thing was lacing up the skates but, once I was on the ice, I felt great.

"What you have done effectively is to empower people with the knowledge of how to find and return to the correct answers in order to maintain their own bodies. You've done that by providing reasons where needed, presenting conflicting information to show contrast, and using repetition to help solidify the important concepts."

"The key is that I now understand the causes of the problem and can, for the most part, manage the process when things start going wrong. As I cruised the internet looking at information, my anxiety meter kept rising - until I found your article on fixing the neck grinding problem which prompted me to read your other articles on sitting, lifting, etc. The article was immediately positive with a no strings attached approach to fixing and preventing the problem. My overcoming the neck issues is directly attributable to you."

Rich first fixed his pain using my web site summary sheets.
These Fitness Fixer posts also describe techniques used:

• To understand and spot the injury and pain from unhealthful head and neck position - Upper Back Exercise and Neck Pain Prevention Too
• Spot and prevent upper body pain when carrying a backpack - Prevent Neck Pain and Get Upper Back Exercise Carrying Backpacks
• Two important stretches to do first thing in the morning and throughout the day to restore ability to sit, move, and stand without unhealthful neck position - Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain and Nice Neck Stretch
• Looking upward with good neck mechanics - Gaze Perseid Meteors Without Neck Pain
• Two nice upper back stretches to relax - Tax Stretch and Quick, Feel-Good Upper Back and Chest Stretch
• Stopping neck pain from sitting - Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy?
• Stopping neck pain from exercise - Common Exercises Teach Upper Back and Neck Pain
• Photo of healthful neck position when cooking - Fast Fitness - Homemade Sports Food
• Do this Wall Test to check for unhealthful neck positioning - Breasts Causing Upper Back Pain is a Myth.
• Having muscles soreness is not bad, it means you're out having fun. Make sure there is no pain or soreness in the joint. That is the difference. See Teen Dies After Using Muscle Soreness Rub
• November is Vegan month. More on vegetarian and vegan eating - World Vegetarian Day.

I wrote Rich to congratulate him on his initiative and great work, and thank him for his story. He replied:

"Just when I've corrected the forward head problem, I'm going to need those neck exercises to treat "swelled head syndrome."

Smile and laugh. It's healthy too.

Labels: disc, hockey, lower back, neck, nutrition, readers inspiring story, sitting, sleep, upper back

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Inspirational Ivy II - Beating Foot Drop and Sciatica, and Getting Healthier

Ivy had serious sciatica with foot drop. She had knee and other injuries. She was in awful pain. In this kind of foot drop, the nerve cannot serve the muscles enough to lift the foot to walk normally. The toes drag. The foot hangs limply and slaps the ground with each step.

Commonly, someone with foot drop is put in a leg brace for life. One surgery done for foot-drop fuses the ankle so the foot is rigid and doesn't hang. Other problems come over years from changes in walking mechanics. For the terrible pain, patients are often directed to drugs and surgery.

We changed that:

1. Monday's post Inspirational Ivy told the essentials of stopping the cause of the sciatic pain and nerve impingement, rather than treat the results with unhealthy means. Links to specific methods are there.
2. Sciatica, disc damage, facet pain, and impingement are results, not the cause of pain. They are not a diagnosis. When you have them, find what is causing them. Then you can reverse the cause: The Cause of Disc and Back Pain
3. The post How Often Should You Be Healthy? explains when and how to apply it.

Ivy followed my directions exactly and used her brain to understand how to get the intended results, not just "do a bunch of exercises." When she first began, she wrote,

"Over the past few days, I have been very conscious of my movements and, hey presto, I have not experienced any tingling or pain. I have to take total responsibility for every movement I make. I am constantly telling myself 'Think before you go to the fridge or need to pick up something off the floor - think lunges.'"

I gave her simple gait retraining. Ivy quickly discarded the cane she had used for nearly 7 months.

Ivy went on to teach several neighbors in her community how to fix their own pain. One story is posted in Each One Teach One.

In April 2006, Ivy wrote,

"It is nearly 5 months since I started your wonderful programme so I thought it was time that I gave you an update. I am fit and well, the sciatica has disappeared, if I get a little niggle in that area, I ask myself as to what have I done wrong, my left knee (IT Band) is no longer a problem, my balance has improved immensely and the "dropped" foot is great, in fact, when I go for my daily walk, I no longer hear the plop, plop of which I hated. I can also now wear "normal" shoes.

"Without your help and support and putting me on the right road so to speak, I would still be in constant pain plus making the chiropractor richer. Please note, I no longer go to him for treatment - I DON'T NEED HIM."

At age 70, Ivy is steadily improving strength and range of motion using healthy movement for daily life. She is eating healthful vegetarian food. January 2007 brought this note:

"The reason for this e-mail being that I feel somewhat excited re a remark made by the son of one of my fellow villagers. His very words being, "How did you become the woman that you are now. I have watched you over the past couple of years - when I first met you, you were obviously in a lot of pain, what is your secret?"

