Slipped Disc

[st]

- Isometric abs. A major purpose of your abdominal muscles is to hold your back in position when you are standing up. But many people allow their back to sway or arch too much. They may do "exercises" for this by lying on the floor or standing against the wall and pressing the low back (pelvic tilt) to reduce the curve. But that does not change your positioning the rest of the time, and so, does not heal the back pain. You are supposed to use the tilt when standing to keep your back in position - preventing arching. This exercise strengthens your abs and back at the same time you retrain how to hold your back without arching the rest of the day:

 

Lie face up, arms overhead on floor, biceps by your ears. Press your low back toward the floor to remove the arch. You will feel your abdominal muscles working to prevent your back from arching. Hold hand weights an inch above the floor, without arching your back. Keep your low back against the floor by using ab muscles to straighten your spine. This is how your abs should work all the time, when standing up, to prevent too much arching. Notice that you don't need to tighten your abs to do this. Just use abdominal muscles, like any other muscles, to move your body to healthy position. As you get better at this, do this with your legs so straight that you can practice your spinal posture the way you need it for standing up - spine held at healthy position without bending knees.

 

Don't tighten anything, just move your spine and learn how to move it when standing into healthy straighter posture. This exercise is one of hundreds of The Ab Revolution™ exercises that teach how to use abdominal muscles to position the spine.

 

Learn to use your abs to control the posture of your back -

keep your low back from arching even against moving resistance, simulating real life activity when standing up.

Then try this with straight legs. It is not true that you need to bend knees to protect the spine.

You control the position using ab muscles.

Edited May 2, 2006 by Maribel-R18

[st]

Hold a push-up position. In a push-up position (hands and toes, not on knees) tuck your hips under so that your back doesn't arch. You will immediately feel your abs working when you do this. You will also immediately feel the pressure in your back disappear, that was caused by arching. The purpose of this exercise is to train your abs at the same time you relearn how to hold your back when you are standing up. Keep your back straight, not letting it sag into an arch like a hammock. Tuck hips as if you were starting a crunch, but don't hike your behind up in the air or drop your head. Make your posture as straight as if you were standing up. Use a mirror, if available, to see yourself and learn what healthy position feels like. Use this new healthy position all the time, particularly when you stand and reach overhead. Don't let your back arch to reach overhead. Use the principle of this tuck exercise.

 

 

Tuck your hips under to remove the low back arch. You will immediately feel your abs working and pressure gone from your back

Edited May 2, 2006 by Maribel-R18

[st]

Upper Back and Neck Pain

Poor neck posture is a common cause of numb shoulder, upper back pain, and headache. The neck should be on a straight vertical line. Many people let their head and neck tilt forward. This is called a "Forward Head."

 

A forward head can eventually damage neck and upper back structures, as they bend and rub at angles they were not built for. Chronically holding neck muscles in an overstretched position weakens them. The forward head creates shortened, contracted muscles in front, and a stretched, weakened back. Cervical discs are pressured outward, eventually creating herniating force.

 

But most standing, sitting, activity, and exercise is done with a forward head. Look in any fitness magazine. Most “ab” exercises lift the body by the head – encouraged by "fitness" magazines, videos, gyms, and advertising. Look at how people eat. Look at how they carry backpacks and bags - hunching forward against the load instead of using muscles to hold their spine in healthy position. The average person overstretches, and unequally stretches, their back and neck so much, that it is amazing they don’t hurt more.

 

The result is that the average person is too tight to stand up straight. Because of simple bad posture habits that tighten muscles on one side and overstretch them on the other, many people stand, walk, and do activities at joint angles that impinge, grind, rub, and stress. Much back and neck pain is ordinary mechanics.

 

 

 

Many people are too tight in the upper chest and shoulder to stand properly.

The forward head (left) commonly results in sore shoulder, neck, and upper back. Such pain is easily fixed.

Edited May 2, 2006 by Maribel-R18

[st]

Try This To See What Stretches You Need to Fix Upper Back Pain

- Stand near a wall, with your back to it, but not touching the wall.

- Back up until something touches. Your behind? You may stand "booty out," flexed at the hip.

- Did your upper back touch first? You may stand slouched backward.

- Stand with your heels, hips, upper back, and the back of your head against a wall. Bring the back of your head against the wall without raising or dropping your chin, or arching your back.

- If you can't do this comfortably, you are too tight to stand up straight. Pain results from the resulting bad positioning. This is common. Here is what to do about it:

 

 

Two Easy Stretches

Tight pectoral (chest and front of shoulder) muscles rotate your arms inward. To see if you do this, put your arms at your sides, look in the mirror and note direction of your thumbs. Do they face inward – toward each other? To restore this muscle group to functional resting length do these two stretches:

[st]

Upper Back and Neck Pain

Poor neck posture is a common cause of numb shoulder, upper back pain, and headache. The neck should be on a straight vertical line. Many people let their head and neck tilt forward. This is called a "Forward Head."

