Back Pain Cause

How to Eat Healthy

2011-08-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

Discover How to Eat Healthy with The Hourglass Diet

Have just finished writing the Hourglass Diet, how to eat healthy with a healthy eating plan designed to nourish the cells of your body while maintain an ideal weight.

What's unique about it is that it has 7 food zones and 22 food groups. It tips the pyramid base over apex and the wipes the floor with the new My Plate model.

It give the Tick program the cross of disapproval and consigns the Glycemic Index concept to the side show alley.

You'll find it makes uncommon sense. It's simple and easy to read. Stick with it and you'll feel better and your trousers will be looser.

Click on this link to take a look at it.

http://www.hourglassdiet.com.

And now I'm off to the gym.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and learn How to Eat Healthy by eating from the top of the Hourglass.

Regards

John Miller

How to Eat Healthy

Knee Strengthening Exercises

2011-03-16T05:01:00.000-07:00

How to strengthen knees

A lot of people are searching the internet looking for Knee Strengthening Exercises.

Well they’ll have to search a long way because you can’t strengthen your knees, only the muscles around them.

I can tell you one thing though; the exercise that helped restore better function to my knees was the leg extension exercise.

A few years ago, every time I walked up stairs my knees would ’give’ a bit. I’m thinking, ’John, you’re getting old - blame old age.’

I discussed it with Harry, master trainer at my gym and he said it wasn’t age it was a lack of strength and recommended squats, but done with this particular machine.

He specifically recommended the squat machine rather than the seated leg press.

He suggested 3 sets of 12 repetitions, starting off with a lightweight for the first set and then moving higher for the next two sets.

I’m mighty pleased with the results. All fixed, but I have to keep doing them. I go to the gym three times a week.

I recommend you do the same.

I do this exercise with the leg curl, three sets of 10, gradually increasing the weights for each set.

Some people will definitely benefit from calf raises.

Some will benefit from exercises to keep the legs in alignment.

You can get these exercises from www.globalbackcare.com/knee-pain-relief - along with exercises for a number of other musculo-skeletal dysfunctions.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and get a regular and systematic routine to strengthen the muscles around your legs.

John Miller

Discover More Information about knee strengthening exercises

and Exercises For Knee Pain at www.globalbackcare.com/knee-pain-relief

What Is Sciatica And How Is It Treated

2011-03-10T01:09:00.000-08:00

Are You Looking for relief from sciatica?

You’re experiencing pain or ‘deadness’ on a part of your leg.

You’ve got and electrical interference problem.

Call an electrician!

You’ve got sciatica.

The cause of your problem is that your sciatic nerve is being trapped.

If the bones of your lower back are out of alignment and a disc has herniated then it may be the case that the disc is pressing on your sciatic nerve and causing the electrical interference.

On the other hand it could be the case that the sciatic nerve is being trapped by some of the muscles it passes through on the way from your spine down to your leg. It’s usually the piraformis muscle that’s the culprit.

If the entrapment of the nerve is occurring somewhere in your lower back you can have an operation to slice off a bit of the disc. It’s a quick surgical fix. You’ll be in pain for a while. It could cost you anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000 depending on where you have it done.

If it’s a last resort the go for it. However you’d want to move heaven and earth to avoid it. That means a regular and systematic flexibility training program designed to get your body back in alignment.

The better solution is to take the exercise option with a view to getting the bones of your lower back into alignment so pressure is taken off the disc and it stops hitting the sciatic nerve.

With exercises it could take days, weeks or months depending on the severity of the problem. Keep in mind though that it didn’t happen over night and you can’t expect someone to wave a magic wand and have it disappear in a couple of minutes.

If the sciatic nerve is being trapped by the piraformis muscle you’ll need to untrap it and the best way to do this is with a set of stretching exercises.

In a good proportion of cases the exercises will do the trick, but don’t bet on it.

You could get relief, but not total relief. However if could relieve the pain by 80% you’d probably be happy with that and just put up the inconvenience of the odd twinge or dull ache now and then.

Exercises for sciatica

There are a number of exercises to relieve sciatica, some aimed at getting your pelvis and the bones above it back in better alignment and others to loosen off the piraformis muscle.

Surgery for sciatica pain

If the sciatica is caused by the entrapment of the sciatic nerve by the piraformis muscle there is the surgical option. For some people it will be as a first resort; believe it or not there are people either too lazy, too busy or too rich to do the exercises. For others it will be the last resort. After doing the exercises religiously for six months they’re still in acute pain.

I recall watching a hip surgery operation on TV a couple of years ago and just before the patient was sewn up the surgeon checked to see whether the sciatic nerve had a clear passage through the sciatic nerve. How thoughtful and at no extra cost!

I’d be optimistic that with the right set of sciatica exercises to relieve pain you should soon be on the way to recovery.

Regards and best wishes for a pain free life.

John Miller

www.globalbackcare.com

Low Back Pain Relief

2010-05-31T04:06:00.000-07:00

For Low Back Pain Relief Andy signed up for the back pain diagnostic service. This meant going to the www.globalbackcare.com website and sending me some photos of himself in various postures. He's not in bad shape actually, strong, close to his ideal wight and trains regularly at the gym.

His back started hurting after he started a sit down job five years ago.

He's a bit tight in calf, hamstring and buttock muscles, more so on the right side than the left. He's now got the exercises and I think the prognosis is good.

In view of the fact that he said sitting down might be contributing to the problem I penned this article and sent him a copy.

SEVEN SECRETS OF SITTING DOWN PAINLESSLY

Here are seven secrets for sitting down painlessly that will provide you with low back pain relief.

First secret for sitting at the desk:
Your abdomen must be pressing in to the desk and the back of the chair upright and pressing in up under your shoulder blades. You're locked in, sitting up straight, hollow in lumbar spine.

Second secret:
Spend some time each day standing up. Put a box on your desk big enough to fit your keyboard and your mouse.

