Large breasts can be a source of considerable pain. Some women, in fact, suffer with severe pain, deteriorating posture, and are at risk for spinal deformity and other repetitive stress injuries to the shoulders and upper extremities due to their large breasts.

These problems result from changes in the normal anatomical structure caused by the excess weight on the chest and weak muscular support. Another fact related to this condition is that some women even feel ashamed and actually try to hide them buy altering their posture by allowing their shoulders to roll forward. This abnormal posture will possibly put pressure on an area of the upper body near the shoulder called the “thoracic outlet.” When this occurs, a bundle of nerves and blood vessels can become compressed and cause pain and discomfort down the upper extremities.

Very large breasts not only can cause a reduction in the normal curve of the upper and mid-back region but will potentially also cause severe low back pain. When the upper vertebrae of the spine are altered, the lower vertebrae then assume more stress. The challenge for these women is to maintain an efficient posture through proper strengthening and “CORE” stabilization exercises.

Workouts may make it worse

Active women with large breasts are especially prone to back pain. Constant breast movement from high-impact exercise can cause acute pain due to muscular oxygen deprivation and fatigue. The muscles in the back bear a significant burden trying to support very large breasts during vigorous exercise

Physical therapy, posture exercises and even pain medication are often a woman’s first line of defense. Many doctors recommend purchasing customized bras or sports bras that can better distribute the substantial weight of large breasts across a larger area, thereby reducing muscle strain and improving overall breast positioning. This is especially important for women with a small frame, since their breasts place stress on a more concentrated area, it may be necessary to incorporate all of the strategies to get relief.

Before any woman begins any exercise program that is intended to help with her back pain, she needs to have to have a full physical assessment performed to ensure any postural dysfunctions are accounted for and their associated muscle imbalances are corrected. Muscle imbalances can be described as one muscle group being overly strong and tight and the opposing muscle groups weaker and overly stretched out.

Postural Dysfunctions can be described as abnormal position of the pelvis or abnormal position of the upper neck, head and shoulders. As we mentioned earlier, a woman can hold her shoulders in a rounded position, thus adding the weight of the breast, causing the shoulders to be internally rotated, depressed and adducted, which will pull the head forward of the shoulder which in turn will cause the neck to be pulled forward and down.

There are many other adapted responses that happen including counter balancing the weight of the body in the upper spine as well as the position of the pelvis. It is the pelvis that usually accommodates the most while also having the greatest influence on the curvature on the spine.

What you can do before the last resort

What I have just described is a process that is repeated every day and no single piece of high tech diagnostic equipment available to the medical community can systematically piece it all together. There are many chain reactions that occur to cause low back pain which is why the physical assessments are so critical.

In this case, the assessments need to take into account the postural dysfunction of the upper neck back and shoulder as well as the position of the pelvis as well as which muscles are tight and overly strong and which muscles are weak and not able to support the body adequately. There needs to be a comprehensive plan to accomplish a new resting tension or elimination of the muscle imbalances. Essentially a woman will be asked to do a very unbalanced workout to get back to a more balanced state and to a point that her body can support the extra stress, throughout the rest of her life.

A last resort

Failure to address the postural issues may result in a more drastic solution. There is a steady increasing number of women choosing breast-reduction surgery. Make sure to use this option as a last resort, since there are many risks and negative side effects from this operation.

In addition to the external scars, scarring inside the breast may also occur. Until recently, doctors were concerned that this might interfere with the accuracy of a mammogram—and in doing so increase the risk of breast cancer.

But it turns out that for some women, breast examination and mammography may actually be easier to perform after a breast reduction. “From the standpoint of the physical exam, it may be more difficult to pick up a very small lesion [lump] in a woman with very large breasts,” says Charles Finder, M.D., a radiologist in the Food and Drug Administration’s Mammography Quality and Radiation Program.

Other drawbacks to breast-reduction surgery may include a lack of sensitivity in the nipple and a decrease in sexual response. Many doctors also caution that there can be a significant reduction in milk supply after surgery. Some women find they can’t breastfeed at all.

On top of that, the average cost of breast-reduction surgery in the U.S. is close to $6,000 and can run much higher depending on where you live. As a result, many insurance companies have written breast-reduction surgery out of their coverage completely.

Fortunately, there are alternatives to surgery that can bring relief to women who suffer from back pain caused by large breasts. Muscle balance therapy is a safe and effective way to restore some stability to the pelvis and spine, helping the body of women with large breasts tolerate the physical stress of everyday life.