"I also sent the photos to my son and daughter-in-law who live in the US, they too, could see the improvement - they thought I looked great. Mind you, over that 2 year period, I gradually lost 20 lbs."

What about Ivy's e-mail that I mentioned in the last post about the new hip stretch? I'm out of room again. Watch for the next post.

Labels: disc, facet joints, feet, fix pain, iliotibial band, injury, knee, lunge, nutrition, readers inspiring story, sciatica, shoes, spirit, squat

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Overlooked Ab Muscles in Overhead Lifts

Letting the lower spine overly-arch presses the weight of the upper body, plus the weight being lifted, downward onto the lower back, folding it backward and compressing it unevenly. Over years, the joints of the vertebrae, called facets, can degenerate under the compression. The surrounding soft tissue aches. The photographer of the photo labeled it "Ouch" in the Creative Commons collection where I found it.

Overarching and sticking out in back is unhealthy for the spine, and is a major overlooked cause of ongoing lower back pain after long standing and ambulating (walking and running, for example).



If the cheerleaders were standing in neutral spine, the yellow arrows would be vertical. In the drawing at right, the left drawing shows neutral spine, the right shows tilting the hip so that it sticks out in back.

Tucking the hip until neutral spine does not mean curling the spine forward (rounding the back), which can pressure the discs. In neutral spine, a small inward curve remains in the lower back, but not a big one, and the hip does not tilt outward in back.

Some exercisers are accustomed to stick far out in back when lifting weight overhead. It is now known that it is healthier over the long run to maintain neutral spine, not sticking out in back, when lifting overhead.

Another bonus of neutral spine is that the muscles that pull the spine away from overly arched position and into neutral position, are the abdominal muscles. Keeping neutral spine is a free, built-in abdominal exercise. There is no tightening of the abdomen to hold neutral spine. Just move the spine, the same as moving your arm to scratch your head.

The post Aren't You Supposed To Stick Your Behind Out to Sit Down or Do Squats? covered how sticking out in back causes spine problems, just as tucking too much and rounding forward.

See what it looks like if you overarch the lower back when you extend arms overhead:
Change Daily Reaching to Get Ab Exercise and Stop Back and Shoulder Pain

One way to see the difference between overarching and neutral spine is to check your beltline:
Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine

Click this to feel the difference for yourself in strength and immediate reduction in pressure on the lower back when restoring neutral spine from an overly arched position:
Throw a Stronger Punch (or Push a Car or Stroller) Using This Back Pain Reduction Technique.

Click the label "neutral spine" below this post for all related posts. Neutral spine is fun, and looks healthier, stronger, and fitter. Enjoy.

Labels: abdominal muscles, disc, facet joints, fix pain, lower back, neutral spine, squat

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Lunges and Beans

To get a better lunge stretch and stop pressure on the medial knee (the side facing the other leg), don't turn your back leg outward (left photo). Turn your back foot parallel, and face forward (right photo)

The previous post Hip Stretch While You Strengthen Legs shows a key move to position the hip to get a great stretch on the front of the hip and feel a better strengthener for the legs as you lower and rise in standing lunges.

One of my students, Lily, demonstrates good hip and leg position for the lunge (second photo at right). Instead of tilting the hip forward in front and out in back, you tuck the bottom of the hip to maintain it vertical from the top of the leg (hip joint) to the middle of the waist. Note the stripe of the side of the pants compared to the vertical line in the wall behind her.

On occasion, Lily makes me a wonderful bean dish and brings it to class in a glass container. The glass is a thoughtful healthy touch to avoid whatever may leach out of plastics into food. My students and I try to do this with food and drinks carried to work and class. Here is her recipe. Just throw it all in a bowl:

Lily's Wonderful Beans

Cup or two of cooked black beans
Cup or two of corn
1 jalapeño pepper, diced
1 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons cumin powder
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle of olive oil, just enough to blend ingredients
squeeze 1 fresh lime over the top

Some people with celiac omit the corn. Celiac causes various discomforts after eating wheat and related products.

Good bending gives free exercise and stops a major cause of several chronic pain syndromes (muscle strain, disc degeneration, disc herniation, and sciatica) at the same time. Click the labels under this post for related posts. If you use the lunge and squat around the house for all the things you need to bend for instead of bad bending, you will stop a major source of back pain back, and get hundreds of free leg exercises a day. Enjoy healthy eating and healthy lunging.

Labels: celiac, disc, hip, hip strength, leg strength, leg stretch, lunge, nutrition, sciatica, stretch

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Leg Exercise That Helps Your Back - Why The Lunge?

I receive the question often, "What exercises should I do to stop my back pain?" I stress that that the exercises you need to do are to simply change away from all the injurious movements that are causing all the pain in the first place (left drawing) and use good movement instead (right drawing). Then your back can heal. The pain will stop.

I see patients all the time who come to me after going through back pain exercise programs. They went through their eight or ten week program, then their pain came back. Every day they did their exercises, then bent over wrong to put down their weights (left drawing), bend over wrong to pick up their gym bag (same left), sat badly on the way home, then hunched over their computer to record their exercise session. It is no mystery.