Third secret:
Get yourself a Balans Chair.
Spend some time each day on it. The reason these chairs work to provide low back pain relief is because they eliminate the effect that tight hamstrings and buttock muscles have in stopping you from sitting up straight with the 'S" shaped curve in your spine.

'They' say not to spend all your time on it as it may impact on your knees. Some of the day is good - as it sitting with stomach against desk and standing up.

Fourth secret:
Sit on the floor with legs straight out - particularly if all you're doing is reading.

Secret five:
Do supine groin stretch, and a few hip crossovers at lunch time.Secret six:
Build up your situps, feet held to 40, on the trot.

Secret seven:
Build up your pressups to 40, on the trot. Pressups not only strengthen arms and shoulders but also your trunk muscles, front, back and core. Do Superman and cobra for a minute a day.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and sit up straight.

John Miller

Low Back Pain Relief

www.globalbackcare.com

Lower Back Pain Sleeping

2010-05-20T23:35:00.001-07:00

Lower Back Pain Sleeping,

You're not alone if you have back pain while you're lying in your bed trying to get to sleep.

You can't sneeze or cough without it feeling like there's a red hot poker in your back.

You can't turn over without experiencing the same sensation.

You blame your bed. You get a new one. The pain doesn't go away. You've done your dough.

What few people realize is that the pain is a symptom of bones that are out of alignment. Get the bones back into alignment and the pain should go away. It's not as tough an assignment as you might think. All you have to do is spend a couple of hours a night working on it doing a few simple exercises. Most of those exercises don't involve any effort, just you lying on the floor relaxing off.

Your lower back pain sleeping is not going to go away over night. There is no magic wand you can wave over it, though some of the concoctions your chemist might dispense could go part of the way to giving you a better night's sleep. However lower back pain is not caused by a lack of Panadeine Forte or Celebrex.

You can ice and heat the area. The will settle it down a little. Ice and heat work together to relieve inflammation. Especially don't overlook ice. Wrap a piece of cloth around your body and stick an ice pack down it. Get two or three ice packs so you can keep replacing them as they warm up.

Lower back pain sleeping isn't caused by a lack of ice or heat either. This treatment is palliative. You'll be more comfortable but you're not getting better; yet!

Before you go to bed spend as much time as you can lying on your back with both legs on a chair, knees bent at 90% and the lower leg resting on the chair. This will help the soft tissues of your back settle down.

In bed, lying on your back with your legs on a couple of pillow will give you the same relief.

BUT, your lower back pain sleeping is not caused by a lack of pillows under your legs.

Cause Of Back Pain
The main cause of back pain is vertebrae that are out of alignment.

The main cause of vertebrae being out of alignment is a pelvis that is out of alignment.

The main cause of a pelvis that is out of alignment is tight hamstring and buttock muscles.

Fix Back Pain
So if you want to fix back pain you're going to have to loosen some of these muscles.

In the Fix Back Pain ebook I show you how to do that. It's not rocket science. All if takes is a couple of hours on the floor every night for a couple of months, loosening tight muscles and strengthening weak muscles.

Crack The Fat Code
If you're more than 15Kg over weight there's a high likelihood you're setting yourself up for lower back pain sleeping.

Stronger Not Weaker
If you can't do 20 situps, 20 pressups and 20 squats you're not fair dinkum about keeping your pelvis and vertebrae in good alignment. 20 of each is a minimum. When you can do 40 of each report back.

So there you have it. If you want a good, pain free night's sleep you've got to be strong, flexible and thin.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember, it's what you do on the floor before you go to bed and what you do in the gym that gives you a good night's sleep.

John Miller
Fix Back Pain: www.globalbackcare.com

PS: Download Our Free ebook: Causes of Back Pain, Neck Pain and Shoulder Pain and upper back pain causes

CURE BACK PAIN

2010-05-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

Is is possible to cure back pain?

It's hard to be definitive about it, but my rule of thumb says that there's an 80% chance that for 80% of people they they can get their back back to 80% of good shape if they're diligent.

80% of that fix will come from what they do for themselves. They may be able to speed up the rehab process with various physical therapies, but the prime consideration is improving their own strength and flexibility.

This of course is not something you can sub-contract out.

So if you want to cure back pain get cracking.

In the Fix Back Pain ebook I show you where to look for clues as to what's caused your problem. I can tell you one thing. It's highly unlikely that the cause of the pain is at the site of the pain.

80% of people with lower back pain are suffering from a dysfunction not an injury. It is their own muscles - usually tight hamstring and buttock muscles that are the cause of the problem.

Not only can I tell you why this has happened but I can give you the exercises you need to do to restore poor function to good - to cure back pain.

It won't happen overnight; how can it? It's taken years for tight and weak muscles to draw first your pelvis and then the bones above it out of alignment.

But doing a series of exercises, on the floor in front of TV, every night for a couple of months should see a dramatic improvement in your condition. Gradually, fractions of a millimetre at a time your bones will gradually get back into better alignment.

When that happens the pressure will be released on the muscles, tendons, ligaments and discs in your lower back.

You'll be able to stand up straight, you'll be able to bend over and pout on your socks, you'll be able to sneeze without it feeling like there's a red hot poker in your back. You'll be jumping out of your skin.

So, there you have it. I reckon there's a good chance you can cure back pain. It all depends on what you to do yourself.

You can find out what you need to do by going to www.globalbackcare.com.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and spend time each night loosening off tight muscles and strengthening those that are weak.

John Miller

www.globalbackcare.com/back-pain/?cure-back-pain/

Achilles Tendon Pain

2010-05-20T15:35:00.001-07:00

The Achilles tendon is a very strange animal. Just when you think it's coming good it snaps back at you.

There are (at least) three keys to solving the problem of Achilles tendon pain.

1. You'll get small bit of relief from a number of strategies, it all adds up.

2. There are lot of things you can do.

3. Persistence. If you think you're getting better, don't slack off on what you've been doing.

A couple of principles
There are a few other things to take note of.