It’s getting to be so bad that by Monday afternoon, you’re already tired of being at the office. You’re not even thinking as far ahead as Friday. Just getting to hump day is going to be challenge enough.

In reality, it’s not the folks you work with who are getting you down—they’re tolerable, mostly. It’s not even your boss, who, if he knew even half as much as you do, would be a shoo-in for Executive of the Year.

No, the biggest pain in your neck is actually located a bit lower. And it’s really what’s making working where you do seem a lot worse than it actually is.

Face it. It’s your aching back that’s sucking the joy out of your 9-to-5 existence and making you feel 10 years older to boot.

Sure, you’ve learned to tolerate the bad coffee, pointless meetings and lame jokes in the course of your day. But you just can’t tough it out when it comes to back pain, which can range from dull, nagging aches to those unexpected twinges that feel like you’ve been hit with a taser gun.

If it’s any consolation, you’re not alone. More than 31 million Americans have low back pain at any given time. The bad news about back pain is that it not only lives with you all day at the office but it also comes home with you at night. It may even dog your weekends.

How do you develop pain?

If you are experiencing back pain at the office, you may think that it is coming from all the sitting, standing and lifting that you have to do. And, indirectly, it does. But it is actually more about how the body has to adapt to all the sitting, standing and lifting than the activity itself. Let’s take sitting as an example.

Because of the amount of time you spend sitting, your body must gradually adapt itself to that position. This happens in a number of ways. The first thing it must adapt to is how the weight goes through your hips and pelvis. Then, there is the way you sit—upright, slouching or something in between. Most importantly, it’s what happens to the muscles while you’re sitting. For example, your hip flexors will get tight from being in a shortened position and your rear end will get weak and flabby from being in a relaxed state.

That simple combination of tight hip flexors and weak glutes is called a “muscle imbalance.” The result of these muscle imbalances will be postural dysfunctions of your pelvis and spine. These imbalances send both your spine and pelvis into abnormal positions, the combination of which can be devastating to a person with a healthy back and catastrophic for a person suffering from any form of back pain.

What can you do about it?

What you must also understand is that your imbalances are the result of what you do in your everyday life—your workouts, sitting, the activities of your job, and your own personal habits. I’m not going to tell you to stop going to work. But what if you changed the way you present yourself at your desk?

• Instead of sitting at your desk, try kneeling. I kneel at least 30 percent of the time I spend at my desk. I have a small foam pad that puts me just high enough to type and see the monitor.
• I sit on a therapy ball. I move my hips in every direction, which means I’m working on my core balance all day long.

Action steps to take

Because you have to work and because the quality of your life depends on your career, you need to be able to make the most of your situation. Let me give you just a few tips to help you through the day:

Sitting
When I sit, I sit with my legs in all different positions—sometimes bent, sometimes behind me, other times stretched out in front or even to the side of me, keep the legs moving.

Every 10 minutes or so, I will work my body in some way—and, yes, that includes walking away from my desk. But more than that, I make it a habit to stand up when the phone rings. I also stand when I have to read something or when I’m rearranging the stack of stuff on my desk for greater productivity.

Standing
If your job requires you to stand all day long, be sure you have quality footwear and a neutral shoe insert. Our body mechanics start when our feet hit the ground. It is best if your feet are in the most neutral position possible.

One negative body pattern that many people fall into is to continually shift their weight from one foot to the other. The problem with this is that most people find eventually decide that one leg will be more comfortable than the other, and then that leg will get most of the weight most of the time. This will wreak havoc on the pelvis and spine. Better to put equal on each foot as much as you can, and learn to correct when you catch yourself shifting your weight or leaning on one leg too much.

Lifting
A third obstacle on the job can be situations where you have to lift anything over 10 pounds repeatedly. Again, it’s not the activity itself that puts you in jeopardy; it’s your body’s inability to tolerate the stress of the weight. In other words, you should be able to lift anything you want to and not have any difficulty doing it. The problem occurs when your body is suffering from the muscle imbalances and postural dysfunctions that we talked about earlier—and you don’t even know it.

So, when you lift that object and you get injured, think of it as the straw that broke the camels’ back. Your body was already in a compromised state, and it just needed that last bit of stress to send you in to a painful condition.

Stress
It’s an unavoidable fact of life at the office, and it can also play a role by causing your muscles to tense up, which makes you more prone to injury. Stress also lowers your tolerance for pain. In some cases, minimizing stress on the job can be a daunting task, but deep-breathing exercises, walking around the block or even talking about your frustrations with a trusted friend can help.

