Keep the Back Pain Away

Simple things can work wonders when it comes to keeping your spine healthy. This is called preventative maintenance, and its equivalent is an old saying you may have heard: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

1. Develop Body Awareness
The body is an interrelated machine - an aberration in one part will diminish function in other areas. (This is called the kinetic chain.) Postural alignment is the science of how the parts of the body relate to the whole form. When it is ideal, bones are centered and balanced with respect to one another, freeing muscles from spasm, and allowing them to do their job of moving the body.

Take note of how the muscles, bones and joints feel in response to various activities. Does sitting cause your back to feel differently than walking? How do your muscles feel when you wake up in the morning? Answering questions such as these will help you trace the effects of your movements on your back, allowing you to make efficient movement choices.

2. Strengthen Your Core

The abdominal and back muscles work together to hold the trunk upright. The action of these muscle groups balance one another to support this area. Weak or tight torso muscles, along with any strength imbalances between them, can be the precursor to back injuries. Core strengthening programs, such as Pilates, yoga, and water exercise (to name just a few) are excellent ways to build up your trunk muscles.


3. Use Your Body Well

If you are like most people, you perform certain activites many times during the course of the day. But have you stopped to consider whether you are doing them in a mechanically efficient way? Over time, most routine daily activites become a matter of habit. If you repeatedly do chores from non-neutral positions, that is, you use muscles when bones could do a better job, you may be setting yourself up for injury and/or back strain.

Learning and practicing proper body mechanics is often a matter of unlearning ways of doing things to which you are accustomed, but that may also be stressful to your joints. This is especially true when lifting heavy objects or reaching for something.


4. Be Active and Exercise

Research has shown there are many kinds of activities that help decrease and/or prevent back pain. Exercise builds muscle tone and increases flexibility. It is quite often a component of rehab programs given by physical therapists and back specialists.

Doing back exercises, along with making an effort to sensibly increase your activity levels can help you prevent or manage your back pain. Of course, you should ask your doctor first, to be sure you do not run the risk of making injuries or condition-specific matters worse.

Preventative maintenance means not only doing your back exercises, but also taking frequent breaks from the computer or desk, stretching, walking more (even when you don't have to), and other activities.

5. Breathe

Did you know that the same muscles that enable you to breathe also function as posture muscles? Breathing exercises taken from martial arts, yoga, Pilates and singing technique can all be of value in developing a strong core and a healthy postural alignment. Core muscles are responsible for good posture. If your spinal bones are aligned, and your trunk muscles are flexible and strong, your posture will easily hold upright against gravity, and enable you to perform movements fluidly.

6. Maintain a Healthy Weight

A healthy back is the working combination of nerves, muscles, bones and more. But being overweight puts pressure on these structures. If you maintain a healthy weight for your height, you decrease your risk of back pain. Research has linked overweight with an increased risk of disk and other back problems.

When To Call Your Pediatrician for a Fever

When To Call Your Pediatrician for a Fever

Q. My question is when is a fever in a toddler a concern? My son is 2 years old and used to have a normal temp around 98.7 when not ill. In the last 4 months his temp is always in the 99.5-100.3 range with the exception of a few days here and there where it is 98.7 or so. I first noticed this because he feels hot to the touch when his temp is elevated and I knew that was not normal for him. He also has had occasional days with a fever of 102 or higher when not obviously ill. Is this something to be concerned about?

A. In general, you should call your Pediatrician or seek medical attention for fever when:

* an infant under two to three months old has a temp at or above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (38.1 degrees Celsius)
* an infant that is three to six months old has a temp at or above 101 degrees Fahrenheit (38.3 degrees Celsius)
* an infant six to twelve months old has a temp at or above 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius)
* a child over twelve months old has a temp at or above 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius) and the fever does not improve with home remedies and a fever reducer

Remember that how high a fever is doesn't necessarily tell you how sick your child is. Whatever your child's temperature, even if your child doesn't have a fever, if your child is very irritable and doesn't have some playful moments or is not eating and sleeping well, you should still call your Pediatrician.

It is important to keep in mind that children normally have higher temperatures than adults, so a rectal temperature under 100.4 is often considered to be normal in a child under age 3 years. And it is hard to believe that he would have regular fevers for 4 months without any other symptoms.

If you really think he is having regular fevers, especially if it is sometimes 102 or higher, you likely should see your Pediatrician for an evaluation. You might also consider using a different method to check his temperature. Especially if you are checking his temperature using an axillary (under the arm) thermometer, you might confirm it with a rectal temperature the next time you think he has a fever.