Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Is Your Job Killing Your Back?

If you’ve ever suffered from one or the other of the various forms of back pain or sciatica, the problem most likely has nothing to do with your back.


Let me explain...


In today’s world, our bodies are constantly contorted into positions that are abnormal for how our bodies are designed to function.


Whether it’s working at your desk for 8... 9... 10 hours a day, commuting to work or relaxing and watching television, your body isn’t meant to stay in the “sitting” position for very long.


What’s the result? Your body becomes misaligned… specifically your hips.


After a prolonged period of time, your hips start to pull on the tendons and ligaments that connect it to your back. And this pulling is what causes the sharp or dull back pain that people the world over, but Americans in particular, suffer from.


If you were to go to a regular doctor, you’d probably be told to do some stretches to “fix” your back.


But there’s a problem with this supposed "solution".


Most of these stretches are designed to loosen your joints. And the key factor that these doctors don’t know about is that you don’t want loose joints. You want them to be tight. Tight joints mean stable and strong joints. And help prevent injury in the first place.


That’s why I recommend the following stretches to everyone I help. They help realign your hips to relieve stress on your back, but also works to help keep your joints nice and tight to help avoid injury in the future.


Here are some of those stretches from my friends over at the Healthy Back Institute that you'll want to perform daily to avoid back pain:
  • Shoulder Stretch: You need to stretch and develop these muscles because they are very susceptible to injury. And tight shoulder muscles contribute to back pain and neck pain, especially if your head and shoulders droop forward.


How To: Stand in an open doorway. Raising your arm to a 90-degree angle with palm facing out, press your hand and shoulder against the wall and doorjamb. You should feel the wall against your armpit. Slowly increase the tension as you push forward. Hold for a 10 count. Then repeat with the other arm.
  • Hip Flexors Stretch: You need to do this stretch, particularly if you sit all day at work. Sitting all day puts pressure on the hip flexor muscles. This is a major cause of lower back pain. Doing hip flexor stretches like the one below several times a week will prevent this kind of low back pain. This is one of the best lower back pain exercises I've ever come across:



How To: Stand in a modified runner stance, with right foot forward and left foot back, feet flat on floor. Put your hands on your hips and keep your back and hips in straight alignment. Push forward with your hips, while maintaining your erect posture. Slowly, push your hips forward only until you feel a comfortable level of tension. Hold for a 10 count. Switch sides by reversing your leg stance and repeat.

Give these a try. They work for me. Start off doing them every other day and go from there. Consistency is the key. (It always is.)

By the way, I have another blog post with a video revealing a few tried-and-true stretches that do wonders for sciatic pain sufferers as well. You can check it out by clicking here.
There are other steps you can take to overcome back pain and stiffness naturally, too.


In fact, Jesse Cannone – a top fitness trainer and co-founder of the Healthy Back Institute – has written a book called The 7-Day Back Pain Cure. It shows you how to get to the root of back pain problems and fix them without drugs, injections, or surgery. It also suggests numerous measures you can take to prevent back pain in the future.

It's not an eBook or anything like that... it's a real book and it's for sale on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble - but don't go buy it because if you go to his website right now you can get a **free** copy. You just pay a small shipping fee...



But it gets even better... a portion of your shipping fee is donated to one of two great charities: Habitat for Humanity or Kiva.org - you choose. 


Click here and get your free copy of this recently updated bestseller here.


Peace and Victory Over Pain,
Jevaughn Brown
Grab The FREE 7 Day Back Pain Cure Book


P.S. I also explain in depth how to eliminate one of the most common forms of sciatic pain called piriformis pain here.