Anti-Aging Information

Theory 2A Poor Physical State of Health

Poor physical health can also make you an easy setup for an attack of back pain. There are two possible reasons for this. First, as you age, you may not maintain abdominal musculature in the kind of shape necessary to complement those workhorses, the deep paravertebral muscles of the back, nestled deep and along your posterior spine. The reality is that many of us are just not willing to take the little extra time necessary to either stretch or strengthen our backs. Practically every comparative study shows as well that worksite educational programs decrease absenteeism and perceived pain in workers unlucky enough to get injured. Nurturing your back often ends up taking a backseat to the everyday tasks of daily living: endlessly driving the kids and the long list of tasks required of husbands and fathers. Sometimes, if you need motivation, simply a session with a physical therapist, personal trainer, or chiropractor can help you recover faster while teaching you tricks to building your extensor muscles as well as stronger abs.

By the time you are 50, says Burton, your spine has already begun to metamorphose, so that you could be vulnerable to injury due to friable intervertebral discs, especially if you have battered your body lifting wrong or falling. If you are in this category, you may already have built plenty of little calcified outcroppings jutting out from your vertebrae, just waiting to pinch unsuspecting nerves emerging from your spinal cord on their mission to innervate your hamstrings, foot flexors, calves, or toes. The sciatic notch, where those nerves pass through on their journey south to your thigh or leg, can suddenly become a beacon of pain if aggravated.

So who can help you the most? Lest we physicians become self-righteous, all types of health providers are similar in terms of times to functional recovery. What is most interesting, however, is the cost of health care services. Outpatient charges were highest for chiropractors and orthopedists and lowest for HMO and primary-care providers.