Finding the cause of your Achilles tendon pain problem likely to be more difficult than finding the cause of lower back pain.

Having said that there are two places to look

- below the tendon

- above the tendon.

Below the tendon it could be your foot strike and whether you excessively pronate or supinate. You need to go and see a good sports podiatrist to find out whether that is the case or not. You may come away with wedges for your shoes or an orthotic.

You might blanch at the cost of the orthotic - but it if does the trick then it will be worth every penny. It could save you months of angst, frustration and money on physiotherapy treatment and massage.

It could be the way you land. The experts say you need to run more on the balls of your foot than your heels.

The experts are also starting to say you need less cushioning in your shoes, that you don't need expensive Nike running shoes, where most of the money ends up in the pockets of people like that rascals Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan! However, they also say that if you're going to adopt this strategy you need to start working ogradually on the beach or on grass.

Above the tendon it could be tight calves. In fact this is probably a certainty. The best thing I know to relieve tight calves is The Stick which you can get from http://www.thestick.com/

You can use it on yourself four or five times a day or get a partner to give your legs a really good rub down at least once a day.

How do I know? I've had Achilles pain and The Stick seemed to make a big difference.

Then there are strength and flexibility exercises you need to do to strengthen and loosen your calves. You've just got to keep doing them.

And, more than any other musculo-skeletal complaint, ice seems to be a very effective way to reduce the inflammation and pain. I found extended periods of icing, hours at a time with an ice pack stuck down the back of a neoprene anklet, to be effective. If you've got a couple of small ice packs, (the packs that you stick in lunch boxes) you can rotate them through your freezer and have one on the go for most of the day and night.

Let's face it, if you've got Achilles tendon pain you're dealing with a monster. I'd hate to put the mockers on you but if you fail to do anything about it and it could last for years.

It would be an exceedingly brave man who said they have all the answers. However, I think I have some of them in the ebook, Fix Achilles Tendon, Calf and Shin Pain which you can get from the www.globalbackcare.com/achilles-tendon-pain/ website.

Hippocrates said that the physician speaks with more authority if he's had the disease. Well I'm no physician, just a humble physical educator, and Achilles tendon pain is not a disease, but I've had Achilles tendonitis and gradually, bit by bit it's gone.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and tread softly.

John Miller

www.globalbackcare.com/achilles-tendon-pain/

MY BACK HURTS

2010-05-20T06:34:00.001-07:00

My back used to hurt. It hurt to bend over the basin to brush my teeth. It hurt to sneeze and cough. It hurt to bend down and put on my socks.

But the pain has gone.

It started going after I got serious about doing the exercises I now recommend in the Fix Back Pain ebook, available from the www.globalbackcare.com website, kit took a couple of months.

That was 10 years ago. Now, whilst I'm not 97% fat free I am 97% pain free. My back is in good nick.

So here's what I suggest you do if your back hurts.

1. Start going to the gym and embark on a good, all round, general strength training program. Include exercises that strengthen your trunk, front, back and core.

2. Start doing situps and pressups every day at home. The pressup is highly beneficial in strengthening not only your arms and shoulders but also your trunk.

3. Start doing the flexibility exercises I recommend in the Fix Back Pain ebook. There's quite a few you won't have seen before and which will speed your recovery. I'll show you some of the best hamstring and buttock stretching exercises you've ever seen.

To get you started I've got a Fix Back Pain starter pack. You can have that and the ebook, Causes of Back Pain, Shoulder Pain and Neck Pain with my compliments.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and strengthen the muscles that are weak and loosen the muscles that are tight.

John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com

EXERCISES FOR LOWER BACK PAIN

2010-05-20T05:17:00.001-07:00

With lower back pain there is always the inclination to want to stretch the spot where it hurts.

It just so happens that whilst you might get a warm feeling under your singlet for a few hours it's not much more benefit that warming it up under the shower for 20 minutes.

Lower back pain is rarely caused by tight muscles at the spot where it's hurting. Any muscle tightness in the lower back region is caused by muscles further down your body pulling your pelvis out of alignment. When that happens the bones of the vertebrae above the pelvis are drawn out of alignment in sympathy. Muscles, tendons and ligaments are stretched beyond their pain threshold.

What you have to do if you want lasting relief is to loosen off the muscles that are drawing your pelvis out of alignment, your hamstring and buttock muscles.

What I've got for you in the Fix Back Pain ebook on the www.globalbackcare.com website is a series of exercises designed to settle the back muscles down. That will definitely give you some palliative relief.

However to fix the problem you're going to have to spend time doing exercises for lower back pain each evening on the floor while watching TV - not only doing the relaxing exercises but doing the gentle exercises which gradually loosen off tight hamstring and buttock muscles.

It doesn't happen over night. Rather it happens fractions of a millimetre at a time, day in, day out over a period of a couple of months.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember, the exercises for lower back pain are exercises that loosen off your hamstring and buttock muscles.

John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com.au

Lower Back Pain

2010-05-20T04:18:00.001-07:00

It's interesting. If you look through a lot of the medical literature you'd think that back pain came out of the blue.

Take these quotes from a report prepared for Workcover in South Australia: -

Draft recommendation 4. 1. 1
In the majority of cases of acute low back pain (approximately 95%), no specific diagnosis can be made nor needs to be made.

This is just bunkum. Name something else that doesn't have some sort of a cause.

I can tell you the most likely cause - tight hamstring and buttock muscles that take the pelvis out of alignment. Do that and the bones of the vertebrae above it go out of alignment in sympathy. Then the muscles, tendons and ligaments are stretched beyond their limit. You experience pain.

Then discs are squeezed out. When the nucleus hits your spinal cord it hurts like hell.

That's the flexibility part.

The other part is a lack of strength to keep the spinal column in correct alignment.

