"Oh, my aching back!!!"

 Have you said that before - maybe at the end of your work day or just wandering about shopping or doing housework or worse yet, not doing much at all?  Here's where you start dreaming for a massage or maybe a magic wand!

There are many reasons why your neck, back or other body part may ache.  In my work I have found that muscular imbalances cause some muscles to be tight and some to be weak and the resulting compensation patterns take the brunt of responsibility for pain.  Here's a the story of Ann (fictitious name and situation).

Ann felt great.  She loved to exercise and was in great physical shape when she took on a different job that was not only very challenging, but occupied most of her previously free time and she and no longer had time to exercise as much.  She became a weekend athlete when she wasn't recuperating from her work week.  She found herself at a desk much more than before and the stresses of the job mounted slowly.  With less time in the morning, her breakfast became more like coffee and a bagel, if she had time to eat at all, and lunch was fast food, high in carbohydrates and sugar.  Dinner happened later in the evening because she had a longer commute home.  Because dinner was late, bedtime became later and over time it became harder to either fall asleep or stay asleep.  She began to gain weight around the waistline.  One day she bent down to pick up a small box of files and "OUCH!"  Now it felt like her back was locked and any movement was difficult.  Not only that, she didn't feel she did anything to cause her back going out.

So what happened?  There are a lot of possibilities here and they depend on the general physical and emotional health and attitude of the person as well as the duration of this type of stress.  So here is one possibility.  Ann was in great shape when the new job came along.  Besides her fast food meals and no time for relaxation, sitting at a desk for long periods began to impact her hip flexors, (the muscles enabling her to bring her trunk forward when standing, causing those muscles to shorten.

And here is where it gets interesting.  If Ann is being pulled forward by her hip flexors, two things happen.  Her hip extensors (the muscles that hold her hips back to oppose the flexors' forward pull) must weaken as in this instance the flexors are overpowering the extensors.  Also when your trunk leans forward a little, your eyes are then looking slightly downward and since the body wants you to be able to see and keep your balance, the eyes gave direction to the Ann's brain to tighten the back of her neck in order to keep her head upright to see.  (Stand up and try it, bending forward at the waist only an inch, stop and feel, then lift your head up an inch by slightly tightening the muscles at the back of your neck.  If this happened over time, you might never notice!)  The body is amazing in how it orchestrates the muscles in order to remain upright and keep one's balance.  We call this compensation patterns.   And I have kept this very simple - often times only one side gets out of balance and this creates a whole different pattern of weak and tight muscles.

If Ann strengthens her weak muscles and stretches her tight muscles she can begin to bring balance into her body.  Along with a little meditation or other stress relief, and some exercise or a few good walks during the week, and a balanced diet, Ann will recuperate easily and all will be well! 

Next time, we'll look at what may happen to Ann if she ignores her current routine.