Lordosis
Filed in anatomy, April 21, 2009, 10:21 amBefore you begin the exercises, you must understand what bad posture is. And to do that, you must understand the meaning of the word lordosis. To some, this term may sound like a disease or an abnormal condition. In fact, it is a natural feature of the lumbar spine in all people.
A lordosis is an [...]
Case history: centralization in texas
Filed in Case history, April 20, 2009, 10:36 amWalt is from Texas. He is 54 years old and works as an insurance broker. For two months he had intermittent pain in the central and lower left back. This had come on for no apparent reason. It spread to his left buttock and thigh, and the symptoms were worse when he bent forward, sat, [...]
Case history: watch out for five-year-olds
Filed in Case history, April 19, 2009, 10:47 amRonnie, a Californian, plays lead guitar in a well-known rock band. He is 52. Due to an auto accident whiplash injury, he had a recurring neck condition that most of the time caused him no pain. Two physical therapists who had treated him had shown him the McKenzie exercises. One evening he was standing near [...]
Case history: numbness and tingling
Filed in Case history, April 18, 2009, 11:27 amRose, 76, from Florida, is a retiree whose physician had diagnosed her with lumbar radiculitis (inflammation of a lumbar nerve root). For two months, she’d had lower back pain as well as numbness and tingling in the right leg and foot. Her symptoms came and went but were most often provoked by sitting. Her pain [...]
Lying down and resting
Filed in Posture, April 17, 2009, 11:53 amSome people have lower back pain when they lie resting in certain positions. A relative few have lower back pain only when they lie down. Many people with lower back pain feel worse when they are lying down, and they dread the thought of another night with more back pain and less sleep.
Prolonged standing
Filed in Answers and questions, April 16, 2009, 11:41 amSome people get lower back pain every time they stand in one place for a long time. The same thing happens when we sit for long periods. In either situation, the muscles that support us tire and relax, allowing us to slouch. When we stand in a relaxed manner, however, the lordosis becomes excessive and [...]
Relaxing after vigorous activity.
Filed in General, April 15, 2009, 11:47 amOver the years I have heard many people complain that they develop back pain after engaging in activities such as gardening, laying concrete, or even running. It is easy, even logical, to attribute the pain to the activity. After all, one has followed the other. In many cases, one has followed the other repeatedly: every [...]
Case history: getting a lift
Filed in Case history, April 14, 2009, 12:14 pmFlorence is a 58-year-old cleaning lady who works at a physician’s office and who also babysits her grandchildren. She lives in Florida. She had distressing lower back pain for two and a half weeks, and had experienced lower back pain off and on for five years. The new episode began when she bent over in [...]
Lifting
Filed in Spine, April 13, 2009, 12:59 pmLifting an object with your back rounded raises the pressure in your discs to a much higher level than if you were to lift the same object with your body upright and with your lordosis present. Research has borne this out.
The lumbar roll
Filed in Back, April 12, 2009, 10:56 amThe lumbar roll should be no more than four to five inches (about 10-13 centimeters) in diameter before being compressed. It should be filled with foam rubber of moderate density so that when compressed its diameter reduces to about 1.5 inches (about four centimeters).