6.7.1 Specific exercise programs
There is insufficient evidence to recommend specific exercise programs (e.g. stretching, strengthening, side bends, flexibility/mobilising exercise, or aerobics) over no treatment for workers with acute low back pain. The McKenzie exercise, however, may have some benefits over no treatment for workers with subacute low back pain (Grade C).

More bunkum. If the cause of the problem is weak and tight muscles you'd think that strengthen ing the weak and looening the stong would b the obvious thing to do.

Draft recommendation 6. 7. 2
There is insufficient evidence to recommend that specific exercise programs (e.g. graded activity, strengthening, stretching, aerobics, extension and flexion exercise) are superior to other conservative treatments or usual care.

Question
So what is usual care for lower back pain?

Answer
A rub down, hot wheat pack, pain-killing pill and a lie down.

Just ask yourself if this is the type of treatment you'd expect an elite athlete with lower back pain?

More bunkum.

So what can you do?
Well one of the first things you can do is ignore most of the stuff you read from the National Health and Medical Research Council, refereed medical and physiotherapy journals and the Cochrane Collaboration. That's where the group who put together these recommendations got their informastion.

And who is the mob who put these recommendations together? Adelaide Health Technology Assessment (AHTA), Discipline of Public Health, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, University of Adelaide

The second thing you can start doing is the exercises I recommend in the www.globalbackcare.com series of ebooks.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and spend some time each evening, on the floor in front of TV doing your exercises.

John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com

Upper Back Pain Relief

2010-05-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

A lot of people suffer from upper back pain. They're always hanging out for a massage between their shoulder blades.

They’re always hanging out for a shoulder massage and love having someone massage the spot in between their shoulder blades.

These days it usually goes with long periods sitting hunched over a computer.

And hunched over is the right terminology.

If you sit down with your abdomen six inches away from your desk and the back of the chair sloping backwards, your pelvis tilts back, you lose the nice ‘S’ shaped curve of your spinal column – it becomes a ‘C’ shape.

The upper part of you back is an inch or two forward of where it ought to be. The extra weight of your shoulders, neck and head puts increased tension on ligaments, tendons and muscles in your upper back. Eventually bones get moved out of alignment and that’s when it really starts to hurt.

You rush off the chiro and the physio for the crunch and the rub down. It feels all right for a while, but not for long.

You keep going back for the crunch and the rub down but the pain keeps coming back.

That’s because the cause of the pain is not due to a lack of crunch or rub down.

So what can you do?

The first thing is to do the ‘sit-up-straight’ exercises outlined in the Fix Back pain ebook at www.globalbackcare.com. There are three of four must-do exercises to get you sitting up straight.

You need to start doing pressups as well and ideally start a gym program that includes bench press and upright row.

Finally you need to sit up straight at your desk; - abdomen pushing into the desk and back of the chair upright pushing in up under your shoulder blades.

To make this position comfortable you will have to move your keyboard and monitor away from you about 6 inches.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember, it’s a big ask expecting to get better by having someone do something to you; sooner of later you have to do something to yourself.

John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com/back-pain/

PS: FREE ebook Offer about the back pain causes including upper back pain causes

Achilles Tendonitis

2010-05-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

For sometime now I’ve had Achilles Tendonitis.

I’ve tried a lot of things – stretching, strengthening and ice down the back of a neoprene anklet. All useful.

BUT, lately I’ve taken to using THE STICK, an invention of www.thestick.com which involves a small set of rollers on a stick being used to massage your calf muscles and the Achilles tendon.

It works. It’s taken pressure off the Achilles and I’m feeling heaps better when I run.

The rollers get right in and start to loosen up knots in my calf muscles.

I’ve had tight calves for donkey’s years. Nothing has loosened them up like The Stick.

I’ve tried stretching, but on its own it hasn’t made the big difference I was looking for. I’ve had massages but unless you’re King Farouk you can’t afford 100 bucks a day for calf massages.

Often I’ll use The Stick five or six times a day for half a minute or so on each leg. I start with the right calf for half a minute, then the left calf, back the the right and then back to the left.

If I ask politely, Christine will give me a workout for a few minutes. I lie face down on the bed and she gets to work with the rollers. She can feel the knots in the tight calves and works on them. I’m not suretwhat those ‘knots’ are, but they must be extraordinarily tight spots in the calf.

It’s amazing really, she works on one leg, then the other and coming back to the first leg the knot(s) have disappeared. It’s like the muscles relaxes while you work on the other leg.

So,there you have it. I recommend the The Stick. I recommend you use is a number of times during the day. I recommend you getyour wife, partner, children or mate to give you a better workout than you can give yourself.

I also know that the stretching and strengthening ewxercises you do yourself, and ice down the back of the neoprene anklet are necessary parts of the rehab process. The Stick speeds up that process.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and get yourself The Stick.

John Miller

Achilles tendonitis

www.globalbackcare.com/achilles-tendonitis.pdf

Low Back Pain Exercises

2010-05-04T23:44:00.000-07:00

Whenever I conduct a CrookBack Clinic, I find that around 50% of people have some sort of musculo-skeletal complaint.

Most of these people have bodies that are out of alignment. Some muscles are too tight, some are too weak. That's the bad news.

The good news is that by doing the right exercises there's a good chance those bodies can get back into better alignment. The pain goes away.

Many of the people I see are lacking in strength. In fact the best predictor I know of risk of a crook back is your ability to do pressups.

I see a lot of people with sore necks, shoulders and wrists who don't have a regular and systematic training program. I've got a special suite of exercises for these three dysfunctions.

Anyway to cut a long story short, the ebooks that I've got for you will take you through the likely cause of your dysfunction and provide you with a wide range of exercises designed to restore poor function to good.

Is this a quick fix? Nope.

Is this a quack fix? Nope.

Does it require any effort? Yes and no.

Surprisingly many of the most beneficial exercises I've got for you can be done on the floor while you're watching TV.

The strength training program does, however need some effort.

