BackAlleve

New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine's story of how an epidural injection allowed him to get back to work in no time.

Nowadays information can travel at the speed of light, thus promoting greater intercultural exchange between the East and the West. Although modern Western medicine is recognized worldwide as being both safe and effective (although not always inexpensive), just recently has Eastern medical and spiritual wisdom begun to permeate into Western popular culture.

Take slow, relaxing Chinese Tai Chi, for example. 30 years ago hardly anyone had heard of this ancient healing art, but now you can see everywhere; in health magazines, on TV, and of course, on the Internet.

Although some people are fascinated simply by the fluidity of movement and mysticism of Tai Chi, I was more curious about about just how effective Tai Chi is for curing lower back pain due to a herniated disc, spinal stenosis, scoliosis, strained back and the like.

Although medical doctors seem to be having a difficult quantifying the exact results of practicing Tai Chi, you'd be hard pressed to find a doctor who says it can't hurt to give Tai Chi a try.

Some basic information on Tai Chi can be found here.

One last note: You may have noticed that sometimes "Tai Chi" is spelled "Taiji Quan." Neither is "more correct" than the other, however "Taiji Quan" is the official word used in Greater China and taught in school. "Tai" is pronounced like "necktie" and "ji" as in "jeep." "Quan" starts with a "ch" sound and rhymes with "spawn." Nobody said genuine Chinese pronunciation was easy!

The human body is only capable of sustaining a seated posture for 30 minutes at a time before it negatively affects your back health.

How long have you been sitting down?

In a word, yes!

BackAlleve is designed to be worn all day long, however some people prefer to wear it only at work, or when on the road, etc. Basically, it comes down to your personal preference.

For those of you who are have heard that "wearing a back brace all day long can weaken your back and abdominal muscles" and are worried about complications, fear not. BackAlleve is unlike most lower back support belts in that it does not forcefully constrict your natural movement and thus does not result in degeneration of lower back and abdominal muscles.

BackAlleve is designed to prevent lower back pain, not to constrict your movement or prevent your natural range of motion.

So, you can safely wear BackAlleve all day long. Our company president prefers to use it only when sitting at his desk, commuting to and from work, and playing golf. But this is just his personal preference.

Some people that have problems getting out of bed in the morning even wear BackAlleve to bed at night, although these are fairly severe cases. We generally suggest that you take BackAlleve off before climbing into your warm bed, purely for hygienic reasons.

But as BackAlleve is easily washable in the washing machine, it's pretty much up to you how often you wear BackAlleve for maximum lower back support.

I found out yesterday that my grandmother has spinal stenosis.

My mother dutily informed me as we were driving out to my grandmother's house in Boston. The holidays were right around the corner and we still had to discuss who was going to buy gifts for whom.My family has picking names out of a hat and doing Christmas "secret-Santa" style for a few years.

My grandmother is 89 years old, a Greek-American.  She is a very proud woman, and her talents include Greek and Italian cooking, sewing, and singing. For as long as I can remember, she has always harmonized, in a great big voice, on the last two notes of "Happy Birthday" when we sing it at family parties.

Her vision has been steadily deteriorating over the past few years.  We bought her a fairly expensive projector machine that magnifies documents to five or ten times so she can read the fine print on her bank statements and bills. Even with her eyesight as it is, my grandmother's handwriting is still impeccable. In fact, it's orders of magnitude better than mine.

I was really worried when I heard about her spinal stenosis.  Since I'd already done a fair amount of research on the internet regarding spinal stenosis, I knew that it is commonly associated with old age and often occurs naturally. The spinal column contracts resulting in pressure on the nerves, which causes pain. People with spinal stenosis are often characterized by a "hunchback" look, because bending over causes less stress to the spine than standing up straight. For a more technical description, check this out.

To date, here is no guaranteed cure short of surgery. And surgery isn't something she necessarily wants to forgo at 89 years old, unless it's absolutely necessary.

So, I mentally prepared myself for a bent-over, hunchbacked version of my grandmother as I rang her doorbell. As the door swung open, however, I was shocked to see that she looked no different than the last time I saw her. She greeted me with a warm smile and led my mother and me into the house. It was amazing, as if her back problem was a myth.

