As a follow up to yesterday’s tip of the day on your shoes and how they can affect back pain, my most recent post on the Martha Stewart website is about your clothing and how it affects back pain.
I hope you have a great weekend!
Best,
Andy
Your clothing may be causing you back pain.
Follow-up on the Bra Piece from Tuesday.
Thank you so much for all of the great responses to yesterday’s post on properly fitting bras. The comments have been really great.
A few additional comments I received via facebook & email:
“Don’t make the mistake of convincing yourself that a bra that is uncomfortable in the store will somehow become ‘broken in’ once you get home. If it isn’t right in the store, it won’t be right when you get home.”
-Susan
“Be sure to choose a bra appropriate for the situation- they make sports bras for a reason.”
-Jen
“If you are larger breasted like I am- choose a bra with wider straps which help distribute the weight of your breasts over a larger area of your shoulder, and prevent ‘digging in’.”
In the next couple of weeks, I will try to locate a bra fitting specialist who is 1) Willing to appear on camera, 2) Allowed by their employer to appear on camera, 3) May have some additional tips which may be helpful. If you are such a person- please drop me a line!
For the two guys who asked for ‘better pictures’- I think you are probably on the wrong site…
New, Additional Back Together Blog Domain!!!
For people who do not wish to go through the Back Together main sight, or who wish to bookmark the blog directly- you can now do so by pointing your browser at:
I hope this makes it simpler for folks to log into the blog, and view us via iPhone.
The One Thing Launches THURSDAY!
I have been planning this ongoing series of short videos for a while now. Starting tomorrow, I will be asking experts in different areas of back pain one question: If there was ONE THING you would recommend to people to prevent/eliminate back pain, what would it be? I am hoping that these occasional tips will come in handy. As they will be coming from different disciplines, such as physical therapy, physical medicine, chiropractic, orthopedics, and others- I am hoping they will give you varied and useful perspectives on back pain.
Tomorrow’s guest is Debra Rasansky of Rasansky Physical Therapy in Bala Cynwyd, PA. I hope you will tune in!
All my best- and be well!!!
Wishing for the Summer…
-Andy
Over 50 percent of women are wearing the wrong sized bra.
Like many people, much of my time over the past couple of weeks has been spent trying to find the ‘perfect gift’ for everyone on my list. I’m actually doing pretty well, considering I have been booked with every manner of work and family obligation imaginable for what feels like months on end.
My travels landed me in a well known lingerie chain trying to find something nice for my wife. Lest you say ‘well that’s only a gift for you then, isn’t it?’- I will preface by saying to all of you cynics that she actually made some specific wardrobe requests this year- so HA!
In any case, I have witnessed at least two men, trying to explain their spouse/girlfriends sizes in very subjective terms (one actually did reference fruit!) in an effort to purchase something close to the correct size. This experienced reminded me of something which I referenced in my book, and which I think warrants some attention right about now…
Ladies, you are probably wearing the wrong sized bra.
In 2002, while I was preparing materials for a draft manuscript, my practice performed an informal study of 150 women in my practice, and that of a friend of mine who works in a large hospital practice. In the study, I asked female medical students who were taught the correct techniques for bra sizing from ‘fitting experts’ at a major department store and a lingerie specialty store- to measure this sample of our patients.
Surprisingly, more than 50% of the women in the study were wearing the wrong size bra, and of those over 70% had a somatic dysfunction (a problem with the mechanics of the spine) at or near the level where their bra crossed over their bra.
Furthermore, when questioned ahead of time, most women were confident that they were wearing the correct size, and most had a favorite brand which supposedly got their size more ‘right’ than other brands. Many women were fitted in their late teens, and basically stuck with the same size since then.
I strongly recommend getting a fitting from someone who knows what they are doing. Many department stores have fitting ‘events’ where several manufacturers send expert fitters.
Men, if you are shopping for lingerie for your wife or girlfriend perhaps include a fitting in the gift- then you can give her a gift which will last much longer. Of course, gentlemen, if you are buying lingerie for yourself, proper fitting is probably not as critical.
Hope the holiday season is treating you all well!
Best,
Andy
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