FrameWork for the Lower Back: A 6-Step Plan for a Healthy Lower Back - Softcover

Buch 1 von 3: FrameWork Active for Life

Dinubile, Nicholas A.; Scali, Bruce

 
9781605291970: FrameWork for the Lower Back: A 6-Step Plan for a Healthy Lower Back
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1605291978 ISBN 13: 9781605291970
Verlag: Rodale Books, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Manage and prevent lower back pain with the proven FrameWork philosophy!

Muscle and joint conditions have surpassed the common cold as the #1 reason for physician visits in the United States with lower back pain leading the charge. If you suffer from lower back pain, you know the frustration of having to miss out on activities you enjoy and having trouble finding an exercise program that does not exacerbate your pain or symptoms.

In his book, FrameWork, renowned sports medicine physician Dr. Nicholas DiNubile provided readers with cutting-edge strategies for safely starting, maintaining, and building an exercise program designed to promote optimum muscle, bone, and joint function and health. Now in the first installment of his Active for Life series, Framework for the Lower Back, DiNubile provides lower back pain sufferers with a specific plan for treating and preventing sprains, strains, disc problems, arthritis, sciatica issues, and other injuries. Beginning with an explanation of the causes, preventative strategies, and treatment of common lower back problems, Framework for the Lower Back includes:
· A comprehensive pre-exercise screening questionnaire to assess the extent of injury or pain
· A tailor-made exercise plan that incorporates innovative exercises that can be done at home or in the gym
· Nutritional advice designed to strengthen the muscles, joints, and bones of the lower back

Lower back pain and injury doesn't mean the end of an active lifestyle. All it takes is a balanced, customizable plan that acknowledges the fact that our bodies are all a little different and often need special attention. Framework for the Lower Back provides that plan and gives you all the tools you need to stay active for life.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

NICHOLAS A. DiNUBILE, M.D., a specialist in sports medicine, serves as orthopedic consultant to the Philadelphia 76ers and the Pennsylvania Ballet. His advice has been featured in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and several magazines including Men's Health and Newsweek.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

STEP 1

Think "Back"

Roger Schwab, founder of Main Line Health & Fitness in a Philadelphia suburb, is an oft-requested personal trainer for top U.S. athletes, and the provider of a first-rate exercise facility. What's really special about Roger is his innovative work in establishing Main Line Medical Exercise, a facility that incorporates the latest in biomechanical equipment and routines to restore and maintain one's frame. The words he contributes here are worth heeding:

Understanding the basic physics principle of applied force as it relates to structural integrity is a good first step toward understanding how you can achieve a healthy back and maintain it to keep it in top functioning shape.

When force exceeds load-bearing ability, injury must occur. Thus, as the inherent forces of nature cannot be altered in most cases, we must concern ourselves instead with enhancing the structural integrity of the lower back frame members--five lumbar vertebrae and the soft tissue that supports them: disks, cartilage, ligaments, and muscles.

You don't have to know every intricacy of back anatomy, but you should be familiar enough with the basics. Let's start with the backbone, or, more accurately, the back "bones," or vertebrae. A healthy spine forms a couple of gentle S-curves. There are built-in shock and friction absorbers and stabilizers for the two facet joints that each vertebra has with the one above it. Spongy disks, together with soft cartilage, prevent bones from directly rubbing against each other, while ligaments keep the vertebrae aligned.

You were born with a critical anatomical component that is the first line of defense against back dysfunction--deep muscles that help keep vertebrae in line, and superficial muscles that extend from the vertebrae to the ribs. It could be argued with confidence that the lower back is the most vulnerable area of the body and that the role of its muscles cannot be overstated. And that brings us to the purpose of this book.

BALANCING ACT

Your "backbone" is a protective enclave for your spinal cord, a critical anatomical part for movement. That bony architecture protects a vast network of spinal nerves: The cord runs right down the center (it's a high- speed--not a dial-up--line that transmits signals), and there are tributaries on each side that end in nerve roots in soft tissue. Your ability to sense touch in one part of your arm or leg is attributed to one nerve or another, and each muscle group is fired by a certain nerve. When it comes to back problems, they often are not related to the muscles themselves (although that's where you feel it); you are most likely having "referred pain" that comes from:

* A herniated disk that squeezes out from where it should be--between two vertebrae--into the spinal canal or into the foramen (where the nerve exits at each level)

* A spur or arthritis in a facet joint

Both conditions press upon or irritate nerves. While they usually have the most serious consequences, including surgery, a lot has to happen before that point, and a lot can be done before or after such conditions present to reverse course.

