What is Back Pain?

Acute or short-term low back pain generally lasts from a few days to a few weeks. Most acute back pain is the result of trauma to the lower back or a disorder such as arthritis. Pain from trauma may be caused by a sports injury, work around the house or in the garden, or a sudden jolt such as a car accident or other stress on spinal bones and tissues. Symptoms may range from muscle ache to shooting or stabbing pain, limited flexibility and range of motion, or an inability to stand straight. Chronic back pain is pain that persists for more than 3 months. It is often progressive and the cause can be difficult to determine.

Currently, researchers are examining the use of different drugs to effectively treat back pain, in particular, chronic pain that has lasted at least 6 months. Other studies are comparing different health care approaches to the management of acute low back pain (standard care versus chiropractic, acupuncture, or massage therapy). These studies are measuring symptom relief, restoration of function, and patient satisfaction.

Pilates for Improving Back Pain

One of the most essential things that a person must do to keep from having constant back pain is to get their body in better condition. Yet at the same time if they are already suffering from back strain this can be a difficult thing to do without causing more strain and so more pain. The significant thing to remember is to avoid high impact exercises and look for those that are easier on the body and so avoid stressing the back while trying to improve it. There are many options to choose from including Yoga or Tai Chi, but there are also other alternatives that are worth exploring.

A relatively new exercise system has been doing just that. Although the man who invented it, Joseph Pilates, first thought of his system in 1918, it really has only caught on in the United States, gaining a following and so renewed popularity, in the last twenty years. Pilates was a nurse in Germany who was troubled by the large number of bedridden and wanted to find something that could be done to help improve the health of those who had spent a long time in bed. His exercises are such that they can be done in a very small area. As a matter of fact one of the pieces of equipment he accentually designed is based on an old hospital bed. So, this system was not originally designed for back pain relief but to get the body into better shape without stressing it out Pilates seems to be what many athletes, professional and amateur, are using to improve their overall physical condition.

This exercise system, which relies mostly on mat work, has trained many dancers and athletes in ways to improve their flexibility, build muscle tone and to improve their body's strength. This system seems to avoid many of the pitfalls of most exercise methods. Pilates believed that the key to a better exercise program was not to do the same exercises over and over, as so many programs suggest, but to do a smaller number of a more varied program. Since this is how he felt he eventually put together a system that includes over five hundred exercises. These are done with just a person's body, no weights to lift, no machines to push or pull.

Originally thought by many athletes to be a women's group of exercises, many well-known athletes now swear by it. They claim that by using this system and working out only three times a week they have avoided the back injuries that they used to be plagued with because of the challenging sports they play. They also feel that Pilates has made them better athletes, stronger and faster.

Pilates is now a common treatment suggestion by physiotherapists for those who need to correct posture, improve muscle strength as well as to help diminish back pain and ultimately to prevent recurring back pain. Pilates seems to be the next wave of exercise for improving backache pain.

Written by: Scott Parat