Give your back a break! Treat it with respect and it will support you your entire life. Ignore it; neglect it or even abuse it and you will become one of the 80 percent of Americans who suffer from severe to moderate chronic back pain.

Here are seven sins that can spell pain and suffering to back health if not avoided.

Sin 1-Lifting with your back

The muscles in your legs work synergistically to be the most powerful group in your body. Your back muscles on the other hand are spread out and work more independently responding to which way you need to twist or bend. Therefore, when it comes to lifting heavy objects, you are much more likely to isolate, strain and pull a back muscle than you are a leg muscle. Plus, your spine consists of many individual bones (vertebrae) that house and protect nerves that are connected by many delicate micro tendons, tissues and muscle. Your legs on the other hand have three main, large bones supported by large muscles. Logically thinking, the legs are where it’s at when you need to lift.

Sin 2-Poor Posture

Slouching: Yes, it is a sin. Your mom knew what she was talking about all those years. Over time it and other poor posture positions wear the ligaments down, squish the discs into degenerative oblivion and can even cause the vertebrae to rub, grow spurs and fall out of alignment.

Sin 3-Wreckless Abandon

While we are young many of us feel indestructible and we engage in risky activities that can lead to back injury. For example, my brother once got a little too big for his britches while jumping his dirt bike at our local sand dunes. Too much speed led to too much height which led to landing too hard which led to a broken back. Luckily no damage occurred to his spinal column, but now that he is older the location of his breaks are turning into sources of pain, and the prognosis is for it to worsen. Moral of the story: We all get old and injuries incurred when we were young though careless actions can come back with a haunting vengeance.

Sin 4-Poor Health

We’ve all seen the guy with a belly so large he has to lean way back to maintain a center of balance. The strain such a posture puts on the spine is one thing, the wearing effects of the excess weight is another. Additionally such a person is likely not in the habit of keeping his core muscles in shape.  They are your abdominal muscles and all the back muscles surrounding your spine. If kept strong they minimize the deteriorating effects gravity can have on your discs and vertebrae. When weak you run a significant risk of degenerative disc disease and a drove of other malicious ailments. Add the burden of excess weight or obesity and you are sure to be hurting as early as your mid 30s, depending on factors such as genetics and the previously-mentioned sins.

Sin 5-Genetics

It may not be fair to call genetics a sin…but just as inheriting a predisposition for cancer or heart problems, genetics can dictate your back’s susceptibility to such things as arthritis and other diseases. Sin or not, genetics can play a very significant role.

Sin 6-Injury

Accidents happen. Whether you slip on some ice; lose your footing on your stairs; get in an automobile accident or land wrong when skydiving; one accident can cause a lifetime of pain. It doesn’t matter if you are the cause of the accident or a victim, the sentence is the same…damage to key locations of your back.

Sin 7-Disregard

Should you have the misfortune of sustaining a back injury or if you are hurting as a result of one of sins 1-5 you are likely going to end up talking with a doctor, a chiropractor, a physical therapist or some other practitioner as you seek relief from the pain. And you are likely to hear all sorts of advice. The worst thing you can do is permanently ignore what you hear. However, some of the advice may be conflicting so it is important that you do your own research…and of course opt for the less evasive therapies before agreeing to back surgery. And if your doctor asks you to take it easy, wear a back brace or do some specific core-strengthening exercises, follow his suggestions! For to disregard them would be…a sin.

Tags: back brace, back injuries, back pain, back surgery, Lower Back Pain, spine, sr 500

This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Articles by Michael Harris. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.