Back Sufferers' Bible

by Key, Sarah

• ISBN13: 9781741751895
• ISBN10: 1741751896
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-01
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Summary

Take steps to keep your back healthy and pain-free with down to earth advice from one of Australia's most high profile physiotherapists. This completely revised and updated edition, written for sufferers and practitioners alike, provides all the information you need to play an active part in your own treatment.

Author Biography

Sarah Key is a trained physiotherapist and the author of Back in Action and Body in Action. She was made a Member of the Victorian Order acknowledging her many years of service treating members of Britain's Royal Family.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. v
Introduction	p. 1
The way it might be	p. 1
The way it is...	p. 2
The way it goes wrong	p. 5
The way ahead...	p. 10
How a normal spine works	p. 13
What is a spine?	p. 13
The lumbar vertebrae	p. 15
The spinal ligaments	p. 19
The intervertebral discs	p. 23
The nutrition of the discs	p. 28
The vertebral movements	p. 30
The facet joints	p. 33
The bending human spine	p. 36
The spinal nerves	p. 40
The muscles which work the spine	p. 41
The stiff spinal segment	p. 50
What is a stiff spinal segment?	p. 50
Causes of a stiff spinal segment	p. 52
Unremitting spinal compression reduces disc metabolism	p. 52
Gravity squeezes fluid from the discs	p. 53
Abdominal (tummy) weakness allows the spine to 'sink'	p. 55
Sustained postures accelerate fluid loss and poor varieties of movement prevent fluid replacement	p. 56
Chronic protective muscle spasm compresses the problem disc	p. 62
Abnormal postures increase neurocentral compression and reduce metabolic activity of the discs	p. 64
Injury can rupture the cartilage endplate between vertebra and disc	p. 69
The disc breaks down	p. 71
The way this back behaves	p. 74
The sub-clinical phase	p. 74
The acute phase	p. 74
Acute palpation	p. 76
What causes the acute pain?	p. 76
The sub-acute phase	p. 77
Sub-acute palpation	p. 78
The chronic phase	p. 78
Chronic palpation	p. 78
What causes the chronic pain?	p. 79
What you can do about it	p. 80
Aims of self-treatment for segmental stiffness	p. 80
A typical self-treatment for acute segmental stiffness	p. 81
A typical self-treatment for sub-acute segmental stiffness	p. 82
A typical self-treatment for chronic segmental stiffness	p. 83
Facet joint arthropathy	p. 85
What is facet joint arthropathy?	p. 85
Diagnosis by manual palpation	p. 89
Causes of facet arthropathy	p. 91
Disc stiffening allows the facet capsules to tighten	p. 91
Disc narrowing causes the facet joint surfaces to override	p. 92
A sway back causes the lower facets to jam	p. 94
Weak tummy muscles can jam the facets	p. 97
A shorter leg invokes a greater restraint role of the facets	p. 98
Golf clinic	p. 101
The way this back behaves	p. 101
The acute phase	p. 101
Manual diagnosis of an acutely inflamed facet	p. 102
What causes the acute pain?	p. 103
Interrupting the pain cycle	p. 104
The chronic phase	p. 105
Lessening the pain	p. 105
What causes the chronic pain?	p. 107
What you can do about it	p. 109
The aims of self-treatment for facet joint arthropathy	p. 109
A typical self-treatment for acute facet joint arthropathy	p. 110
A typical self-treatment for sub-acute facet joint arthropathy	p. 111
A typical self-treatment for chronic facet joint arthropathy	p. 112
The acute locked back	p. 114
What is an acute locked back?	p. 114
Causes of an acute locked back	p. 117
A natural 'window of weakness' early in a bend	p. 117
Segmental stiffness predisposes to facet locking	p. 119
Muscle weakness contributes to facet locking	p. 120
The way this back behaves	p. 122
The acute phase	p. 122
What causes the acute pain?	p. 123
The sub-acute phase	p. 124
The chronic phase	p. 125
What you can do about it	p. 126
The aims of self-treatment for an acute locked back	p. 126
A typical self-treatment for acute locked back	p. 127
A typical self-treatment for sub-acute locked back	p. 128
A typical self-treatment for chronic locked back	p. 129
The prolapsed 'slipped' intervertebral disc	p. 132
What is a prolapsed disc?	p. 132
Diagnostic techniques	p. 137
Disc surgery	p. 139
Causes of a prolapsed disc	p. 141
Pre-existing breakdown alters the properties of the nucleus and weakens the disc wall	p. 142
Bending and lifting stress breaks down the back wall of the disc	p. 143
Intensifying the breakdown	p. 144
The way this back behaves	p. 146
The acute phase	p. 146
What causes the acute pain?	p. 148
The chronic phase	p. 150
What causes the chronic pain?	p. 153
What you can do about it	p. 154
The aims of self-treatment of a prolapsed disc	p. 154
A typical self-treatment for acute prolapsed disc	p. 155
A typical self-treatment for sub-acute prolapsed disc	p. 156
A typical self-treatment for chronic prolapsed disc	p. 157
The unstable spinal segment	p. 158
What is segmental instability?	p. 158
Diagnosis	p. 162
Spinal surgery	p. 164
Causes of segmental instability	p. 165
Primary breakdown of the disc	p. 165
Primary breakdown of the facet joints	p. 168
Incompetence of the 'bony catch' mechanism of the facet joints	p. 169
Weakness and poor coordination of the trunk muscles	p. 171
Some speculation	p. 172
The way this back behaves	p. 173
The acute phase	p. 173
What causes the acute pain?	p. 174
The sub-acute phase	p. 174
The chronic phase	p. 176
What causes the chronic pain?	p. 178
What you can do about it	p. 178
The aims of self-treatment for segmental instability	p. 178
A typical self-treatment for acute instability	p. 179
A typical self-treatment for sub-acute instability	p. 180
A typical self-treatment for chronic instability	p. 181
Treating your own back	p. 183
Helping yourself	p. 183
Preliminary thoughts	p. 184
The procedures	p. 186
Bed rest	p. 186
Medication	p. 188
Painkillers and NSAIDs	p. 189
Muscle relaxants	p. 190
Exercises for treating a bad back	p. 192
Rocking the knees to your chest	p. 192
Rolling along the spine	p. 195
Legs passing	p. 198
Reverse curl ups	p. 199
The BackBlock	p. 202
Segmental pelvic bridging	p. 208
The Ma Roller	p. 210
Squatting	p. 212
Toe touches in the standing position	p. 214
Diagonal toe touches	p. 216
Floor twists	p. 218
The Cobra	p. 219
The Sphinx	p. 222
Spinal intrinsics strengthening	p. 223
Reference reading	p. 227
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