|
| Back Pain |
|
Question:
I have had to go to the Doctors because i have been having increased back
pain when racing on my bike. When I get the pain I also get a numb left big
toe and tingly leg. The Doctor says that one of my disk is aggravating my
nerve and needs to be looked at by a specialist.
I am now a little worried as to how this will effect my cycling and if it
easily cured. I am only 26 and have only just got going.
Anyone else suffer the same or knows any more about backs?
Answer:
Here's what you need to know about back pain in a nutshell:
1. Absolutely no one knows anything about what causes back pain. All this
stuff about disks pressing on nerves and so on, has never been demonstrated
to be the cause of any pain. (On the other hand, numbness radiating down to
the legs does suggest something to do with the sciatic nerve... but not
necessarily that a disk is bulging on it.) X-rays of people with back pain
often show bulging disks and other abnormalities, true, but the problem is
that people with absolutely no back pain also often show these same
abnormalities.
2. Virtually all back pain goes away by itself after a few weeks if you
just make appropriate modifications to your lifestyle, and take it easy but
not too easy: bed rest, for example, usually results in worsening. Best
thing is to walk and move around as much as you can.
3. If you would like to make your back pain permanent and crippling, just
visit an orthopedic surgeon and have him do one of his standard mutilation
jobs. If you knew exactly what they did, you would not believe it; and none
of it has been shown to actually work. Caution: the definition of a
"successful" spinal fusion in orthopedic surgeon parlance is merely that
the graft took, not that it resulted in any improvement.
4. Since almost all if not all back pain eventually heals by itself, just
about any quack treatment, even those that double or triple the recovery
time can seem effective without controlled comparisons.
5. There is one treatment type that has been shown to have some
effectiveness, and that is as done by chiropracters (and maybe
phsyiotherapy). Unfortunately, chiropracters are complete morons and
subscribe to incredible quack ideas about why their treatments work (apart
from one possibility, that some back pain is caused by capsular joint
subluxation). Also unfortunately, but fortunately extraordinarily rarely,
once in a blue moon, a chiropracter kills or paralyzes a patient by doing
an "ooops" while wacking around with the vertebrae. Anyrate even if they
don't, they can sure scare the hell out of you in the process.
6. If you are getting increasing back pain while racing your bike, it shows
that something is wrong with your set up: either your posture, technique,
or positioning on the bike; or with your conditioning, strengthening and
strectching programme. Weak areas that may lead to back problems: overly
tight hamstrings, weak stomach muscles, weak upper body, weak back muscles.
However, strengthening these is tricky and can easily lead to worse
problems if you don't know what you are doing, and most people don't.
Example: most types of sit ups are bad for you, as are many back
strengthening excercises. General rule: avoid anything which requires you
to arch your back more than the flat or rest position, or extend the back
more than flat or rest position.
 |
|
|
|
