Back pain is a major problem in the west, resulting in large numbers of people taking time off work or missing out on social and sporting activities. The question is why is back pain on the increase when we have access to better healthcare, our chairs and office workstations have been set up by professionals and we have been using the latest gadget on the market guaranteed to cure back pain?

I have seen many patients in this situation, each and everyone of them (& the majority of other patients) find themselves sitting for over 15 hours per day!!! Combine this with using computers and especially the modern smart phone, this creates a hunched, rounded shoulder posture. What results is a shortening of all the muscles at the front of the body (especially at the hip) and a lengthening of the structures in the back responsible for maintaining a 'good posture'.

Our bodies are not 'designed' to be sitting for such long periods of time and therefore imbalances develop within the musculoskeletal system causing us to move differently. Too much of the movement is hinging at the lower back. Ultimately this results in back pain and a new chair, a manipulation by a physical therapist or that new gadget will have limited influence on improving the pain.

Keep it simple, go back to basics and look at how we should be moving. The body has not had enough time to evolve to our rapid increased use of technology resulting in a 'sit down society'.

This is exactly what Dr Eric Goodman and his partner have found and they have developed an exercise programme (http://foundationtraining.com/) that address your basic everyday movements. These exercises help correct muscle imbalances and retrain our patterns of movement . If performed properly these exercises can help to improve sporting performance as well as preventing back pain. I think there work is very good and I have been using similar exercises to help rehabilitate my patients over the years. These exercises are a major part of a larger toolkit (including diet, exercise and lifestyle choices) that will help prevent your back pain. BUT I certainly recommend you take a look.

http://foundationtraining.com/