Gradually over the weeks and months you can strengthen weak muscles and loosen tight muscles. Gradually, millimetre by millimetre your body will get back into better alignment. Stronger muscles will support it in better alignment.

When that happens there's a very good chance your pain will go away.

Here's the link to the Global Back Care website.

If you've got friends, relatives or work colleagues with musculo-skeletal pain, flick them a copy of this blog. They'll be glad you did.

THE CROOKBACK CLINIC
If you live anywhere in Australia and workplace would like me to come in and run a series of CrookBack Clinics drop me a line.

If you live in Canberra and would like a personal consultation I'd love to hear from you.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and start doing situps and pressups.

John Miller

Low Back Pain Exercises

Achilles Tendon Pain

2010-02-15T21:18:00.000-08:00

Fixing Achilles tendonitis, calf and shin pain can be a tough assignment.

If you search the literature and the internet you'll mostly find recommendations like rest, ice and anti-inflammatories, all useful advice, but, you need to treat the cause as well as the symptoms

The cause of the problem? feet, legs and hips that are out of alignment coupled with a less than perfect foot strike.

At achilles-tendon-pain you'll be able to get a copy of the 'Fix Achilles Tendonitis, Calf and Shin Pain' ebook in which I make every effort to help you work out which parts of your body are out of alignment. Having done that I provide you with strategies to get them back into alignment.

For instance if your feet are out of alignment you may need to spend time squaring off your pelvis and hips. If your pelvis is tilted back, rotated around or one hip is lower than the other the effect on your legs could be quite dramatic. Every time you walk, jog or run you put more pressure on one leg than the other. You predispose yourself to lower leg injuries.

If there is anything that sets my book apart from others it is the advice (and exercises) I give you to help you square your pelvis and hips up.

In fact I'm going to suggest you spend some time each evening doing the same sort of exercises that I'd suggest to my clients with back, hip and knee pain.

I recommend you find out whether you're lop sided by standing on a pair of scales.

This will provide you with more clues about why you're persistently tearing muscles on one side of your body, as well as clues to which exercises you need to do to square yourself up. which exercises to do.

If you have Achilles tendonitis, calf or shin pain there's a good chance your foot strike is not quite right. I suggest ways you can go about finding out exactly what's happening as your feet strike the ground..

Don't even think of compromising on shoe quality. I provide you with advice about getting the right running show for your feet.

There are recommendations in the book that you may not have heard of and which could just make the difference between you fixing yourself up quickly or still having Achilles, calf and shin pain for another 12 months.

Imagine what that's going to do to your training program?

I'll let you in on a secret. There is synergy in involving a range of treatments and therapies. There is no one fix. There is a high likelihood that you'll benefit from the combined effect of the small gains you get from a wide range of modalities.

And another secret, from someone who's had Achilles tendonitis, calf and shin pain: constant icing and constant dorsi-flexing.

The therapies will help speed up the rehab process - no doubt about that: - physio, chiro, massage and bowen therapy.

Anti-inflammatories will help 'cool' it down, remove the pain and speed up the rehab process, but don't think for a moment that because the pain has gone away you've fixed the cause of the problem. You've masked it.

If you're taking anti-inflammatories don't even think of putting undue pressure on the injury, you'll only make it worse - without you knowing it. Don't go out running as though its better. If you do you'll be back where you started quick smart.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and move heaven and earth to square yourself up and remove the cause of your Achilles tendon, calf and shin pain.

John Miller

achilles-tendon-pain

Fix Back Pain

2010-02-02T04:16:00.000-08:00

Just been to the printer and picked up 50 copies of my new book, Fix Back Pain. I'm as pleased as punch.

I've been slaving away at it all January; had a heap more drawings done and added chapters on neck pain, shoulder pain, wrist pain, hip pain, knee pain and calf, Achilles and shin pain.

It's looking good and will form the basis of revisions to the ebooks available from http://www.globalbackcare.com/ and the CrookBack Clinic practitioner's training program.

The insight I had while writing it was that you can't fix a fitness problem with a medical solution. Too many people are traipsing through surgeries when all they need to do is get down on the floor and do a few exercises to square themselves up.

This is neither medical nor rocket science.

A very high proportion of musculo-skeletal dysfunction is personally generated by bodies that are weak and tight.

In a way that's good news because you can loosen and strengthen your body off without much effort.

In fact if you do this exercise every night for 40 minutes, there's a good chance you'll feel a lot better in a month. 2 months and you should be jumping out of your skin.

Like this one, most of the exercises to loosen your body can be done in front of the TV, either sitting up or lying down.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and don't try to fix fitness problems with medical solutions.

John Miller

Fix Back Pain eBook to Cure Your Back Pain

Achilles Tendonitis Treatment

2010-01-22T03:40:00.000-08:00

I've been working on my Achilles a lot. This week I stumbled on a neat trick.

For some time I've been wearing neoprene anklets to keep the Achilles warm. I work from home so I can wear them around the house. Some night's I've worn them to bed.

A mate of mine suggested icing the Achilles, which I've been doing after my walk/run. I filled an empty cool drink bottle up with water, placed it in the freezer and then rested by Achilles on it.

It's OK.

BUT, the last couple of days I've started putting a couple of ice cubes down the back of the neoprene anklet.

While I'm working the ice slowly melts. I don't know where the water goes and I don't care.

I think it's working.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned, and if you've got persistent achilles tendonitis get yourself a pair of neoprene anklets and slip ice down the back of them.

John Miller

How to Fix Achilles Tendon Pain

Achilles Tendonitis

2009-12-29T03:06:00.001-08:00

I've had chronic Achilles tendonitis for nearly a year. It's a real bastard. It gives me the shits. It's the second time this has happened. Five or six years ago when it happened it took over a year to go away. It really stuffed up my fitness program.

I had it for a year on one Achilles and just as that one came good, bugger me it went to the other Achilles.

Running aggravates it. The stepper is a bit less so and I've had to take up walking - for god's sake.

