BackWords

What a weekend! The snow started on Friday, and didn’t stop until Sunday morning- the whole area got blasted. With the blizzard, came the flood of emails recommending that I do a post on the safe shoveling of snow. I thought about it, but as I watched the news I realized that EVERY news outlet was already running their respective pieces on shoveling snow- how to avoid back pain, how to not have a heart attack, how to stay warm while shoveling- and my personal favorite: How to shovel out your car without getting wrangled into digging out your neighbors’. A little selfish, I think.

In this case, I will be the rebel, and not say anything about shoveling and back pain- I’ll leave that one to the ‘experts.’ Partially because it has already been played out ad nauseum, and partially because my back is pretty sore from shoveling yesterday. If you can figure out a way to shovel 2 tons of snow and not affect your back- congratulations. You are either a magician, own a plow, or paid the neighborhood kids to do it for you. Nuff said.

The sprawling grounds of stately Chez What were blanketed with snow…

Football Players & Head Traumas…

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a response to a mother who had concerns about head and neck traumas their child might incur playing soccer. I told her of a growing number of parents who allow their children to play soccer, but are specifically instructing coaches to not allow their children to ‘head’ the ball. I caught some flack for advocating this, as there are plenty of folks who feel that changes the nature of the game. My response is that it does change the nature of the game- but the flip side is that by ignoring this problem, you run the risk that the game will change the nature of your children- increasing their likelihood of neck pain and brain injury. There are people who will disagree with me on this, but this is where I stand.

I mention this specifically because of a new long term study being proposed by a partnership between the NFL and Boston University to try and better understand the risks to the central nervous system caused by repeated head traumas. The study is actually asking players in the NFL to donate their brains to science upon their demise, in an effort to study the long term anatomical changes which occur from play in the NFL. This is particularly poignant here in Philadelphia where Brian Westbrook- arguably one of the best running backs in football, has been saddled by back to back concussions which have taken him out for several games. There have been numerous calls from players, physicians and fans for him not to return and risk more serious trauma. I don’t know enough about his particular injury to say he should retire, but I am glad that the NFL is taking this problem seriously.

A new study suggests that psychology  plays a role in recovery from back pain…

A friend sent me a link to a new study which basically states that ‘mental therapy’ can help a person improve their back pain- that is, psychology is part of the overall picture of back pain. Well, DUH- Really?- this is a surprise? Bottom line: if you don’t address all of the facets associated with back & neck pain, it will never really go away. There is a triad of pain which I have elaborated on numerous times. If you take care of the physiological aspect of the pain without touching upon the ergonomics or lifestyle issues which compromised you in the first place, your pain won’t stay away. If you are recovering from an injury or trauma, and you don’t pay attention to your psychology, you are not likely to fully recover either.

If you are on the East Coast of the US- I hope you had a chance to dig yourself out-

Be Well,

Andy