I want to leave you with this message: Even though the workplace can be a hazard to your health, if you do find yourself having back pain, remember that your thoughts and your beliefs about your situation will have a direct impact on your ability to recover and how fast you recover. That’s why it’s critical to learn all you can about your condition and take action as soon as you can.

When you spend enough time working with people who are in pain, you hear it all: anger, fear, hope—but mostly frustration. Whether you are going through a treatment program for your back pain with a chiropractor or physical therapist, or trying your own exercise program (Yoga, Pilates, pumping iron at the gym, etc.), if you’re not getting relief, let me share with you a widely known “secret.”

Knowledge Is Power
Our mission is to inspire you through education. We know that people who understand their situation and their condition get better care and faster results, regardless of the type of treatment they are going through. The reason is simple: They have more control.

The problem is that most treatment programs only tell you what to do. You never question and never really understand what you’re doing. You just trust that the person telling you what to do is knowledgeable and has your best interests in mind.

Well, here’s the problem: the person working with you is only doing his job. He likely doesn’t have time to share with you all he knows. More importantly, he may not be willing to take the time to tell you what you need to know to get better and stay healthy.

Be prepared to say good-bye to frustration and hello to hope.

Step One: Stop Everything You Are Doing
Why stop what you are doing? Because if you don’t, the underlying factors of your condition could be making things worse. The only way stretching and exercise will be of benefit to you and your condition is if you understand exactly how your body is out of balance. More specifically, you need to know which muscle groups are tight, which muscle groups are weak, and how those imbalances are affecting your body as a whole.

The goal of any stretching and exercise program for someone with back pain is to bring the body back to a balanced state. That includes making sure that your muscles are in balance with each other and that your bones are positioned as they should be, so that your joints can function with precision.

If a muscle group is too strong or too tight and your bones are pulled out of their proper position, eventually our joints will not work correctly and will suffer increased wear and tear until movement becomes painful. Some people call it getting older; I call it premature aging.

What is most challenging about the back is that of the more than 600 muscles, nearly all of them play some role in the health and proper functioning of the back. In short, the more out of balance your muscles are, the more likely you are to develop a condition that will cause you pain.

Common Stretching Mistakes
If you have back pain and you go to see an expert who tells you that you have tight hamstrings (the muscles in back of your upper legs), he will, of course, tell you to stretch your hamstrings. Well, if this expert fails to take into consideration the other imbalances in your body, you will be making your condition worse.

Disclaimer: To help you understand this, I’m going to give you an example. It is only an example and may not be true for you, so you should not consider this as a treatment.

The Most Important Concept I’ll Ever Give You
Keep reading until you see this clearly in your mind and comprehend it. The most important aspect in understanding how your body is out of balance in relation to back pain is the position of your pelvis. Your muscles can pull your pelvis in many different directions. If your pelvis is in an abnormal position, your spine will follow and go into abnormal curvature. This abnormal curvature will, over time, cause your condition to become painful and gradually get worse.

In this example, if your pelvis is pulled forward or tipped forward (the technical term is lordosis) by the strong and tight muscles in the front of your legs and you stretch your hamstrings as instructed, you will lengthen your hamstrings. This will allow your pelvis to tip forward even more—by the couple of millimeters you just gave it by stretching your hamstrings.

You see, your hamstrings are attached below your knee and to your pelvis, so to you or the expert they will feel tight. But the truth is that they are taut—in other words, they are already stretched out because the pelvis is pulling on them. If that same expert were to take the time to identify the strength versus flexibility imbalances related to your pelvis—instead of simply stretching your hamstrings—he could then give you a very specific and targeted stretching and exercise program to bring your pelvis back to a more neutral position. This would also return your back to a more neutral curvature.

The Problem
As I see it, the biggest problem is that 99 percent of the time you want to do—or are told to do—a balanced workout. But if you are already overly strong in some muscle groups and continue to strengthen those same groups, you will only reinforce your imbalances. The same holds true for stretching: If you stretch a muscle group that does not need to be stretched, the imbalance is never going to be corrected.

I know it’s frustrating to be told that your workouts have been making your back pain condition worse, or may even be partly responsible for the condition in the first place. And while it’s true that Yoga and Pilates are all about balance, these programs are for those who do not have a problem. But for someone with back pain due to muscle imbalances, a general stretching and exercise program is the last thing you want to be doing.

