Do you suffer from back pain? Some of the more bold statistics out there suggest there is more than a 50 per cent chance you answered yes.

Aches and pains in the back can range from niggling and sporadic to dull and constant. They may affect any areas of the back and neck and come in a range of intensities.

The good news is that many types of back pain are preventable and, if you’re too late for that, even treatable. Regular readers might be familiar with what I like to refer to as the ABC of better health. If we all did our best to take care of ourselves with relatively easily implemented measures, well within our control, we could avoid plenty of hardship and hopefully save some precious national health resources too.

At a time when the entire concept of free national health services once again appears open to discussion, perhaps we should all play our part in doing all we can for our own sakes, while keeping free clinic and hospital doors open for those unfortunate issues we simply cannot prevent.

The A stands for staying active, B for maintaining a balanced healthy eating plan and C for chill out. In today’s fast-moving world, we simply must learn to manage stress. If we can do all this, we can nip so many potential problems in the bud and enjoy a finer quality of life. Once the ABCs are in place and implemented effectively, we can potentially limit the need for more intensive and expensive treatments further down the road.

Your back pain may be due to various muscles around your core, hips or legs being tight or weak. These could be leading to various associated body parts not sitting in their optimal positions in the constant fight against the forces of gravity through the complete range of movements we engage in on a constant daily basis.

Maybe you are slouching or perhaps one of the major curves of your spine has become exaggerated over time, causing tension or strain. The ABCs will help prevent a range of issues you never even anticipated and will certainly help out with your back pain too. But let’s focus on the A specifically.

Being more active in general is great, but it could be that your back pain is actually preventing you from achieving this, so let’s get a little more tactical. We need a special activity routine that is quick and easy and can target your back pain where it counts.

Here’s a routine you can perform right now, and when I say right now, I really do mean it. You could literally put this newspaper down and get going. It doesn’t need to be put off until later or placed under someone else’s responsibility. You are in control.

You can start before you even get out of bed. Sit up and set your back first and foremost. Keeping good posture is indeed your first line of defence. Imagine a string attached to the centre of your head and that your entire upper body is hanging from this string. Chest up, head looking straight ahead and shoulders falling nicely into place by your sides. Hold this position, get used to it, let it serve as a reminder for whenever you sit, stand or walk throughout the rest of the day.

Being more active in general is great, but it could be that your back pain is actually preventing you from achieving this

It might not feel comfortable at first, but this only further proves that some of the crucial muscles involved in keeping you this way are weak and need some work.

Holding this back position, stand up by pushing your heels down into the floor. If you kept your back set and your knees aligned along those imaginary straight lines connecting the hips and feet, you’ve just performed a technically proficient squat. Go ahead and repeat it three or four times, keeping these points in mind.

Now, standing up, place your hands behind your head, prisoner-of-war style. Don’t actually touch your head though, keep your palms and interlocked fingers hovering about an inch away from the back of your head, leaving you free to move at the neck.

Keeping the set back position, feet firmly planted and knees slightly bent, twist at your torso, but keep your head facing straight ahead. Keep your gaze on a fixed point in front of you. Twist so that each of your elbows is thrust forward in turn.

Use a slow and controlled movement and increase the tempo gradually only as far as your comfort levels allow. You can repeat this to a count of 15 to 20.

Now stop and bend directly to each side, like a windshield wiper as far as your mobility allows, again to a count of 15 to 20.

Maintaining the same starting position, lift your left knee and, crunching at your core, bring your right elbow down to meet it. If you can’t reach it just yet, just go as far as you can.

Increased mobility will come with time. Repeat on the other side, right knee to left elbow. Try to go for 12 touches (or near touches), six on each side. Now take a quick rest, breathe, shake it off, rest your arms and then repeat the entire sequence for a total of three cycles.

This mini-routine will serve you well if repeated three times per week.

matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt