Sciatica & Back Pain Cure Center

There is a wide range of different types of back specialists and how they treat you varies considerably.

If you are, or have been, dealing with sciatica and back pain you may have come in contact with a range of medical practitioners. For example:

- Your Family Doctor

- Orthopaedic Surgeon

- Naturopathic Specialist

- Rheumatologist

- Occupational Therapist

- Physiotherapist

- Acupuncturist

- Massage Therapist

- Osteopath

- Chronic Pain Specialist

- Chiropractor

Chiropractors
Let’s talk more about Chiropractors - why chiropractors you might ask?

The answer is just personal experience. I have used a chiropractor for many years and the treatment works for me. If you have a favourite type of specialist that helps you look after your back and they work for you - that’s great too. Keep using them!

Remember you’re looking for anything that works to stop back pain, because what works for som epeople doesn’t for others. It doesn’t matter what the treatment is as long as it works for you.

A key point though is that since I learnt how to look after my back and started specific exercises to strengthen it, the sciatica and lower back pain have just about gone.

Now I need to visit the chiropractor much less often - on a monthly schedule, whereas sometimes it was only a few days between treatments. What’s more important to me is that my back feels good most of the time.

Background to Chiropractors

Chiropractors regard your spine as the major influence on your overall health, because all the organs in your body depend upon the spinal cord (nerve) for the transmission of vital messages that are relayed backwards and forwards between your organs and your brain.

If your spine is injured or misaligned, this interferes with the transmission of these messages.

Chiropractors diagnose spine and joint problems with the help of X-rays. They are also able to detect various conditions of your spine, including the surrounding muscles with their hands.

The most common therapeutic procedure performed by chiropractors is known as “spinal manipulation,” also called “chiropractic adjustment.”

The purpose of manipulation is to restore joint mobility by manually applying a controlled force into joints that have become hypomobile – or restricted in their movement – as a result of a tissue injury.

Note:
There are also people who are adamant that chiropractors are basically charlatans and the treatment is a hoax, for more information refer:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chiro.html.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide. As mentioned above, its what works for you that counts

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Important Note:
Please read the medical disclaimer before attempting any exercises.

SCIATICA & BACK PAIN RELIEF EXERCISE #3

1. Stand with your feet about 45cm (18 inches) apart.

2. Slowly rotate your head and shoulders as far as you can to the left. DO NOT TWIST OR TURN RAPIDLY OR fORCE THE MOVEMENT. Stop when you feel tension or pain in the muscles of your neck and/or back.

3. At this point you will have turned somewhere between 90 and 180 degrees and be looking somewhere between to your left and to your rear depending on how supple you are.

4. Hold the position for a few seconds, count slowly 1-2-3-4-5.

THIS IS IMPORTANT.
The hold time gives your brain a clear signal so it can differentiate between your normal muscle tension and maximum achievable muscle tension.

5. Next slowly return to the straight ahead position and then twist to the right hand side (i.e. in the opposite direction) and hold the position again for a few seconds count slowly 1-2-3-4-5.

AND REPEAT

6. Do the exercise for a minute or two, 4 to 5 times a day and you can expect to see relief from most lower and upper back pain.

EXERCISE STANDING OR SITTING

When you do the exercise standing, twist your whole body. This involves the muscles in your hips and legs also.

You can also do the exercise sitting in which case it works best if you clasp your hands together on top of your head. Measure your progress by monitoring how far around you can get your elbow. This version focuses on the neck and shoulder areas.

The aim here is to see as far behind your back as you can. This way you get maximum rotation of both the neckbone and backbone. Repeat this for 5 minutes, but start out doing less if it makes your back pain worse.

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I happen to be a keen cyclist and tall, so if I’m not careful, the head down/bum up riding position can aggravate my back if I’m cycling for long periods.

(Not as much as sitting hunched over a notebook PC, which has to be the absolute worst for my neck/shoulders and lower back, but that’s another story!)

That’s one of the reasons I ride a hybrid bike, rather than a traditional road bike with drop handlebars.

The other reasons are IMHO hybrids are more fun and great for just hopping on and going to the beach or the shops. Buy a decent hybrid and you can keep up fine with other cyclists, except with the real hard core weekend road warriors.

Actually I think its great fun slotting into a peloton sitting bolt upright, whilst everybody else is grinding their nose on their front tire, but that’s just me I guess!

Anyway, the point with cycling and any other exercise in relation to your back is vary your routine and listen to what your back is telling you.

When I was younger and believed I was indestructible, I didn’t take that much notice of the pain and discomfort from physical overexertion.

Now old age and a couple of really scary bouts of sciatica have taught me to listen and be kind(er) to my body. I’ve also learnt to judge that sometimes fine line between ’stretching my performance envelope’ and buggering myself up!

So mix up cycling with say swimming and walking and plenty of stretching (as always yoga is highly recommended). If your (lower) back starts to hurt whilst cycling, then stop and do something else for a while.

Anyway, I came across an article about cycling sciatica and back pain that I thought was useful. You can find it here http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2007/letters05-01#8

Enjoy.

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