The Solution
Regardless of age, sex, fitness or fatness, we all have imbalances and we all need to understand that stretching and exercise can play a very important role in how we live our lives and how healthy we stay as we grow older. Once you embrace the concept of imbalances, you need to identify where they occur in your body. Then you need to do a very specific and very targeted stretching and exercise program. And guess what? It will be a very unbalanced workout. Yes, that’s what I want you to do—an unbalanced workout to get back into to balance. Then you can do your Yoga or Pilates.

You now know more than the average person about stretching and exercise, and I haven’t even shown or told you about a single one I would recommend. When it comes to back pain, the point is that knowledge is critical. And, in some cases, doing nothing is better than doing what you’re told—if it’s the wrong thing.

Remember, no one cares more about your back than you. So, it is critical that you are able to talk to your health care providers in a way that tells them they cannot just give you the same cookie-cutter program they give everyone else.

We’ve all heard about the 80/20 Rule—the idea that 80 percent of your gain will come from 20 percent of your effort. The 80/20 rule can be applied to most anything in our lives. But have you ever considered how this rule might apply to your health?

I will use wealth as an example because everyone can relate to having it or not having it, which is the underlying premise of the 80/20 Rule. If someone starts a business and hires people to make widgets, a handful of worker bees do most of the work and the owner gets most of the money (it’s not fair, but this process is repeated over again and again throughout the world).

The 80/20 Rule like you’ve never heard

Now let’s take a little deeper look into what has to happen for that business owner to get wealthy, again using the 80/20 Rule. Knowing that 80 percent of businesses fail and only 20 percent survive, that business owner has two options:

1. If he does what the 80 percent of business owners do that causes their businesses to fail, he does not have an 80 percent chance of failure but a 100 percent chance of failure.
2. If he does what the 20 percent of business owners do that causes their businesses to become successful, he was not lucky, and his chance of success was not 20 percent, you see, because he did everything that successful business owners do. He ensured success and has a 100 percent chance of becoming successful.

Don’t do what the 80 percent do to fail

The same rule applies to your health. If you seek out the same treatments as the 80 percent of patients who failed to get relief, then you are guaranteeing that you will also fail.

On the other hand, if you seek treatments that have proven successful in the past, then you are greatly increasing your odds of finding relief and getting your life back. You have to concentrate on finding what works—not doing what everybody else does or simply doing what you are told.

The problem is that it takes courage and determination to try new things. You may be uncomfortable at first, but don’t worry. Keep in mind that the 80/20 Rule is hard to argue with and even harder to bet against. So, don’t be one of those people who become jealous of the success of others. Join the successful by getting off your buns and taking action.

Ah…a good night’s sleep. We all want to get in the recommended 7-8 hours, yet according to the National Sleep Foundation, almost one-third of Americans sleep 6.5 hours or less each night. So, not only are we walking around in a bad mood, eyes half open, giant cup of Joe in hand, but now research shows that we are actually putting our heart at risk!

Research by Dr. Alexandros Vgontzas, professor of psychiatry at The Pennsylvania State University in Hershey reveals that even modest sleep deprivation may be associated with low-grade inflammation, which can lead to a number of cardiovascular problems.

Vgontzas and his team of researchers deprived 25 men and women just two hours of sleep per night over a six-week period. They measured blood levels for immune-system molecules called cytokines, which are normally secreted during inflammation and infection. Both men and women in the study had increased concentrations of cytokines, which confirms lack of sleep may stimulate an increase in chronic inflammation.

This is troublesome, particularly because continuous inflammation has been shown to lead to hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and even heart failure. Also, lack of quality sleep has a significant effect on your blood sugar levels. If you are sleep deprived, it requires more insulin to balance your blood sugar levels, which, in turn, can lead to heart disease and a host of other health related problems.

So, you know you need more shut-eye but getting to bed early and sleeping in later just aren’t an option with your busy schedule. Maybe the quantity of hours shouldn’t be your main focus, let’s try focusing on getting “quality” sleep. The first option that comes to mind for most people who want to sleep more soundly is to seek out over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids. However, there are several downsides to consider:

• Risk of tolerance – meaning your body can require more and more of the medication in order to achieve results.
• The lingering effects of sleepiness from the previous night’s dosage can affect your safety, the safety of those around you and even put lives at risk.
• They can be highly addictive – creating the danger that the body will never really learn to sleep on its own again

A far better choice is to consider more natural approaches. You can do simple things like avoiding caffeine and television before bedtime, or practicing relaxation exercises to help you unwind. You can also seek out a natural herbal supplement that will help you achieve the solid sleep you need in order to maintain good health and take care of your heart. Trying these more natural approaches may be just the thing to safely help you obtain a solid nights rest without the risks associated with other traditional medications.

