| The Evolution of the Back and Back Problems | ||||||
| The spine is designed to be flexible in engineering terms it is a functional distortion structure. The moveable/flexible spine consists of vertebrae separated by inter-vertebral discs. | ||||||
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Evolution and Growth The evolution enabled us to move faster, to be more flexible but the development also created the potential for functional weaknesses. A straight back with no curves would have been stronger but would have less flexibility, restrict movement, etc. During evolution, the passage from being a quadruped to a biped initially led to a straightening of the back and then to a curvature in the lumbar region ~ lumbar lordosis (1). |
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| The above left shows how the lumbar altered in our evolution to becoming a bi biped and the diagram on the right represent a changes in curvature of the spine that occurs during the development of the individual ~ (a) at 24 hours, (b) at five months, (c) at thirteen months, (d) three years, (e) eight years, (f) 20 year adult (1) | ||||||
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Back Pain. Back pain is a common problem due to poor posture, poor use, trauma, disease, wear and tear. By the age of 40 the majority of people will show some signs of arthritis in the spine (2). There is growing evidence that wear becomes noticeable [and measurable] on the load bearing joints like the lumbar, hips and knees, There are usually two main problem areas with the spine ~ the lumbar (the five large lower movable vertebrae ) and the cervical (neck) which has seven vertebrae. |
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| Although most people with back pain assume it to due to a slipped disc or ‘an intervertebral disc prolapse’, many problems are really due the arthritic conditions between the facet joints ~ some doctors claim as high as 90% of back pain is due to arthritic conditions of the facet joints. | ||||||
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| Some us therefore suffer from arthritis or a disc prolapse, or we can have both. The lumbar region tends to develop disc and arthritic conditions and problems in the cervical area tends to be arthritic. The vertebrae have an opening through which the spinal column runs. Between each vertebrae nerve ganglions connect the nerves from the body to the spinal column. Weaknesses between the vertebrae can cause the disc to bulge or herniate causing nerve root compression or can even put pressure on the spinal column | ||||||
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| The pressure from a prolapsed disc on the nerve can be extremely painful and the compression of the nerve root can give rise to ‘referred pain’, i.e. sciatica. Referred pain is a condition where nerve signals are impaired and may give the feeling or appearance of pain in areas away from the spine such as the shoulders, arms, fingers, legs, etc. | ||||||
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We can help ourselves by trying the assist the function of the spine by keeping it mobile, keeping good muscle tone in the trunk and trying to develop a balance posture. Good abdominal muscles help stabilise and support the back, but be careful as some exercises that appear to work on the abdomen can put tremendous pressure on the lumbar area and do more harm than good. Exercises like straight leg lifts are definitely to be avoided
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| We know that when the spine is upright, the pressure on the disc nucleus due the axial forces of gravity and muscle tone causes fluid to be removed from the disc so that when we go about the normal day routines of standing sitting, walking the disc can become perceptibly thinner (3). In a healthy individual, the spine can be shorten as much as 2cm during the day. During the night, when we lie flat or if during the day we relax in a supine, the pressure from weight or gravity is diminished and the only pressure is from muscle tone ~ which is greatly reduced as the body relaxes. | ||||||
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If you suffer from
back problems one of the best things you can do is learn to relax.
With problems in the lumbar regions, some people will experience
discomfort with the legs straight as powerful internal muscles (ilio-psoas
)will increase pull on the lumbar spine. It is suggested that a
semi-supine position with the back of the head resting on a couple
of books or a block might be the optimum position. |
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(1) Physiology of the Joints - I.A. Kapandji Vol II |
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(2) Structural Fitness - J Stirk |
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(3) Relaxation Diagram from The Movement Book - K. Thompson |
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| Red...1995 | ||||||
