First I want to give a big thanks to everyone who came to the class last Thursday, and congratulate Tom on winning our drawing! We felt it was a successful class, and we hope we were able to answer all of your questions. If you have topics you’d like to see addressed in our future classes please let us know!

For those of you who missed it, Paul W. Sagers, PT gave a very good seminar on back care.  Due to the fact that about 80% of all people suffer from some sort of back pain we thought it might be useful to provide a recap of the class.

One important thing Paul hit on was the cause of back pain. Many people think that they have hurt their back lifting something one time. What they don’t know is that back problems are seldom caused by one incidence. Back injuries usually occur gradually due to a few different causes. People just don’t notice the injury until it finally gets bad enough to cause them pain.

In truth, there are many causes of back pain and imbalances. These are the main culprits:

• Poor posture while sitting or standing.
• Moving and positioning your body incorrectly in ways that could increase stress on muscles, tendons, and bones. This is also known as poor body mechanics.
• Increased stressful living and working environments.
• Decreases in strength and flexibility.
• Overall decline in physical activity.

One of the most important things you can do to prevent back injuries is to maintain good balance in your spine. One of the best ways to do this is to assume the “Power Position” or “Neutral Position”.  This basically means that you are standing up straight, and holding in your stomach. By pulling your stomach in and up you’ll be able to better support your spine.

Now this can be tiring after a while, and it takes some practice to coordinate this with proper breathing. Just try it for a few minutes at a time throughout the day. Gradually increase to doing this as often as you can. Soon you’ll notice that by doing this you’ll be standing up straighter, and you’re core will be much stronger.

Here are 7 other great ways to prevent back problems:

1. Physical exercise – Incorporating strength training, aerobic exercises, and flexibility will do a world of wonders for your back. There some great back specific exercises that help many see a huge decrease in pain. The main thing with these is to make sure that you’re doing the exercises right. If you don’t have correct posture, or if you’re doing too much then you might cause more problems. Meeting with a physical therapist or personal trainer is important if you’re just starting out.
2. Back support - Make sure your chairs are ergonomically supportive. If you are doing a lot of lifting a back support device may provide some good protection, but should not be worn all the time.
3. Nutrition – By supplying needed nutrients you can increase the health of your bones and muscles. If you’re overweight eating healthy for weight loss is another great way to prevent back problems.
4. Stress Management – Many problems are caused by constant stress. Focus on relaxing.
5. Get a Massage – This is a great way to help tense muscles relax, and to help reeducate muscles.
6. Rest - Don’t overdo it on the exercises, and make sure you are getting enough sleep.
7. Quit Smoking – Nicotine has actually been shown to slow circulation and healing in the spine and muscles.

If you are feeling constant back pain, especially if it is sharp or shooting, it is very important to be working with a doctor or physical therapist to make sure that you’re not doing more damage with exercise.

Myth: Running outside when it’s cold can harm your lungs.

This myth actually has a lot of truth to it. That, however, depends on your present health. Cold air itself does not pose a problem for your lungs. By the time it goes through your nose or mouth, and down your throat, it’s temperature is about the same as your body temperature.

It’s not actually the temperature of the air that can be harmful. It’s the fact that cold winter air is usually very dry. The lungs and mouth may become raspy and dry because of the work you’re body is having to do to moisturize the air. That does not mean that it is not ok to exercise in cold weather. Sorry, cold weather just isn’t a valid excuse. You just need to assess what kind of shape your lungs are in. If you have a cold, sore throat, or exercise-induced asthma be careful of how much dry air your lungs are exposed to. Limit your mileage, or just work out indoors on especially cold days. Wearing a scarf over your mouth is not a bad idea either.

Another factor to look at is the air quality. In cold areas inversion causes pollution to hang around longer. In conclusion don’t let cold weather chain you to a treadmill. Just watch what the weather and air conditions, and be smart.

If you have any winter exercise ideas you’d like to share, then please, share!

Another free community health class this week! After several requests we have decided to do another stretching class this Thurs:

February 4, 2010 @ 7 pm

Location: Edgemont Physical Therapy and Fitness.

Subject: Stretching For Your Health – We’ll briefly review the benefits of stretching that we discussed in our last class. Then we will go through a short stretching routine that you can do daily to improve your quality of life. We cover stretches for stress relief, neck tension, and low back pain

Once again this is for all age groups! If you  missed the last class then you won’t want to miss this one! You may want to bring a large towel or floor mat to make the stretches a little easier.

Upcoming classes: Headache Prevention coming in 2 weeks!

If you’d like to receive email reminders about this event, and upcoming events please use the contact form in the sidebar! We would also like feedback as to what days and times work best, and if you have any ideas for classes please feel free to comment!