Back In Business
Newcastle Herald
Tuesday September 26, 2000
It's time to stand up for your spine and get moving, writes Bill Radford.
DOES your back ache while you surf the Net? Do you struggle to get comfortable as you sit and read the paper?
Stand up!
Four out of five adults will experience significant lower back pain during their lives, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
One of the chief culprits is too much sitting. Sitting puts pressure on the lowest part of the spine ? a lot more pressure than standing or walking.
Ergonomics, the science of arranging and adjusting your work environment to your body, helps only so much when you're sitting at a computer for eight hours or more a day, says Bob Kuzma, a physiotherapist with Woodmen Valley Physical Therapy.
What people need to do routinely is get out of that chair, he says. Stand up every 30 minutes or so and walk to the bathroom or another cubicle.
Just get up and move around a little bit.
Kuzma, who has his own history of back pain, has worked to eliminate sitting in his life as much as possible. When he rides on a plane, for example, he usually stands near the back of the cabin.
Good back care needs to be practised at the office and at home, Kuzma says; going home and plopping in front of the TV isn't going to help those back muscles.
`We have got to get into a mode of exercising and stretching and keeping our muscles toned and flexible,' he says.
When you stay in a sitting position, it promotes inflexibility and weakness of the muscles of the lower back.
Immobility is also a problem for the facet joints of the spinal column. The facet joints link the vertebrae together and give them the flexibility to move against each other. Movement produces a lubricating fluid that aids that flexibility; no motion, no fluid.
The pressure of sitting also interferes with the working of the discs in your back ? flat, round cushions that act as shock absorbers between each vertebra.
But it can be a challenge to get people up and moving, says Thomas Gehrmann, a Colorado Springs chiropractor with Heuser Chiropractic. Americans in general are getting heavier, and children are spending more and more time in front of the television or computer.
`I think the problem is only going to get worse,' Gehrmann says.
He uses hands-on therapy to adjust the spine, but he says true success comes from patients learning about back care and following through.
`If you're going to sit at your computer desk all day and not do the proper things, get up and move, stretch, then what I do is just going to give you pain relief. Then I'm being used basically as an Advil,' Gehrmann says.
Kuzma also stresses patient education and commitment. In today's rush-rush society, exercise often is the first thing tossed from one's schedule, he says.
`We just have to say this is an important time for me in regards to exercise. Your body's worth that 30 minutes a day,' adds Kuzma.
© 2000 Newcastle Herald
