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Feeling Comfort in Your Back
by Rachel Katz, P.T.
Have you ever wondered what the qualities of a “good” back are? Are you someone who doesn’t think about your back at all because it doesn’t give you pain? Are you someone who has back pain some of the time and wonders what you should be doing for it?
It’s easy to come up with an image of a back that’s hurting like the image of red flares coming out of the low back, a bent over figure, a sense of distress. What about images of a back that feels really good? What image comes to mind that shows that? Does your image reflect comfort, motion, and strength or other sensations?
A healthy back is one that doesn’t give you pain or tension. It can support you comfortably for sitting with or without a back support for hours. You wake up flexible and pain-free and stay that way throughout the day. You don’t feel strain or undue stretch to reach into a low cupboard, across the car seat or to lift and twist. The small movements that shift your position and weight to keep you comfortable are unconscious and occur without thought. You don’t need to repeatedly do large weight shifts and big stretches to reduce tension. You can voluntarily move most sections of your spine in small motions that don’t bring along the whole back in order for them to happen.
Here’s a simple test: Start with the upper part of your back and lower neck. Can you curl forward and back in a wave the way a dolphin swims through the water? Try the mid section above the belly button, how about here? Now try the lower back. Could you move in sections or only as a whole?
Try another direction of movement: a bend to the side. What does this feel like?
If you have sections of your spine that don’t move well or you have limitations of motion in the biggest moving joint below your low back, the hip sockets, then you may have times that your back hurts. Some simple things to do are preventative.
When you sit, avoid working with your arms reached out in front for the keyboard or mouse. If you have to reach forward some of the time, be sure to return your arms to a by your sides position frequently to give your arm and back muscles a break. This is good to do in the thinking pauses. Let your arms rest by your sides and allow your chest position to open broadly.
Use your muscles in the region around your shoulder blades to support your torso upright off the back of the chair. Rest into the back of the chair some of the time and again return to a position off the chair back with your muscles contributing to holding you up. The muscles that go from the shoulder blades to your spine create a support system that your back muscles can rest in, like a hammock reaching across your back from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. You don’t have to squeeze real hard like a guard at Buckingham Palace, but you do want some action in these muscles.
One of the keys to a comfortable low back is muscle tone and spine segment mobility in the mid back region. It’s easy to get into the habit of not engaging motion in this part of the back. It seems that once this area gets “offline” it tends to stay that way unless you get it working for you and keep it participating in everyday ordinary motions.
If you have an image of a comfortable back that you’d like to share, I’d like to hear itYou can send your comments and questions to Rachel at her email: rachelsranch@yahoo.com or call her at 303-875-7878.