The post Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix shows the mechanism of how bad bending and sitting damages the spine and discs. It is a simple injury, not a disease or condition. You can easily stop the process yourself.

A lot of dollars are spent on the common assumption that you need to strengthen or stabilize the back or exercise a particular muscle set, for example the multifidus. That does not fix the source of the damage. At the gym I see trainers, students, and yoga and Pilates teachers doing their exercise classes week after week, saying they come because they have to because of their back pain. Even the exercises they are doing were contributing to the problem. Many things that are bad for you feel good at the time. The post Common Exercises Teach Bad Bending gives examples so that you can avoid this pitfall. The post Sitting Badly Isn't Magically Healthy by Calling It a Hamstring Stretch shows how the most common stretches done, even in back pain programs are contributing to the problem, and what to do instead.

The answer is easy. The post Bending Right is Fitness as a Lifestyle showed one of the most important exercises you need to do to stop back pain. It introduced the squat, which is not an exercise to do for 10 repetitions, but to use instead of bad bending for the hundreds of times every day you bend for things. Instead of hurting your back hundreds of times every day, you prevent hurting your back hundreds of times a day. Instead of hurting your back hundreds of times every day, you strengthen your legs hundreds of times a day. It is not the exercise of squatting that fixes your pain by strengthening, but by preventing the damage in the first place.

This post introduces the lunge as a second wonderful "exercise" to stop back pain. It is not something you do as an exercise for a number of repetitions. Instead, you use it, along with the squat, for the many times a day you need to bend for all the daily things around the house and workplace - the laundry, the pets, the things on the floor, the kids, the dishwasher and refrigerator, and everything else, all day, every day:

1. Stand upright with one foot far in front of the other (right drawing).
2. Feet apart comfortably, both facing ahead, not turned outward (right drawing).
3. Bend both knees
4. Don't let your front knee come forward. Keep it over the front ankle (right drawing).
5. Lower straight down.
6. Your back heel comes up. Keep the front heel down for better knee health. It's a free, built-in Achilles stretch too.
7. Don't touch your back knee to the floor.
8. Don't hold your hands on your front knee. Although common, you get better balance and strength without it.

Done properly, the lunge should not hurt your knees. If you are too weak to lower enough to pick up the mail on the floor and get back up, that is serious weakness. You need functional strength to do ordinary daily life. This isn't walking miles over rocks to the river and returning with heavy water jugs over your back just to cook with. This is getting the mail.

Bending right with the lunge burns more calories than bending over wrong. Good bending helps a weight loss program.

Click the labels under this post to see more on these topics. The next post Strengthen and Retrain Function With The Lunge shows a reader making good use of the lunge. Posts to come will cover more about how wonderful the lunge is to transform your life from weakness and pain into easy function. This is fitness as a lifestyle.

Labels: disc, knee, leg strength, lower back, lunge, strength, weight loss

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Freed From Pain, He Rides Again

Reader Bill Slabonik had sports injuries, motorcycle and bicycling accidents. He was a good exerciser and hard worker, doing all the conventional exercises and ways of lifting during his regular workouts, long hours sitting as a pilot, and vigorous work in the Coast Guard. I know these things because I've seen his x-ray and MRI reports.

Bill writes:

"After two years of waking every couple hours with extreme pain in my shoulders and both hands completely numb, I sought relief from the medical community. Thinking that something was wrong with my shoulders, I was very surprised to find out that I had degenerative disc disease in my neck and spine. I was scheduled for epidural injections and advised that if they did not help, surgery was the only alternative. I was advised that I might consider disability retirement.

Not being pleased with my choices, I was able to get a script from my family doctor for physical therapy. Two months of therapy gave encouraging if small improvements. Back spasms stopped and pain diminished somewhat. Encouraged by this I continued to search online for neck and back pain fixes until I was fortunate to find a website maintained by Dr. Jolie Bookspan. The articles made logical sense to me and I soon ordered her book "Fix Your Own Pain." I noticed rapid improvement as soon as I began to practice her methods. Encouraged by these results I chose to attend one of her clinics held at Temple U.

I have returned to an active, athletic life. Waking due to pain is a thing of the past. I am setting and achieving physical goals that seemed impossible only a year ago. I am hiking farther and riding faster than I could have dreamed of. I am using post-it notes in my car, at my desk and on my flight kit for the airplane as reminders to maintain good position.

The photo is my neighbor Ken and myself taking a break from the year's Pennsylvania State Police Memorial century ride. He is also putting your principals into good use. We rode 50 miles that Saturday morning without pain or discomfort. Ken is 61 years old and I'm 55. The amazing part is that I had over 180 miles for the week without pain. Ken and I have made a goal of riding together on each of our birthdays, the number of miles matching our age, i.e., a 62 mile ride this fall for Ken's birthday. Oh, the ride was from Hershey, PA to Mount Gretna, PA and back. A nice loop through the central PA farmlands. Thanks again for your encouragement and books. I am