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Back pain is an enormous subject in medical terms which makes back pain and its diagnosis very problematic. It is easy to blame your physician for not knowing much concerning your back pain, but the fact is that you are in a better place to understand why you have pain in your back that they do.

This is because pain in your back that is not congenital or due to a precise accident, illness or series of medications is usually due to bad posture and that means lifestyle changes.

For instance, I am heavy and have just begun having back pain. My doctor could see my size and recommended that I lose weight. We all know that that is not going to happen over night and so did he, so he gave me a prescription for 20 tablets a day and his assistant gave me a massage and an jab in the posterior.

I waited and waited until the tablets ran out and I was no better. It would have been simple to say that the medical doctor was of no use and, to be honest, his quick fix remedies were useless, but his advice was spot on. I lost eight kilos (20 pounds) during a week or so and could stand up straight again.

Now, I still have back pain, but I know that I can afford to lose another 20 pounds, although the actual compulsion - the debilitating twenty-four hour pain - has passed, which will make it more difficult for me to focus on losing more weight.

That is not the medical doctor’s fault, it is mine.

We live in a society where we expect a tablet to cure us and some doctors pander to this culture (like mine did). Unfortunately, fifteen minutes with the physician and a handful of pills will not cure all our troubles. Occasionally, we have to realize that we are our own worst enemies and hold our hands up.

This is not to say that doctors are always right. I have a friend who has had debilitating back pain for thirty years and had to give up work early. His wife left him too because she could no longer cope. He sits at home alone most days very lonely.

When I told him that I had obtained relief from massage, he told me that his physician had told him 20 years ago that neither massage nor acupuncture could help him, so he has never tried them.

You could say that my friend ought to have tried them anyway and I would agree with you, but he believed, and still believes, his physician.

It is a real shame when people close their minds off to ideas that they know too little of so they are not able to make a sensible decision. It has cost my friend 30 years of mobility and his best friend.

Bob Dylan said it best when he said:

‘Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don’t criticize What you can’t understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is Rapidly agin’. Please get out of the new one If you can’t lend your hand For the times they are a-changin’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWdCKPtnYE

there is a lesson there for a lot of us, I think.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a range of subjects, but is now involved with sciatica pain management. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Sore Back Remedies

Back injury is very common. Not so much in children because their backs are still flexible and they get lots of exercise running around and playing, but as we become older most of give up running about and playing. Add that with the natural stiffening of joints that comes with age and back injury becomes more prevalent.

When you comprehend those easy facts, the way to prevent injury seems clearer - keep running about and playing or if you do not fancy that, take other exercises frequently. Back injury occurs most frequently in the workplace, so people say, but what is not a workshop. Is cooking and cleaning at home not work?

Do not think that you are at far less risk at home than in the office, on the shop floor or on a construction site. Back injury is usually the result of doing something in an incorrect manner over a long period of time - bad posture or bad technique - but it can also be caused by lifting a box onto or down from a shelf one time.

The best approach is to prevent back injury ever occurring because when you have it, you will sorely regret it and have a difficult time getting shot of it. So, how do you go about avoiding back injury?

Firstly, you should reduce the stress that you place on your back by normalizing your weight and by learning how to manoeuvre heavy objects properly and adopting right postures.

Secondly, you should attempt to strengthen the muscles in your back so that they are more cheerfully equipped to deal with the unavoidable stresses of daily life. Rather than only talking about back muscles we should include stomach muscles too.

So, beginning with posture: walk tall, adopt a military bearing and do not slouch. Likewise whilst sitting. Do not merely fall into a chair like a sack of potatoes; keep your back straight and attempt not to lean to one side or the other all the time. Sit near to your desk so that you do not have to lean over to reach which may encourage slouching and rounded shoulders and back.

Learn how to sit at your desk. Your feet ought to be flat on the floor (or a foot rest); your thighs ought to be parallel with the floor. The desk or chair ought to be of such a height that you can rest your arms on it with the forearms parallel to the floor without reaching up or slouching over. Stand up and walk around for a minute or two each hour.

Your car seat should be adjusted to be right for you as well, particularly if you drive much. Be careful of weights and bulky or awkward objects. Even the shopping. Learn how to manhandle them with the least amount of risk. Get help if you think you may need it.take it from me, in the case of backache, prevention is much better that cure, if you can find one.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a range of subjects, but is now involved with sciatica pain management. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Sore Back Remedies