To Rest Or Not To Rest
Copyright 2006 Robert Ryles
I thought it was about time I threw some light on to a particular aspect of back pain. This particular aspect is the one regarding the prescription of rest.
We will begin with a delve back into history, not too long ago may I add but considered prehistoric to some, especially in terms of the methods of treatment for back pain.
The actual history of low back pain is another story but let's just revisit the recent past. The time I am referring to is when you visited your doctor complaining of back pain and the sum total of the medical help you received was being told to go home and lie on a board for six weeks. This people duly did and were compliant to varying degrees I am sure. Some I presume lasted for the whole forty two days to the hour whether or not their pain had gone or whether they were in sheer agony and others more than likely, lasted until the first piercings of boredom roused themselves before dispensing with the said board.
How long ago this practice died out is not easy to say. In fact I know at least one osteopath or chiropractitioner in The United Kingdom still utilises this course of action. This is for sure though now more the exception rather than the rule.
So was it or is it effective? To a degree yes. It allows the stresses of weight and movement to be taken off the injured spine so preventing further injury and enabling healing to begin with minimal disruption. The trouble is that unless the spine is fractured the benefits of lying down are essentially achieved in forty eight to seventy two hours. After this time the adoption of long periods of bed rest begins to have more negative than positive effects. These effects include joint stiffness, muscle wasting and other complications associated with long periods of immobility.
Other things to note are that advice was rarely if at all dispensed as to altering the lying posture to side or front (prone) lying for comfort or benefit.
As with so many things the pendulum tends to swing markedly to the other extreme once the seed of doubt has been planted into the consciousness of significant minds. Hence the new school of thought that came into being approximately twenty to thirty years ago was based on the hypotheses that 'rest was bad and movement was good.' So a trip to the doctors with low back pain yielded a "good dose of exercises and carry on at work, you'll be fine." Strangely enough this was not always successful as an antidote to the problem either.
Today the pendulum of medical opinion for me as a Chartered Physical Therapist with all the benefits of hindsight and experience has brought me to the point where I believe the best answer lies somewhere in between with a balance of CORRECTLY PRESCRIBED REST AND EXERCISE.
I generally find that with acute back pain, rest is needed to take the stress off the back structures to help the inflammation and pain to settle and allow healing to beginr. This rest is not strict bed rest but is more often than not a prescription of lying down for a period of forty eight hours with changes of position allowed for, as well as breaks for trips to the bathroom and for eating and drinking encouraged periodically during the day. With the correct analgesia I find that this amount and specificity of rest achieves a state where the back pain is settled to a degree sufficient to allow movement and therapy to move the process on to the next level.
So rest is neither good nor bad. It is just a tool for us to use in our armoury. Insufficent rest will see the exacerbation of inflammation and continuation of pain. Excessive rest will see an onset of joint stiffness, muscle weakness and functional disability amongst other possibilities.
The answer seems to lie (pardon the pun) with utilising initial and short periods of rest of approximately forty eight hours to reduce the effects of acute inflammation and then use graded treatment and movement to return the spine to as healthy a state as possible. This can take variable amounts of time depending on the particular problem, the details of which are probably best left for another time.
So there we have it: to rest or not to rest, that is the question. You now have the answer.
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Rob is a successful International Chartered Physical Therapist. He has been a lecturer, researcher and therapist for over two decades. His rich experience of International and Premiership Football underpins his specialist knowledge of sports medicine. There is a wealth of insight and experience of all such matters on his website at http://www.the-rehabilitation-room.com
Skin Saving Secrets for Women Who Train
1. Focus. "People need to care about their skin as much as they do their muscles. Then don't neglect skin care. Your body might look great, but who cares if your face is prematurely aged?"
2. Water. Drink 8-10 glasses a day. When you train hard you lose even more of it through exertion and sweating than the average person. If you don't put enough water back into your body, your skin can't find resources to fill out and plump the cells.
3. Avoid sun. Use a sunscreen that contains zinc and titanium oxides, because they don't irritate the skin and don't cause breakouts. For those who work indoors and don't get much sun exposure, use a foundation that contains titanium oxide. This can protect you enough and almost as much as if you were to wear and SPF 15 cream. Other options include wearing a hat and large sunglasses. Many doctors strongly recommend SPF 15 for lips, because of the risks of sunburn and peeling.
4. No picking! Frequent breakouts are very common in people who train regularly. They often spend a lot of time with sweat and bacteria on the face. This causes pimples. The temptation is to pick them away, but what they often get instead is scarring. So hands off. Have a series of deep cleansing facials or treatment for the item.
Evie is a freelance writer interested in skin care. Learn more about hylexin and dark eye circles
Stress Eating: Under Stress, We Say Yes!
Copyright 2006 Carol Solomon
Last weekend, I went to a coaching conference in Washington D.C.
While I was there, I had very little hunger. As a result, I didn't eat very much the entire weekend.
As I thought back on the weekend, I wondered why I had eaten so little. I had few urges to eat and rarely even thought about food.
I considered the fact that I was very busy having a lot of FUN. I was with a wonderful group of coaches, learning and socializing together all weekend long. On Saturday, we went to see the cherry blossoms in the city.
Saturday night was purely social – I even got talked into doing karaoke.
Yes, me -- "Stop in The Name of Love" may never sound the same again! :-)
But I don't think those factors really made the difference, because I keep very busy here at home, and I can create fun anytime I want to.
The really important factor seemed to be more about what was NOT there during the weekend – factors such as phones, faxes, email, hungry children, dirty laundry, dishes piled in the sink, and a dog that pesters me to go walking (not a bad thing!)
Demands, responsibilities, stress – all zapped out with one simple plane flight!
It's not that I would change my life in any extreme way, but it sure is nice to extract the stress and see what is there.
It reminded me of a saying I once heard "under stress we say yes!"
It's the self-talk I didn't hear . . .
"I'll just have _______, then I will be able to ________."
And the constant demands and responsibilities, all by my own choosing, "Mom, can you _________? "Honey, would you mind ________? "If I can just get these last few chapters written . . ."
I realize that I can recreate that stress-free feeling by doing kind things and taking more time for me.
I tend to work too hard, and can feel overwhelmed trying to meet all the demands.
I can be more intentional about decreasing stress, setting more boundaries and counteracting stress with fun activities and social time.
I don't know anything that will increase stress more than failure to set boundaries.
A break from all those responsibilites and demands sure makes life look a lot clearer.
How about you? Are you taking enough time for you? What can you subtract in your life to feel less stressed?
Here's to seeing cherry blossoms more often!
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By going from food obsessive to charge neutral (i.e. Did I eat today?), Carol Solomon, Ph.D. became dedicated to making it easy for others to step off the vicious cycle and live free of anxiety about food and weight. If you want to learn how to intentionally decrease your appetite, the best place to start is her ebook – all the strategies you need to lose weight without restriction or dieting. Go to . . .
http://www.lose-weight-now-stay-slim-forever.com/
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