I've taken advice from all sorts of people.

Stretch your calf muscles before you run. Every man and his dog tells me this, but it's a well nigh useless piece of advice because the problem is not a tight calf muscle. I've tried it and it doesn't work
Strengthen your calves. One fitness trainer of an elite level rugby club said, 'If you can't do 40 heel raises (heel going up and down on a step) on the trot your calf muscles are too weak.' I can only do about 20 and heaven knows how I've tried. As anyone who's done heal raises will attest, it burns like hell after about ten.
Get orthotics - but at $800 a throw I'm reluctant to make the move. Plus I'm more interested in knowing what the cause of the problem is. It is not a lack of orthotic!

Nine months ago I was at a chiropractic stand at the FILEX fitness convention in Sydney and stood on two scales, left leg on one and right leg on the other. The weight on the right scale was 6 Kg heavier than the weight on the left scale.

So, I gave the chiros the benefit of the doubt and went to a local chiro for a few sessions. But all he had to offer was the pea-shooter treatment and a bit of bullshit new-age muscle testing. Another couple of hundred bucks down the drain. He didn't even give me a decent crunch.

I thought it might have been a tight left buttock, believing, as I do that the cause of the pain is rarely at the site of the pain, and that the tight buttock muscle was twisting the pelvis, placing pressure on the right Achilles. I find it harder to sit up straight when I've got my right leg under my left than vice versa.

So I've been doing one of my buttock stretches much more regularly. It doesn't seem to have helped

BUT, I picked up Pete Egoscue's book 'Pain Free' again yesterday to see what he had to say about the matter. (I brought the book away on holidays, just in case I found time to read it. I made time.)

Of course, the cause is not at the site of the pain, and as I suspected it's driven by a pelvis that's out of alignment, not by the tight left buttock muscles but by some other muscle(s).

I wouldn't have a clue which muscles they are, and I don't think it matters much.

The advice Egoscue gives is to do a particular exercise, feet up against the wall – bottom in as close as you can get.

Well yesterday I spent a couple of hours doing this exercise - with a couple of variations - reading a book and dozing off.

At the beginning of the day my calves were so tight I was hanging out of a calf massage. The first few steps when I got up were painful. Earlier in the week Christine and I had been to the Australian Institute of Sport for the ice and heat treatment. The heat treatment comes from the very hot spa out there, with very powerful jets. It's the cheapest physical therapy in Canberra.

It felt good at the time; didn't work.

Bingo! Today after yesterday's session doing the wall exercise it felt a lot better. The first few steps didn't hurt, the pressure was off. So I did 15 minutes slow jogging on the treadmill in the hotel before breakfast and another 15 minutes before tea.

I'm happy to report it feels OK, in fact better than OK, it's the best it's felt for over a year.

Now, I know that a single swallow does not s summer make, but I'm optimistic.

I'll continue doing the exercise and report back.

But I'm not going to go at it like a bull at a gate. I'm going to take it easy, some very light jogging, mixed with walking.

If I wasn't on holidays I'd provide you with a copy of the exercise in this post.

Half rat power
I've made a decision, from now on, any exercise with the heart rate less than 100 bpm is exercising at half rat power, so from now on any walking only gets half a point per minute on the aerabyte scale.

Today's aerabytes: jogging with heart rate just over 110 for 30 minutes equates to 60 aerabytes. Big deal, But I'm on an Achilles rehab program while I'm on holidays, down here at the Novotel in Wollongong.

Still it's holidays, we're only having breakfast and tea - and missing out on lunch.

In the mean time stay tuned, highly tuned and read Pete Egoscue's book, 'Pain Free' available from www.fitandhealthyonline.com

John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com/achilles-tendon-pain/

CAUSE OF BACK PAIN

2009-12-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

I've been searching the internet for information about the causes of back pain.

Most of the information is vapid and useless, like this.

Statement
'There isn't usually an underlying condition causing back pain - nothing shows up in tests and nothing is permanently damaged.'

Comment
That's because the tests are useless. You can't tell what's caused a herniated disc by looking at an X-ray. Of course there is an underlying cause, but if you don't know where to look for it you won't find it!

It's a bit like Alice coming to the fork in the road and asking the Cheshire cat which road she should take. His response, 'Where are you going?' Her reply, I don't know.' His response again, 'Then any road will get you there.'

For most doctors the cause of back pain will be something like a herniated disc. Do they have an answer to the cause of the herniated disc? Nope. You're back where you started.

That's because only rarely will a doctor check to see which of your muscles are tight and which are weak. Only rarely will a doctor prescribe exercises to get you stronger and more flexible.

It is muscles that pull bones out of alignment.

Statement
You're more likely to develop simple back pain if you:
- stand, sit or bend down for long periods
- lift, carry, push or pull loads that are too heavy,
- have a trip or a fall
- are stressed or anxious
- are overweight.

Comment
Yep, sounds right, but rarely will you see that the principal cause is a lack of strength and flexibility.

Certainly the over weight one is right. If you're 20Kg overweight you're setting yourself up for musculo-skeletal dysfunction

As for lifting and pushing loads that are too heavy. How heavy is a computer mouse, or a library book, of a bag of fertilizer? These are loads that regular folks ought to be able to lift without coming down with a crook back. These are the sorts of loads which get blamed for the underlying lack of strength.

Bad workman have always blamed their tools.

It's bunkum. You need a good strength and flexibility training program. I've got just the one for you.

In the mean time stay tuned, highly tuned and remember, you can't solve a fitness problem with a medical solution.

John Miller
http://www.globalbackcare.com/

BACK PAIN SITTING DOWN

2009-12-14T17:01:00.000-08:00

It's a strange thing indeed when people who complain about back pain sitting down, keep sitting down.

They ask the OH&S staff for a new $800 chair.

Their back doesn't get any better. Duh! Like most bad workmen, people with back pain are still blaming their tools.

