Take Charge Now

The Danish study that showed that there was a 13% more chance of dying when there was back or spine pain than those who were pain free makes even more sense when you realize that most people have spine pain because of a sedentary life style. 
    It wasn’t until the decades of the fifties and sixties that a “bad back” became common place.  As our society became more about technology and automation, work and lifestyle became less and less about physical exertion that used to be part of the normal working day. Changes in forms of transportation made it unnecessary to walk to school or to the corner store. People began watching sports instead of participating. With less physical activity and underexercise, muscles, joints, hearts, became weaker and stiffer. And while back pain became more prevalent, the more serious diseases due to insufficient motion were at the forefront of medical concern. 
    One hundred and fifty years ago, before many of today’s miracle drugs and medicines were available, therapeutic exercise was prescribed as a way of correcting body defects.  But then, medical practice began to change with surgery and drugs becoming the road to recovery. What now is generally accepted causations or exacerbations of heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, stress was not generally accepted. 
    In recent decades however, physicians and researchers have begun to recognize that underexercise is often the root of much of illness and susceptibility to disease.  Now after decades of research, countless findings are pointing to preventative and restorative benefits of regular exercise for many if not most of disease.
    And, for sure, underexercise is the root of most people’s back pain. Some people do have unstable backs from serious injury or disease at the root of their back pain. However, the majority of back pain is caused by problems with stiffness or weakness from inactivity and poor posture that can be remedied with Therapeutic Exercise. 
    Certain acute, extremely painful or chronic back conditions need skilled intervention by your team of Physicians and Physical Therapist, but the end result is and has to be an exercise program designed to correct the deficiencies that cause or contribute to your back pain.
    Back exercise is not and should not be a one size fits all approach. While there is commonality among many back exercises, some back exercises are not the correct exercise for all back conditions and even may be the wrong exercise that will cause an increase in your back pain.  
    And that ten-minute walk right I have been talking about…it will be good for your back and remember to make it twenty…. and do it now with someone you care about.  Don’t forget to call your Physical Therapist about the right exercise for your back.  You’ll be glad you did
Tom Coplin PT
Central Physical Therapy