Back Pain Particularly in the lower lumber region of the Spine is the most common scourges of mankind. 8
out of 10 persons might have suffered from back pain in their span of life between 30 to 50 years. Lot of man-hours are lost in industries due to this pain in the persons in the prime of their life. People cannot meet the social responsibility due to back pain. This is a social problem also .Picture is very gloomy. To some extent our ignorance about our back structure and how it functions is responsible for this. For our back pain so many explanation may be given, but no one will say my back muscles are weak or my posture is poor . When someone goes to a doctor, he has no time to explain anything. He will simply prescribe some medicine. He will not enlighten about the back muscle or posture.
In this book the author has discussed fully about
back pain occurrence and its prevention. The main theme of this book is how to prevent backache by strengthening the key postural muscles. It has gone in details about the back and its components i.e.
the spinal cord, the backbone, the muscle and the ligaments. The spinal cord consists of a column of nerve tissue which runs down from the base of the skull to the level of the small of the back. The roots of various nerves go to different organs. The spinal cord is a great communication channel between the brain and the various organs. These are covered by a bonny tube but not a single piece but by a vertical chain of smaller tubes of different sizes, to make our backbone flexible. The smaller tubes are called
vertebrae. They are separated by one another by firm and resilient inter-vertebral disc and held in place by strong muscles, ligaments and bony processes. The vertebrae are cohesive enough to maintain essential shape while bearing heavy weight. It has to withstand both vertical and horizontal stresses.
In fact there are 33 vertebrae in the spinal column sitting one on the other from neck to the top of the buttocks. The spinal column is divided into
five zones for medical understanding. They are 1)
Cervical region – this is the neck region of the spine comprising of 7 upper vertebrae. These are smaller in size giving high flexibility. 2) The
Thoriac(or Dorsal) region—this is the backside of chest area.There are 12 vertebrae in this region and they are larger and heavier. They are supposed to withstand large amount of stresses. 3)
Lumber region—this area is also called the small of the back, comprises of 5 vertebrae. This is also a flexible region. The vertebrae in this region are larger and stronger , they support the weight of the upper part of the body and give attachments to many powerful muscles that move the trunk and the legs. Most low backache originates because of something wrong with the muscles, ligaments or vertebrae of this region. 4)
The sacral region – this is the area just above the buttocks. 5)
The coccyx—this is the lower most part of the spine. The author has given details of these regions with picture.
To have a good understanding the author has divided the book in four portions. 1. It has given a good explanation how
poor posture and weak back muscles contribute to low backache. 2. How to judge with a simple test about the fitness of your back. 3. To prevent backache it has shown some simple exercises for the rest of life. 4. It has also shown the way how to use your back in day-to-day activities. Finally the author says that
acupressure treatment can help to cure back pain.