Protect Your Back And Regain Perfect Posture
The human body has evolved to work best when walking, running, jumping, climbing, and basically being active. It has not evolved to sit in chairs, or lounge on sofas, yet that is what most of us do for most of the time.
According to global research, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, lower back pain effects around 1 in 10 people world wide, and its prevalence increases with age.
It is most profound in Western Europe and the United States, and back pain has been cited as being behind (reason for) more disability than any other condition.
What's The Answer?
Quite simply the book 8 Steps To A Pain Free Back by Esther Gokhale L.Ac., has been an eye-opening, life-changing book for me and countless others and so I wanted to quickly share the benefits with you and hopefully help you eradicate, or avoid any back pain you may have or are going to get.
History
Esther Gokhale was an acupuncturist who one day asked herself the question;
"Why do people in certain cultures, who spend all day bent over get low-to-no back problems, yet we here in the West are riddled with them?"
She went on an extensive journey finding out the answers to that question and here's what she came up with.
Back Shape
She discovered that pictures of the spine in Victorian era medical books, differed from modern spinal pictures. In that the older representations of our spines were more 'J' shaped as opposed to the classic 'S' shape you're probably thinking of now.
She also discovered that children have a more 'J' shaped spine and unless they live in an environment whereby they sit and watch adults sit all the time, they keep this 'J' shape till adulthood.
She also discovered that through a series of stretching 'exercises' somebody with an 'S' shaped spine can actually change the shape back to a 'J' and at the same time avoid and/or fix any problems they may have with their lower backs.
Endorsements
"Esther's technique for treating chronic back pain is totally unique and her research in this book really backs it up. This is a great tool for all of us."
- Billie Jean King (Winner of 20 Wimbledon tennis titles).
"The patients I have referred to Esther have, without exception, found her work to be life changing. I have employed her concepts and techniques in my practice, and I have countless patients who have benefited from her work."
- Salwan Abi Ezzi, M.D. Internal Medicine, Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
"Every year tens of thousands of patients undergo major back surgery without any benefits. By using Esther Gokhale's novel technique, many of these patients can avoid such needless and expensive medical procedures, and quickly return to a pain-free life."
- John R. Adler, M.D. Professor of Neurosurgery Stanford University Medical Clinic.
Technique
The '8 Steps' that are presented within the book are relatively simple to achieve, and if you go from step 1 to step 8 in linear order you will find it particularly easy, as they do progress in difficulty and introduce some new ways of sitting, standing, walking and lying that you will have to get used to.
Earlier in this post I used quotation marks around the word 'exercises', this is because even though you could class the 8 Steps as exercises, once you get into them, they simply become a way of life.
Below I have posted the video to 'stretch sitting', if you only do this one exercise and turn it into the way you sit down, I promise you (as much as a non-medical professional stranger on the internet can) that you will feel incredible benefits from this small lifestyle change.
Conclusion
I got this book after watching a Ted talk from one of Esther's students, not because I had any major back problems, but because I feel that prevention is always better than cure.
Plus the minor niggles I was getting from time to time were making me feel old and were stopping me being as active as I like to be.
I now feel like my back is 20 years younger and my posture has noticeably improved, I have regained a quarter inch in height that I had lost over the years, and I am much more body aware and am more likely to correct bad posture when I'm sitting or standing around.
I can sit in one position at my keyboard for hours without pain or strain, and best of all I have an arsenal of exercises and stretches that make me feel great!
Regardless of your age, if you live in an environment whereby sitting is the norm, then I urge you to buy this book and I promise you'll become a disciple/fanboy(or girl) just like me!
Video Resources
Quick intro, though she leaves some info out.
Ted Talk that introduced me to the technique
Wishing you wealth, health, and happiness!
DO YOU HAVE LOWER BACK PAIN PROBLEMS? OR PERHAPS YOU HAVE A BAD POSTURE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO CORRECT? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Yo, particularmente llevo 160 días en Steemit y me ha cambiado la vida, soy Blogguer a tiempo completo, por un momento en esta corta carrera comencé a sentir dolores, de manera que empecé a indagar enqué era lo que lo producía y coincidiendo con tu artículo "era una mala postura al estar sentado" mi espalda sufría mucho, tuve que cambiar la altura de la silla, la distancia entre mis manos, mi cuerpo, mi cara, el monitor, estos ajustes hicieron mejorar mi postura y su vez, mi salud mejoró.
