The Truth About Back Pain - A Review
By Laura M. Turner
What is
the REAL truth about back pain? In my opinion, back pain is not
something we can create a "cure-all" for in hopes it will go away for good,
like a case of the flu or a fleeting virus. Rather, back pain is something
we can hopefully prevent, but more likely must learn to manage. And the
truth is, back pain is a reality we will all likely face at one time or
another.
Yet, I did not always think this way. In fact, for the longest time, I thought I could
exercise away the threat by lifting weights, strengthening my abdominals
with crunches (yep those things we now know actually create
back pain) and create muscle balance by stretching. This
idea is just plain false. Although some of these things do
help, I - like a lot of people - woke up one day and found it
difficult to get out of bed.
As the years have passed, and my knowledge of the body has
greatened, I've learned an important lesson. The spine itself
is something that we not only need to treasure, as it is the brains of the
body's main electrical source of nerves, but the spine and its health define
everything about us from our range of movement to the rate of our aging process.
In
his book, The Truth About Back Pain, author Dr. Todd Sinett is
called to help all of us manage this back pain conundrum. In his 203 page
book (one of which I quickly gobbled up in a matter of days) he
carries the torch for he and his late father's mission:
telling us the truth about how and where our back pain arises.
In their assessment, back pain comes from one (or all) of these three sources:
Nutritional, Structural or Emotional. In his book, Sinett helps
readers identify where their specific problems lie and where they can fine-tune
their lifestyle to prevent serious pain before it begins.
Too, the media loves to tell all about our CORE. It's all we
hear about: core strength,
core exercises. Yet, what is the core, anyway? And if
it's so important to our health, how can we be sure it's serving us? Thank goodness Sinett
can clear much of this misinformation up for us. The Truth
About Back Pain gives you all you'll need to know about your
core and how to keep it strong. It's not what you would imagine, either. Sinnett shares with readers that,
much to our chagrin, scores of crunches and traditional ab work are
not what we
need to build a strong foundation. In fact, they could be the worst
thing we could do for the health of our spine. To remedy this
truth, Sinett offers up his
exercises for building the coveted "six pack." And his are both safe
and effective.
Where to begin to find your back pain truth? First, have a look at this exercise Sinett offers
and
check to see if your core is in alignment. I don't think he'll mind
if I share it with you - as if you find your core is out (as mine
was) you will
want to run (not walk) to grab his book and learn more about how to get
yourself back in alignment:
|
Do you Have Core
Imbalance?
Take the Core Imbalance Test.
Sit in an
ordinary chair, facing forward, with your feet on the
floor.
Now turn your head to the right
and note how far you can see behind you.
Turn back to
your starting position and lift your right arm to the
side.
Now turn your head to the right again.
If you can see
farther with your arm raised,
then you have a core that is out of balance (Sinett,
100)
|
Imagine! This is just the beginning of the information you will
find inside the folds
of Sinett's book. Here's more:
-
Detailed exercises to help you stabilize your spine and your core in
effort to relieve your back pain if you have it, or strengthen your back
to prevent
pain in the future.
-
Postural suggestions that will help you prevent neck pain while
sitting at your desk at work.
-
Learn why our diet is so important to our overall health, as well as the health
of our spine.
- A
back pain friendly diet that will help you overcome the pain you may be
experiencing now.
-
How to have a look at your emotions and see if they are contributing to
your spine's health or withdrawing from your spinal health bank account.
- and
lots more...
In his
second generation chiropractic practice, Dr. Todd Sinett is an inspiration for all of us.
He shows us that to manage back pain, and create health and balance in our
bodies we need to rely on natural methods
first before popping a hand full of dangerous anti-inflammatory medications
to manage pain or worse, have back surgery if it's not even necessary.
The most important message, however, is the one of back care and prevention. And
with this in mind, The Truth About Back Pain is a welcome edition to my and
any healthy reader's wellness arsenal. Sinnett makes it easy to read,
learn and apply the strategies to live pain free.
Be sure to
check out these other great resources from Dr. Todd Sinett:
Help Me Make This Pain Go Away
By Dr. Todd Sinett
The Health Of Your Back Can Be A Sign Of Your Overall
Health! By Dr. Todd Sinett
****