Sitting down is one of the main causes of back pain, because if you do it for long enough, sooner or later your calf, hamstring and buttock muscles will shorten, tilting your pelvis back and moving the bones of your spinal column out of alignment. You start to feel pressure on your ligaments, tendons, muscles and discs. More pressure, more pain.

You end up looking like this.

The natural 'S' shaped curve of your spine has become a 'C' shape.

Repetitive strain injuryOrganisations have an obligation to protect people from the biggest repetitive strain activity in modern workplaces - sitting down.

These days there is no obligation for people to be required to sit down all day. They can do their work just as well standing up, or kneeeing.

All they need is the right office set up. Like this.

In fact, without much trouble you can get people to stand up, put a box on their desks to accommodate the keyboard and the mouse and let them get on with their work. In the long run they'll bless you. You prevent the continued shortening of calve, hamstring and buttock muscles. Pelvois and vetrebrae stay in better alignm,ent. Pain goers away. Miraculous!

No-one ever said you had to sit down all day.

It's got to the point where if people aren't prepared to take a bit of time out, in company time, to do a few exercises each day, you can't afford tho let them sit down.

So, if you've got back pain sitting down: stand up!

In the mean time stay tuned, highly tuned and if you suffer from back pain sitting down, start doing the exercises outlined in the Fix Back Pain ebook at http://www.globalbackcare.com/

John Miller

BACK PAIN AT HOME

2009-12-14T16:37:00.000-08:00

If you get back pain at home it's a symptom that occurs when the bones of your spinal column are out of alignment.

The pain is telling you that ligaments, tendons and muscles have reached their pain threshold.

The pain is telling you to get your body back into alignment.

Now, it's not going to happen over night, but there are definitely exercises you can do to get your pelvis and your spinal column back into better alignment. Absolutely.

Here's an exercise that will be particularly helpful.
Start doing the hip crosss-over over and over again while lying on the floor. You can do it while you;re watching TV, just stick a cushion under you head to make it more comfortable.

Build up so that you can spend 5 minutes one side and the 5 minutes the other for 40 minutes in total.

If you're pelvis and spinal column is so far out of alignment that you can't put your knee and foot on the floor, rest them on some books, and gradually during the course of the session keep taking books away as the muscles around your hip gradually loosen off.

You may be surprised at how soon you can rest with your knee and foot on the floor.

This is an every-night-exercise and in about 2 months your back should be feeling a whole lot better.

This is a fix, but it's not a quick fix.

Just ask yourself how long it's taken for your back to become out of alignment? Years, decades. Now just give it a couple of months every night to fix the damage.

Here's something else you can do. While in bed, lie on your back and put your lower legs on a couple of pillows. That should bring relief.

Of course there's a lot more you can do to speed up the rehab process. You'll find more of the exercises you need to do in the Fix back Pain ebook available from http://www.globalbackcare.com/.

In the mean time stay tuned, highly tuned and remember, it's a big ask expecting to get better by having someone do something to you; sooner or later you have to do something to yourself.

John Miller

http://www.globalbackcare.com/

BACK PAIN AT WORK

2009-12-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

A huge number of people complain about back pain at work.

In fact there is always the tedency to blame work for the pain, though usually that's unfair.

It's not what's done at work that causes back pain but what people don't do at home.

If you don't have a strength and flexibility training program there is a high likelihood that your're going to get back pain at some time.

So, knowing people don't do the exercises at home, there is any number of compelling reasons why it's worthwhile for organisations to implement a back care exercise program at work.

But as soon as you say that, someone (often an OH&S manage for some strange reason) will say, 'But you can't force people to do exercises at work?'

I always find this an astounding comment when the cost to the workplace can be so horrendous.

While an organisation is paying the workers compensation premiums, they certainly can tell their staff to do a few exercises, and give them the time to do it.

In the long run, and after they get used to it, the staff will thank the organisation.

CULTURE
It's all about culture. The Chinese and Japanese don't seem to have the same issues around the culture of expecting staff to do a few exercises that our culture does.

Change the culture - from the top down, bottom up and sideways.

Regards

John Miller
http://www.globalbackcare.com/

My Back Pain

2009-11-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

Around 50% of people say that have back pain, neck or shoulder pain.

It's about the most common body system dysfunction there is.

For some people it's an injury - they had an accident, they slipped and fell awkwardly, something hit them ...

For most people it's a personally generated dysfunction. Weak and tight muscles have allowed the bones of the spinal column to go out of alignment.

It happens gradually.

If you don't have a regular and systematic strength and flexibility training program there's an 80% chance that sooner or later you'll find themselves teetering on the edge of a major musculo-skeletal disaster.

If you're 20Kg (around 40 pounds) over weight make that 90%.

You're teetering on the edge just waiting for a critical incident

The incident could be as minor as turning round to pick up a spanner or a phone book. It could something you're quite used to doing, like using a shovel or lifting the groceries into the boot of your car. For a normal, healthy person with a spinal column in good alignment and strong muscles to support it the incident wouldn't have caused a problem at all.

Guess who gets the blame? You guessed it, the spanner, the phone book, the shovel and the groceries! Bad workmen are still blaming their tools.

Or you might blame your age. Age doesn't have much to do with strength and flexibility. The older you are the more time you've had to train!

HOW DO YOU KNOW?

So how do you know whether you're are teetering on the edge?

If you

can't do a situp or a press up
can't touch your toes
find it difficult to sit down on the floor and stand up again
can't get your hands flat back against the wall while in the 'surrender' position
can't sit up straight
don't have a strength and flexibility training program
are 20Kg or more overweight

you're staring back pain in the face.

I can help you diagnose the likely cause of the problem and provide you with solutions that will go a long way toward restoring poor function to good.

To find out more go to Global Back Care web site

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember if everyone kept themselves in good nick, doctors, chemists, physios and chiros would be sitting around twiddling their thumbs and playing golf on Wednesdays.