I watched her perplexed as she walked down stairs into the basement to get some onions to cook us a meal. Of course I offered to go downstairs in her stead, but she waved me away. She didn't seem any different than three years before she had been diagnosed with stenosis of the spine.

I thought spinal stenosis means you can't walk or standup straight, but apparently I was wrong. There are many different levels of spinal degeneration, ranging from what my grandmother is experiencing to people who can no longer perform basic daily tasks due to extreme back pain.

My grandmother has always been an active woman, and still is. I think this combined with pride is what keeps her going in spite of the back pain she must be experiencing. Although it would seem that there's no cure for spinal stenosis now, I plan on doing everything I can to make my grandmother's life even if just a little more comfortable.

I always thought a corset was something that overweight women used to wear in the 1800s to make themselves look trim.

Lack of exercise is a societal problem, consummating in the increased levels of obesity inAmerica,Europe, and most of the Western world. I've spent half of the last ten years traveling back and forth betweenEast Asiaand theUnited States, and I can't help but make comparisons between our two distinctly different ways of living.

There was nothing in elementary school that I hated more than the gym class physical fitness examination.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the term stenosis means:
"A constriction or narrowing of a duct or passage; a stricture."

The correct pronunciation for sciatica is [sai AT ti ka]. The initial "sci" is as in "science."

Well then, what is it?

This is a commonly misunderstood concept. Many people believe sciatica to be a diagnosis, or the name of a disease, where it is actually just a set of symptoms. The characteristic symptoms of sciatica are pain in the back of the calf, hip, and/or foot. In many cases a feeling of numbness also accompanies the pain. In most cases, pain is usually only felt in one of the legs.

Sciatica can be traced to one of two causes:

1) Compression of a lumbar (lower back) spine root, or

2) Compression of the actual sciatic nerve

There are 33 unique vertebrae in the spinal column.

Those 33 can be broken down into 5 distinct regions. Listed from top to bottom, they are:

Cervical Vertebrae. Located at the top of your neck and run down to your upper back. There are 7 in number.

Thoracic Vertebrae. These make up the majority of your spinal column and have the unique characteristic of having facets for your ribs on them. There are 12 in number.

Lumbar Vertebrae. The lumbar vertebrae make up your "lower back," and are thus the cause for many lower back problems. "Lumbar pain" and "lower back pain" are often used interchangeably. There are 5 lumbar vertebrae.

Sacral vertebrae. The sacral vertebrae are fused together and are called the "sacrum." A great deal of people suffers from sacral nerve root cysts, which can cause great pain. There are 5 sacral vertebrae.

Coccygeal Vertebrae. These form the "tail" of the spinal column. Like the sacral vertebrae, these are also fused together to form the coccyx. There are 4 in number.

A lot of us suffer from sciatica.

There are any number of causes, from herniated discs to spinal stenosis. Although some cases may require serious medical treatment (ie; surgery), there are also cases in which a simple daily stretching routine can drastically reduce pain and risk.

However, one thing to take note of is that not all exercises feel equally good for everyone. In other words, the exercises that one person prefers to do may not be another's preference. There are a number of reasons for this. Let me explain.

First of all, many of us have previous injuries. For example, I wrenched the ligaments in my left knee when I went on a ski trip in elementary school and scar tissue formed over the injury. When it gets cold out side, my knee aches even today. In another case, I hyper extended my lower back muscles when doing acrobatics at kung fu practice. When I stay seated at work for hours at a time, I can feel my lower back start acting up.

Now, because of these two injuries there are some basic stretches that cause me a great deal of pain that other people don't necessarily feel. When I tried doing Hatha Yoga at my friend's suggestion, some of the basic poses caused a great deal of pain in my left knee, whereas other more difficult poses were no problem at all.

Choosing a stretching routine that feels good to your body is extremely important. Differentiating between the "good pain" you feel when stretching your hamstring and the "bad pain" you feel due to a past injury or overstretching is something that does require a bit of experience.