From Amanda's very early writing (1990s to early 2000s), shared as it was originally written.
Back pain. It’s the most common pain in our society. It affects 90% of us. It interferes with everything. If bending your knees, and keeping your back straight when you lift is supposed to be so effective , why do we still have such problems?
Because most people don’t know the truth about what really causes back problems. So, you read it here first folks! This is the start of the true story behind back pain.
First, a little anatomy. I speak at conferences and seminars on stress, wellness, lifestyle and communication and I carry a plastic spine over my shoulder when I travel. Yes , this does start a lot of conversations! But the thing that amazes me the most is how few people know what it is. The most common question I am asked is “Is that a fish bone?”! So it’s obvious that people need to know a little detail about how the back is built.
Our vertebral column (or spine or back) is made up of a series of bones like building blocks. They sit one on top of each other and are separated by a cushion called a disc. This disc is like a jam doughnut - it has a jelly bit inside and a fibrous outer layer. It absorbs a lot of torsion in our backs and acts like a shock absorber.
At the back of the main block of bone is an arch of bone that surrounds and protects the spinal cord. The spinal cord is the way messages are transmitted between our body and brain. For example, if someone sticks a pin into your leg or arm, the message travels up nerves, through your spinal cord, to your brain which interprets pain, mutters obscenities and sends a very quick message back to your leg or arm to quickly pull away! If the spinal cord is severed we become paraplegics or quadriplegics.
All these bones are held together by ligaments (which are like giant elastic bands) and moved by muscles, which in turn are fired by nerves (which are like fine cobwebs). So it’s a case of the knee bone connected to the thigh bone etc!
Back to the bones: there are a number of joints in the spine. A joint is not something you smoke! It is a place where two bones meet. Usually, joints are held together by ligaments and surrounded by a plastic sheath like gladwrap. This gladwrap is called a synovium and when it’s wrapped around the joint it’s called a capsule. Inside this gladwrap, is stuff like WD 40 - the bodies own lubricant which is essential for pain free movement of the joints. Th emore we move the joints , the more lubricating fluid is released, the better for the joint.
Not only is there a big joint where each bone meets the next, but there are small joints at either side of the spine and an itty bitty one where the back bits of each vertebra (medical jargon for each individual back bone ) meet. The side joints are very important and are called facet joints (because they are small and angled). The most common injury that occurs in the low back is a sprain of these facet joints.
And they respond just like a sprained ankle would. there is swelling, pain and restricted movement. Unfortunately because we can’t see them, or usually we don’t even know they exist, and because the back is such a mysterious thing - we respond with a cry of “Oh no, I’ve done my back in” like it’s some sort of huge break , never to be repaired , and we go into panic mode rather than seeking the same treatment we would for a sprained ankle.
Restoring mobility to these injured joints is really important
for healing and a life without back pain or disability. It’ s often much more frightening than an ordinary old sprained ankle because there is so much pain when it happens in your back because there is very little room for the swelling , all the structures are very close and so it presses on everything around the joint - and hurts a lot! Stiffness in these joints, in my opinion is the number one cause of the majority of back problems physiotherapists treat.
The bony bits you can feel if you run your hand down the back of your spine are called the spinous processes. (Medical jargon for bony bits that stick out). These are useful little things for muscles and ligaments to attach to and also to protect your spinal cord.
Of course, there are blood vessels everywhere and nerves weave their way in and out of the whole back ‘thing’. One last point, people often ask me what is the sciatic nerve. At the bottom of the spine, a lot of the nerves run together and form a big thick rope like nerve that is the sciatic nerve. It sends and receives impulses from the whole of our lower leg.
So , in a nutshell, that’s the anatomy of your spine! You will need this background knowledge for the next in this series.
ue movement of the joints. The more we move the joints like a sprained ankle would.
