Back Facts

There are 3 main contributing factors to back pain: Aging process, lifestyle and daily wear and tear on the spinal column. While we can't do anything about the aging process we can do something about how we approach our daily lives and how we care for our spine. Unfortunately, most of this means nothing unless you've experienced back pain. Pain can be a great motivation to change. How many of you have or know of someone with back pain? It makes sense-statistics predict that 4 our of 5 Americans will someday suffer back problems.

The secret to having a stronger, healther back is to strengthen your abdominal, back, hip, and thigh muscles. Our spine has 3 purposes: Maintain the structure of our body trunk and allow for mobility, protect the nervous system and acts as a shock absorber. Vertebrae, discs and ligaments provide structure Muscles support this structure and joints provide mobility. The nervous system provides energy and control of the body.If someone was going to hit you in the gut, would your natural reaction be to tighten your gut? That should also be your reaction prior to lifting. To minimuze stress on your spine, you should always use your trunk and abdominal muscles when lifting, or performing a repetitive motion.3) As an industrial athlete, you want to warm up those muscles just as any athlete would.1) Partial situps (Avoid full situps, they put excessive stress on your spine. 2) Lean against a wall, abdominals taut, knees flexted.3) With muscles still taut, walk away from the wall. This is the feeling you want to have before you lift anything.4) Lie down on floor. Keeping shoulder flat on floor, slowly rotate hips and legs from side to side.5) Tighten buttocks while pressing pelvis to floor.6) Keeping low back flat, bring each knee to chest for 30 seconds. Alternate legs.pointed. Rotate arm and stretch to loosen up the sides

1) First center the belt in the small of your back and pull the inside belt layer over the abdomen, overlapping fromleft to right. 2) Second, grip both ends of the outer belt layer.3) Secure the strap to the outside layer of the self-gripping fastener. The outside strap is designed to lock the belt in place, not to tighten

1) Size up the load to be handled. If necessay, move it from side to side and forward or backward to gauge the object's weight. Can you handle it safely or do you need help? Be honest.2) Establish a firm footing to ensure the best possible balance and a stable lifting base. Stand with your feet apart at about the same width as your shoulers, with one foot slightly ahead of the other. 3) Remember to keep your back as straight and upright as possible. Keep your back perpendicular to the ground.4) Always bend at your knees, not at your waist. Slowly lowe yourself using only your legs and remeber to keep your back as straight as possible all the way down. 5) As you begin to lift, tighten your stomach muschles and list with your lefs, not your back. Let your leg muscles do all the work. They are much stronger than your weaker back muscles. 6) Always kke the load as close as possible to your body. When you have to turn, turn with your feet first and let your body follow. Never turn by twisting your body.