 

A forward head can eventually damage neck and upper back structures, as they bend and rub at angles they were not built for. Chronically holding neck muscles in an overstretched position weakens them. The forward head creates shortened, contracted muscles in front, and a stretched, weakened back. Cervical discs are pressured outward, eventually creating herniating force.

 

But most standing, sitting, activity, and exercise is done with a forward head. Look in any fitness magazine. Most “ab” exercises lift the body by the head – encouraged by "fitness" magazines, videos, gyms, and advertising. Look at how people eat. Look at how they carry backpacks and bags - hunching forward against the load instead of using muscles to hold their spine in healthy position. The average person overstretches, and unequally stretches, their back and neck so much, that it is amazing they don’t hurt more.

 

The result is that the average person is too tight to stand up straight. Because of simple bad posture habits that tighten muscles on one side and overstretch them on the other, many people stand, walk, and do activities at joint angles that impinge, grind, rub, and stress. Much back and neck pain is ordinary mechanics.

Many people are too tight in the upper chest and shoulder to stand properly.

The forward head (left) commonly results in sore shoulder, neck, and upper back. Such pain is easily fixed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

1. "Pec" Stretch (Pectoral muscles in the front of your chest)

- Face a wall and lift one arm up as if "in a stickup." The inside of your

- Pull your elbow back so that you feel the stretch in your chest, not shoulder capsule.

- Turn away from the wall. Use the wall to gently pull your elbow back.

- Keep head and back posture in line. Don't let your back arch, or jut your chin jut forward.

- Hold just a few seconds, then switch arms.

- Drop your arms and look at your thumbs again. Thumbs should face forward now.

- Try the wall stand again. It should be easy to stand straight now.

[/black]

[st]

1. "Pec" Stretch (Pectoral muscles in the front of your chest)

- Face a wall and lift one arm up as if "in a stickup." The inside of your

- Pull your elbow back so that you feel the stretch in your chest, not shoulder capsule.

- Turn away from the wall. Use the wall to gently pull your elbow back.

- Keep head and back posture in line. Don't let your back arch, or jut your chin jut forward.

- Hold just a few seconds, then switch arms.

- Drop your arms and look at your thumbs again. Thumbs should face forward now.

- Try the wall stand again. It should be easy to stand straight now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

2. Next, stretch the top of your shoulder (Trapezius stretch)

- Tip one ear down toward your shoulder. Don't round or hunch forward, or drop or raise your chin.

- Breathe in, then while breathing out, slide your hand down the side of your body toward your knee. Feel a nice stretch along your entire side.

- Hold only a second or two then switch sides.

- Try the wall stand again and note that it is now easier to stand straight.

 

 

 

Do these two stretches many times a day to keep upper body posture healthy so your upper back and neck don't hurt and to stand properly without forward rounding.

[st]

What To Do Every Day To Prevent Back and Neck Pain

To restore proper muscle length to allow healthy posture:

 

- First thing in the morning, don't sit on the bed. Instead of sitting and rounding your back first thing, turn over and lie face down. Prop gently on elbows, but not so high that it strains. It should feel good and help you straighten out first thing. Get out of bed without sitting.

- Don't droop your head forward when sitting and standing. Remember that posture is a voluntary muscular exercise.

- Pec stretch - described above.

- Trapezius stretch- described above.

- Wall Stand - described above.

- Lie on the floor (diagnostic for tightness and repositioning).

- Keep chin in, not stiffly or so tightly that it hurts, but easily so that your ear is above your shoulder, not forward of it. Remember that "the double chin" exercise is not something you "do 10 times" then stop. It is something you do once. Use it to relearn proper head position then keep it there. Stand with your back against a wall often during the day, to see if the back of your head touches as it will when you are standing in a healthy position.

 

 

More Things To Do Every Day to Prevent Forward Rounding from Ruining Your Back

- Sit without rounding.

- Stand and carry loads without forward head, or arching low back (exaggerating lumbar curve to the back or side).

- Count how many times you bend each day. Imagine the injury to your back by bending wrong that many times each day.

- Lift using the lunge, not bending over.

- Raise computer monitor off the desk - use a low shelf or phone books.

- Move your television up higher. Stop curling down and forward to watch.

- Move desk and car seats closer to sit back not forward (don’t worry about having to keep feet on floor or “flat thighs”).

- Move keyboard off “below desk” tray, and back up on the desk.

- Use lumbar roll (jacket or towel will do) to pad space in concave chairs. Sit up and lean slightly back. Don’t round against the lumbar roll.

- Use your muscles, not joints to hold you up. It’s free exercise.

