Federal Way Chiropractic Reviews

Review by William H. Dewitt for The Back Pain Book: A Self-help Guide For The Daily Relief Of Back And Neck Pain
Rating:
The product description is right on the money (I have the original 1992 edition). The Back Pain Book is so beautifully laid out, so clearly written and illustrated, and so filled with wise advice about daily activities, that the exercises are like a diamond in a setting of gold.

The exercises strengthen both the back muscles and the other supportive muscles of the torso and upper thighs. When my back hurt doing curl ups, the isometric exercise for the abdominals did the trick. When my pelvis and lower back needed more stability, the sideways hip strengthening exercise was a strain free way to do it.

For exercises embodying the most indepth, cutting edge research on the back, see, Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance by Stuart McGill (new copies are available for a reasonable price only [...])

Low Back Disorders by McGill provides the research underpinnings for Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance and some sections of practical advice and exercises (see pp. 154-156 for the Injury Prevention Primer, chapter 10 for the background to the exercises and chapter 12 for the exercises).

Also, I’ve found some help from Jim Johnson’s, The Multifidus Back Pain Solution.

All the books contain what Johnson calls, The Multifidus-Strengthening Exercise. Hage calls it, The Hands And Knees Reaching exercise, McGill the Bird Dog. I am unable to do this exercise in the standard position without excessive pain in my shoulders and wrists, so when Hage shows 2 and Johnson shows 4 different positions from which to do this exercise, I am empowered.

Johnson also includes useful information about how long a stretch should be held. However, McGill in Ultimate Back… shows that stretching has limited value for the back. As a result, I would focus on the exercises, not the stretches in The Back Pain Book.

In Low Back Disorders, McGill emphasizes such things as:

1. Keeping the natural curve in the lower back during exercise, i.e., avoid flattenning the back or doing a pelvic tilt;

2. The protective value of endurance over strength;

3. How stability is vastly more important than flexibility;

4. That increasing repetitions is a more effective way of increasing endurance than increasing the length of the hold during any one repetition;

5. That back exercises should not be done during the first hour or 2 after arising. And,

6. As much as possible, exercise only one side of the back at a time.

McGill enables me to do his own exercises and those in other books with greater comfort and safety.

Hage’s and McGill’s books have each been indispensable. Johnson’s book was also helpful. Together, they have enabled me to exercise and live with a minimum of pain.