Muscles support the skeleton and move the body in the case of lower back muscles with flexion (lengthening of the deep and superficial muscles and contraction of the abdominals) and extension (lengthening of the abdominal muscles and contraction of the erector spinae and the gluteus maximus). Trunk rotation is produced by the external obliques and the internal obliques. Lateral flexion is primarily the responsibility of the quadratus lumborum muscle that works with the obliques, the latissimus dorsi, the iliopsoas, and the rectus abdominis on the side of the direction of movement. But enough with the anatomy lesson; what's most important is the overall message: There's a lot going on that's connected to the part of your back that hurts, and the muscles are key players.

Your lower back muscles hold your frame in place and expand and contract to accommodate all of the twists and turns of normal and athletic movement. And there's more to them than one might think at first because they don't just work in the rear. Their sinews spread to the sides, to the front, and down your legs; a lot of what goes on biomechanically in those areas is directly connected to the spot you reach for when you have a backache.

BACKBOARD

Lesson: Key Players

Lumbar Vertebrae and Disks

Nerves and Spinal Cord

Facet Joints

Lower Back Ligaments

Lumbar and Core Muscles

The core of your frame is much like that of a dwelling you build, with "walls" that support the overall structure and bear measured loads. You have abdominal muscles in the front (anterior muscles), back extenders, oblique muscles, and then deep within you have the interpelvic muscles. If one wall in your house isn't in great shape, the entire structure is susceptible to collapse. And so it is with your biomechanical frame. It is a never-ending balancing act.

A strong lower back muscle network protects against the impact forces prevalent in sports, accidents, and many if not most activities of daily living. Keep your muscles toned, primed for action, and the rest of your back members will move freely as they were designed to do, and they won't place undue stress on nerves or another lower back member, or encroach on your spinal cord. That's the key to fluid motion and the avoidance of sciatica, inflammation, tightness, and sprains. That's the key to being active and pain free.

WEAK LINKS AND STEALTH AILMENTS

Even if you're proactive regarding your fitness, weak links and stealth ailments lurk, and they're responsible for most back injuries and pain. Knowing a lot about them is far more important than anatomical knowledge because you can do something about most of them and hedge your bets against compromised movement or disability, and pain.

WEAK LINKS

"You're only as strong as your weakest link" may often be said, but that doesn't mean it doesn't always have meaning. If you're not on a comprehensive exercise regimen, whatever weak link you have will snap a lot sooner:

* POOR AEROBIC CONDITION

Muscles need oxygen like engines need gas, and they and other frame members, such as intravertebral disks and ligaments, need blood supply to stay healthy. (Much more on the critical importance of aerobic conditioning in Step 4.)

* OVERWEIGHT

It stands to reason that the more your frame has to support, the harder it has to work and the more susceptible to injury it is. (Step 4 also has some juicy tidbits on frame-appropriate nutrition.)

* IMBALANCES

We touched on this in the preface, and it's something that crops up throughout these pages because of how they work against you--not only physically but also nutritionally and emotionally.

* OLD INJURIES

This is a big one--the number-one predictor of future back ailments. Your body is just like paper, metal, and wood: Its cracks and tears and breaks can be "glued," "taped," "stapled," or "welded," but it may never be as strong as it was originally.

* REINJURY

If I had a dime for every patient who showed up in my office with a reinjury (lower back or otherwise), there wouldn't have to be a cover price on this book. I'm not just talking about sprains; I'm talking about tears and fractures. There are a few primary reasons for this:

* Incomplete rehabilitation

* Strenuous recreation too soon

* Improper warmup of affected area

* Poor nutritional support

* Medication camouflage

A vicious slide ensues as each rehab from injury only restores you so far, and you're not where you were before. That's your new baseline.

I won't mind it at all if no one shows up in my office for the above. That'll happen when a lot more...

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Verlag
Rodale Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2010
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1605291978
ISBN 13 
9781605291970
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
192
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Rodale
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/imprints/A6/rodale-books/books

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