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(Some of the following images have been passed down through generations of
kinesiologists such as Mabel Todd, Lulu Sweigard, Andre Bernard, etc.)
You've just upgraded your computer and your modem, installed the latest software
and our now ready to live your life in cyberspace. It's so easy to write and work and
play without the hassle of commuting. With a click of the finger you can talk to
colleagues at the Coconut Cafe in Hawaii, browse through a European classical
library or check out the latest political and economic news. But you are now
spending 12 hours a day sitting at your computer and your back aches! Gone are
those strong muscles you had playing sports in college.
The most important and most difficult way to protect your back is to sit properly.
Although many people think that good posture consists of a straight back, a healthy
spine has a forward curve in the 7 neck (cervical) vertebrae; a backward curve in
the 12 upper back (thoracic); forward for the 5 lower (lumbar); and back in the
fused pelvic (sacral) and tailbone (coccyx) areas.
Nevertheless, these curves are balanced on a plumb line as if a string were pulling
the top of your head to the ceiling. Since most of our conscious perception is with
the front of our bodies, (one of the causes of round shoulders, forward heads, and
low back strain), imagine that you have a face, torso and legs on the back of your
body. Allow warmth, energy and expression to travel out the back of your body.
Feel the three dimensionality of the body, expanding in all directions.
As you read the screen in front of you (at eye level, never below), pretend you have
eyes in the back of your head pulling your skull back on top of your shoulders.
Allow the muscles at the base of the skull to soften and melt. Then imagine you are
wearing a soft, thick cashmere turtleneck which comes from the hairline around the
neck under the chin. The neck feels soft, long, warm and
Take your hands off the keyboard, open and close your fingers, circle your wrists,
turn your arms in and out. Elevate and depress your shoulders. Focus on your
breathing and let your rib cage expand and contract freely like a fire bellows.
Imagine the sternum (breastplate) smeared with hot butter from a breadknife. The
butter drips sideways, allowing the top of the chest to open. Imagine you are
wearing a sparkling diamond necklace that catches the light around the base of your
neck. Keep your head up and back with the helium balloon and eyes in the back of
the head. Feel warm water moving from the armpits across the pectoral muscles up
over the shoulders and down the back under the shoulder blades in a continuous
circle up the front of the chest down the spine. The water drips under the shoudler
blades, separating the shoulder girdle from the spine. Then imagine the entire
shoulder girdle--shoulder blades, collar bones, shoulders and arms;; as a soft, velvet
cape draped over the rib cage and fastened with a pin at the sternum. The velvet
drapes down to the back of the pelvis so that the arms feel connected to the low
back. If you can, take a towel or shirt and do these stretches.
Now check your sitting posture and make sure you are sitting on the tuberosities of
the ischia and not your poor, fragile tail bone. Uncross your legs and put your feet
flat on the floor, relaxing your toes. If possible, use a lumbar roll to maintain the
lordotic curve of the lower back and keep you on your "sit
Push your chair away from the desk and bend over, stretching your back. Relax
your head and neck and let your arms dangle like seaweed. Roll up slowly as you
exhale, contracting your abdomen. Wiggle back and forth on your haunches to
make sure you are on your "sit bones" and imagine them growing roots into the
chair. Straighten one leg, tightening your quadriceps muscles and stretching your
hamstrings. Flex and point your foot. Do the same with the other leg and foot.
Feel the spine as a curtain rod being lengthened in the central axis of the body. As
the body lengthens and relaxes, pretend the spine is a child's slinky toy. the little
rings of metal are like the vertebral bodies. As they are stretched apart, imagine 26
empty spaces in your spine getting wider. Grow a furry tail out of your tailbone
which drags along the floor as the helium balloon lifts the top of your head to the
ceiling.
As soon as you can get away from your desk, stretch your hip flexors (iliopsoas
muscles), preferably by letting the straight leg dangle off a table while lying on
your back with your buttocks off the edge with both hands pulling the other knee
Remember to watch your alignment when you sleep. 8 hours of tortured twisting in
bed can undo hours of good posture and exercises. You are finally in your bedroom
or at the gym and ready for
Dr. Keefer's Back Care and Conditioning
Program: After warming up your neck and shoulders, spinal flexion,
extension, lateral flextion and rotation, begin a series of abdominal strengthening
exercises. There are at least 20 variations that culminate in advanced full sit-ups
and leg raises to test abdominal strength against the hip flexors. However, the
average person rarely progresses past half sit-ups with the knees bent. Exhale and
hollow the abdomen as you contract the abdomen, lifting your head and shoulders
off the floor. Use the transversus abdominis to flatten the abdomen as you exhale,
an action that will later help prevent hernias.
Don't forget the oblique muscles, as you include repetitions bringing the shoulder
towards the opposite hip. Advanced students can do side-lying sit-ups for the
quadratus lumborum and the obliques, better known affectionately as love handles.
These side exercises requires strong isometric contractions of the latissimus dorsi
and transversus abdominis muscles to stabilize the torso and protect the back.All ab
routines should include spinal extension and/or hyperextension exercises lying on
your stomach. Lift your head, neck, shoulders and chest off the floor as you
contract your spinal extensors. Arm positions may vary with hands on the head, the
neck, the shoulders or laced together behind the buttocks. If you have severe
arthritis, posterior osteophytes, spondylolisthesis, stress fractures etc. you should
substitute spinal extension for hyperextension and perform these exercises lying
over a bench with your arms, legs and/or head dangling off towards the floor. Lift
the extremities to bring the entire body to a horizontal position parallel to the floor,
not arched backwards. This does require a bench, a step or huge ball upon which
the torso can lie.
piriformis
and strengthening of the back extensors.
happen to like.
Don't spend all your time in the physical gym. Brain gyms are just as important.
Life is a balance between body and mind.