Regards

John Miller

My Back Hurts

2009-09-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

You're not alone.

Back pain would have to be able the most common body system dysfunction there is.

More likely than not you're in pain because your body is out of alignment - or your muscles aren't strong enough to support your spinal column.

The pain is telling you to get back into alignment and become stronger.

This is not rocket surgery!

The common pathway that people treat when they have back pain is

traipse off to the surgery
traipse off to the radiologist
traipse over to the chemist
traipse off to the masseur, the physio or the chiro at great expense and an inordinate amount of time.

Most doctors don't have a clue about the cause of back pain. Most of the leading medical research organisations don't have a clue either. That's because it's a fitness problem, not a medical problem.

The doctor will send you over to the radiologist for an X-Ray.

The X-Ray will be well nigh useless. In those cases where you've got a bulging disk it will indeed indicate that you have a bulging disk. Hello! What it won't do is provide you with information about what's caused the bulging disk.

So it's back to the doctor who after wracking his brain writes out the prescription you're expecting and sends you over to the chemist for a pill to mask the pain. Surprisingly that me be useful. For a lot of people the pain gradually goes away in a few weeks. But likely as not it will return at some time in the future - out of the blue.

You may end up on the plinth attended by the masseur, physio or chiro. The treatment may be useful. Rehab of this nature may be palliative - as in providing temporary relief of the pain. It may also speed up the rehab process. In fact that's the main benefit of the rub down, the crunch and the electric shock treatment.

The rehab process

However the most effective treatment in the rehab process will be the exercises you do yourself. You can't subcontract your exercise program out to your therapist or your chemist. You have to do it yourself.

In the book 'Fix Back Pain' I'll show you some of the key exercises you need to do to key your body back in alignment.

I also have an online diagnostic service.

I also recommend you go to a gym three times a week for a general strength training program.

To find out more go to www.globalbackcare.com

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember very few people got fitter or healthier in a surgery.

Regards

John Miller

BACK ACHE

2009-08-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

You know what it's like; constant, persistent back ache.

It hurts when you sit down. It hurts when you stand up. It hurts when you're in bed. It hurts when you cough or sneeze. You have trouble bending down to put on your socks and do up your shoes.

You've stopped playing sport. You're slowing down.

You blame your age, regardless of how old you are.

You try and think what caused it. Maybe reaching over to pick up a phone book, or a spanner, or, as I heard recently, turning round to tear a sheet of paper off a toilet roll.

Your doctor tells you to bring your knees up to your chest and go over to the chemist for a pill to mask the pain.

This might work. A lot of back pain seems to disappear serendipitously.

More likely than not, it won't work. You'll just keep going back to the chemist for stronger and stronger painkillers. When you get prescribed Oxycontin you know you're in deep strife. You'll be zonked out. You could end up like Michael Jackson.

Because bone is rubbing on bone, pretty soon you'll get arthritis. Your doctor will love that and will point it out on the X-rays. But the chances of your doctor telling you the cause and giving you the exercises to fix it up are remote. Even the Arthritis Association says it doesn't know the cause of arthritis.

Don't bother looking for what the medical research says. It's useless. The researchers reckon that it's not possible to determine the cause of 95% of backache.

That's bunkum. The evidence is selective.

Your chiro will give you a crunch, a bill for $66 and an invitation to come back next week. Like the doctor the treatment is likely to be palliative (and from that point of view it's useful) but probably not long lasting because it doesn't treat the cause of the problem.

You have to keep going back.

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

If it's a long-term complaint it's likely that over the weeks, months, years and decades some of your muscles have gradually taken bones out of alignment. Unless you have a regular strength and flexibility-training program or do yoga or tai chi there's an 80% chance that sooner or later you'll succumb to some sort of back pain. If you're more than 15 Kg over weight the chances are even higher. Being over weight dramatically reduces your mobility.

If it just happened recently and you think you can identify the cause (see above) there's a good chance your back was just waiting for a straw to lob on it. You could have been 99% of the way to having a herniated disk and you wouldn't know. Swivel round to get the toilet paper, bend down to pick up the dog and BAMMO, the disk ruptures and you're in agony.

THE FIX

You've got to start doing the strength and flexibility exercises designed to get your pelvis and the bones above it in better alignment. They are simple and not difficult to do. This is not rocket surgery we're talking about.

If you're diligent about doing the exercises for an hour or so a night while you watch TV, there's a better than even chance that in 8 weeks you'll be feeling a lot better.

When bones get back into better alignment the pain goes away.

You can get the exercises and the rationale for using them by going to www.globalbackcare.com

Regards and best wishes

John Miller

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Lower Back Pain

2009-07-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

Lower Back Pain, You probably know what it's like, it hurts to bend down to put on your socks; in fact you might not be able to put your socks on without lying on your back on your bed and lifting your knees to your chest.

One bloke I spoke to recently said his back was so bad he had to get his wife to help him put on his socks for two years.

Every time you sneeze it feels like someone is pushing a red hot poker into your lower back. That's when you know your back is so far out of alignment that you've 'slipped' a disk.

ALIGNMENT ALIGNMENT ALIGNMENT

It's always the same - with the metabolic, musculo-skeletal and psychological dysfunction. Something is out of alignment.

If it's lower back pain it's the bones of your lower back!

The solution? Get them back into alignment.

Sounds easy? It is.

Just find out which muscles are pulling your lumber spine bones out of alignment.

CLUE?

It's not muscles around the spot where it hurts.

That's why paying good money to have someone massage your back at the point where it hurts is well nigh useless. You'll feel better for a couple of hours. You want to feel better - permanently

Keep going down.

Loosen off calf, hamstring and buttock muscles and for 80% of people there's an 80% chance that the bones in your lumbar spine will gradually go back into alignment.

Then the pain goes away.

To get the full story - and the exercises to help with lower back pain go to globalbackcare.com/lower-back-pain

Regards

John Miller