Gracias por compartir este material, amigo @cryptogee
Thank you for sharing this material, amigo @cryptogee
Me alegro de que tu espalda es mejor despues de corregir tu postura. Tambien leer este libro, porque es incredible por postura, y salud general! :-)
Cg
Desk jobs are so hard on our health because of all the sitting that takes place. Unfortunately as a society we have become more stationary which has caused numerous health issues. A company I have recently found that is trying to change the way we work to save our spines and our posture is Fluid Stance! Check them out, it encourages people to stand while they work and it keeps them in constant motion!
Standing and walking is good! However not always possible, that's why this book has been a revelation to me :-)
Cg
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
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I've had major problems, for more than a year I was unable to work full time. For most of that time I couldn't sit for more than some few minutes. Forget driving a car, taking an airplane, sitting on a seat in a theater, cinema or other performance. Also, imagine all the social situations where one is supposed to sit. Meetings, dinners, etc.
I couldn't stand all day either, sometimes I just had to lie flat down on the floor or ground for a while. At the very worst it was also horrible to stand, lie down, walk ... the only thing I could do was to swim.
I haven't checked the videos yet, but I will. In my opinion the primary reason why those problems have become so wide-spread over the last decades is that we're spending far too much time sitting. One shouldn't underestimate the danger of having a regular office job - particularly when the first thing one does when arriving home is to sit down for leisure screen activities. Often one even sits down while being in transit between the office and the home, either it's by bike, car or public transport.
Another possible factor - our bodies aren't made for walking and standing on paved roads and concrete floors, this is causing quite bad shocks for the spine.
I've seen that I'm not alone in having back problems at work, many of my coworkers have also had to take out sick leave due to this, one was even operated (at the expense of the company - and then he quit the job shortly after he came back to work). It surprises me that the employer don't do more efforts to prevent such problems.
At first I hoped that taking time off from work and going for walks in the forest would help, but it didn't. I went to several doctors, physiotherapists and chiropractors while having problems, and one thing I learned from that is that there seems to be little hard science and no universally agreed on truths on how one is to handle such problems. Generally, there are some exercises one can do to grow the "core muscles", and there seems to be common agreement that this is important, probably that's what helped me as well.
Today I sometimes feel pain, but as long as I avoid sitting too much it's usually OK.
Please, please, please buy this book, you will see changes very quickly indeed.
Perhaps best to check with your doctor before embarking on any therapeutic program, but I'm pretty sure this will help.
Ultimately sitting, standing and walking incorrectly causes compression of the spinal discs, which in turn adds pressure to the nerves in your spinal column causing pain.
By following this program you will learn how to decompress your discs and how to sit/stand/walk so that these things don't occur again.
Remember this is endorsed by some of the best neurosurgeons in the world.
Good luck my friend!
Cg
Buying a book, that's so last millenium. If the information isn't available on the Internet, it's probably not much useful anyway.
As said, it does seem like there are as many opinions as there are physiotherapists. My impression after reading your post is that this is just another opinion based on anecdotal evidences.
That said, I will watch the videos as soon as I have a chance, and I will look more into it.
The anecdotal evidence from some of the world's leading neurosurgeons and physiotherapists.
Oh well, like they say, you can lead a horse to water but you'll be damned if you think you can make him drink.
Good luck with your problems.
Cg
I'm sorry that I may sound a bit harsh - it's just in my nature to be sceptical.
My point is that there are probably thousands of experts out there who claims to know how to cure or prevent lower back problems. Indeed, if one has problems with the back and follows the advises of any one of those experts, there is a big probability that the back will get better. Mine certainly did.
I see no reason to believe that Esther Gokhale cracked the nut better than everyone else. "Buy this book and everything will be better" - I don't like the sound of that. Thousands of quacks have already been doing that before - creating some theory based on anecdotal evidences, writing a book about it, finding some "clickbait" title for it and then finding some experts willing to recommend the book.
If she really did crack the nut, she should have her work published somewhere. The word would spread as wildfire, and her methods would become well-known and easily accessible. It should simply not be needed to buy a book to learn what exercises helps against lower back problems.
I try to stand most of my workday, and when I do slump down I use something like this:
... hence the exercise in the video is not something I can easily perform.
There are 8 different exercises/disciplines, book format works because you can leave the book open on a table while you do them and having nice big pictures is good.
Try it out, if it doesn't work you've wasted a mere 20 pounds/dollars/euros. If it does you'll have a pain free back, pretty good risk/reward payoff.
It has worked for me and millions of others.
Good luck :-)
Cg