- Upper back extension exercise

- Lower back extension exercise

[Green Lantern]

how much would that cost me doc..?pls estimate..cold my hmo cover it..?

 

 

Try to make an appointment with Dra. Tanchuling / Dr. David Cabatan / Dr. Tony Rivera / Dr. Leagogo at Philippine Orthopedic Institute, behind Makati Medical Center. These are some of the very best orthopedic surgeons in the country.

Having served under them, and having been treated by them, I can tell you that they are not the type to be quick to the knife (hindi sila opera kaagad - oopera nalang sila if it is really required)

[Green Lantern]

BTW, I forgot to mention, avoid any massages...

they may make things worse, lalo na yung mga hard massage

[emiajamar]

BTW, I forgot to mention, avoid any massages...

they may make things worse, lalo na yung mga hard massage

 

 

I would like to add that neurosurgeons are also similarly if not better than orthopedic surgeons in managing back pains whatever the cause maybe. Be it medical or surgical in nature.

 

From Emiajamar

[Green Lantern]

Neurosurgeons are excellent doctors when it comes to managing pain. Try and determine what the root cause of the pain is if you haven't already.

 

BTW, ÄIR WEEN" how are you feeling? It has been almost 5 months since you posted your query, can you give us an update. Thanks

[hint-of-lime]

I would like to add that neurosurgeons are also similarly if not better than orthopedic surgeons in managing back pains whatever the cause maybe. Be it medical or surgical in nature.

 

From Emiajamar

 

 

No offense to Emiajamar, but I think this statement must be taken with a grain of salt. Not all orthopedic surgeons have sufficient training in spine, thus not all will be adequately armed with the knowledge of how to optimally treat back pain; then again at the other end are some neurosurgeons who have a lot of training in the brain and spinal cord anatomy that their idea of treating back pain is to just remove the cause of the impingement on the spinal cord (and thus removing the cause of the pain), not realizing that they may be adding some instability to the spine by taking out too much bone or soft tissue and thus add to the back pain (which may be due to some inadequate knowledge of vertebral column biomechanics, which is actually more in the realm of orthopedics). I have seen morbidities of back pain patients from both neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons. Don't get me wrong, I know some good neurosurgeons who do excellent work. I also know some very good orthopedic spine surgeons. Sometimes, these people help each other out in difficult cases and actually complement each other - the neurosurgeons with their knowledge of the spinal cord anatomy, and the orthopedic spine surgeons with their grasp of vertebral column anatomy and biomechanics. So, I wouldn't say that one is better than the other, but rather each of these subspecialties have their own way of treating back pain. It is just that back pain is not caused by just one specific problem but by a myriad of possible pathologies of which some are best treated by an orthopedic spine surgeon and others by neurosurgeons. Rest assured, if you consult a competent (meaning properly trained!) neurosurgeon or orthopedic spine surgeon, he/she should know how to work up the patient, how to treat the patient, and when to refer to one or the other, should the need arise.

[Green Lantern]

Well put!

Well explained.

[emiajamar]

No offense to Emiajamar, but I think this statement must be taken with a grain of salt. Not all orthopedic surgeons have sufficient training in spine, thus not all will be adequately armed with the knowledge of how to optimally treat back pain; then again at the other end are some neurosurgeons who have a lot of training in the brain and spinal cord anatomy that their idea of treating back pain is to just remove the cause of the impingement on the spinal cord (and thus removing the cause of the pain), not realizing that they may be adding some instability to the spine by taking out too much bone or soft tissue and thus add to the back pain (which may be due to some inadequate knowledge of vertebral column biomechanics, which is actually more in the realm of orthopedics). I have seen morbidities of back pain patients from both neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons. Don't get me wrong, I know some good neurosurgeons who do excellent work. I also know some very good orthopedic spine surgeons. Sometimes, these people help each other out in difficult cases and actually complement each other - the neurosurgeons with their knowledge of the spinal cord anatomy, and the orthopedic spine surgeons with their grasp of vertebral column anatomy and biomechanics. So, I wouldn't say that one is better than the other, but rather each of these subspecialties have their own way of treating back pain. It is just that back pain is not caused by just one specific problem but by a myriad of possible pathologies of which some are best treated by an orthopedic spine surgeon and others by neurosurgeons. Rest assured, if you consult a competent (meaning properly trained!) neurosurgeon or orthopedic spine surgeon, he/she should know how to work up the patient, how to treat the patient, and when to refer to one or the other, should the need arise.

 

Hint-of-lime. I salute you for having stated that very eloquently. Basically it all comes down to choosing the right doctor for your particular ailment. MABUHAY :cool:

[Green Lantern]

If your doctor is competent enough then he will know what is within his capabilities of treating.

Otherwise, he will refer you to someone he knows can handle your case.

Edited July 29, 2006 by Green Lantern