There you have it. The evidence is overwhelming; getting sensible amounts of good quality sleep is essential to achieving optimal health and particularly a healthy heart. Ultimately it’s up to you to make the right decision regarding your individual health. Remember… more zzz’s equals less disease!

While this article is aimed at those who suffer froom back pain and those close to them, much of what I’m going to tell you can be useful in all aspects of your life and for any difficult situation you may face.

When dealing with serious back pain, you have to realize that your condition is going to have an impact on everyone around you and that it will be toughest on the one you love.

I got an e-mail this morning and could not stand to go another day without telling you my thoughts. Believe me, this question is not unique. Please read the following e-mail, and then I’ll give you my response:

Steve,
My husband recently had a severe flare-up caused by a herniated disc. He’s had it for five years. Now it’s in both sides of his body, from his back to his toes. He is using a scooter to get around. He cannot walk and is hunched over at the waist with severe pain. He is currently taking three meds: Motrin, Vicodin and Flexeril. They help very little! He has been seen by his doctor, and he will have an MRI plus physical therapy. Can you help him?

What this poor lady must be going through.

As you see, the e-mail starts with “My husband”—and that’s the first problem. Why is this man’s wife the one who’s searching for a solution? When I said that a health problem is sometimes harder on the partner, I’m sure I was telling many of you something you already knew. Those who care for a person with a health problem go through the same fear, anger and frustration—they just don’t have the pain.

One reason is that when people have been suffering for a long time, they tend to give up. Or the system just wears them down. Unfortunately, the more depressed the person with the health problem gets, the harder the loved one must work to find the Holy Grail–that one miraculous thing that will help.

What usually happens is that the loved one learns to adapt to the changes and accepts that things will never get better. That’s why success is so rare.

Knowing but not doing

The second sentence of the e-mail lets us know that this has been an issue in this couple’s life for five years. The fourth sentence confirms that the husband has adapted to change and has allowed the system to accommodate his needs. The use of the scooter is a clear example of this. This man most likely did not just wake up one morning and discover that he could not walk. My bet is that this was a steady decline over a five-year period.

Do you think that if the husband had taken any initiative, he could have kept himself out of a scooter? I do. I’ve been in the health care profession for 16 years, and I have seen only a handful of back pain sufferers resort to a scooter for mobility.

In fact, the worst case I have ever seen was a 100-year-old woman who was bent in half from her rib cage. Her entire upper body was parallel to the floor, and she could not see more than three feet ahead of where she was walking. But she was walking. And she remained active until she died.

Have you heard me say, ‘Don’t just treat the symptoms’?

Again, it’s my bet that when the pain first started, the husband was not on three different pain medications at the same time. Chances are, he went back to his physician and demanded more and stronger pain killers. News flash—medications don’t help the condition get any better.

The worst part about suffering with a condition for so long is that the husband has come to believe that his condition is so bad now that the only one who can help him is a medical professional. He has turned a deaf ear to everything the wife might suggest, which may be causing harm to their relationship.

Help others by helping yourself

The truth is, there are a lot of people who could help him. But it’s not going to happen until he first decides to help himself. Did his wife do anything wrong? No. Could she have done anything differently? Maybe, but it probably wouldn’t have changed things.

It is also important to understand that it’s natural for both parties to feel some frustration. The problem is that neither of them is trying to see things from the other’s point of view. In these situations, it is critical to communicate your feelings to each other.

That’s why I’m going to approach this from a different perspective—one that people inside the situation often find harder to see. If this advice means more coming from an outsider, that’s great. You may want to print out this article and kindly hand it to your loved one. Even if you don’t, be sure to at least ask them these two questions:

• Can you live the rest of your life expecting to get better?
• Are you willing do what it takes to get better?

Change your mind—change the outcome

The direct answer to this woman’s e-mail is, “No, I can’t help your husband because he hasn’t taken responsibility for making improvements in his life.” I would much rather have gotten an e-mail directly from him, telling me about all the things he has tried and celebrating even the smallest gains he was able to achieve through his efforts.

Both of them—and maybe even you and your loved one—will continue to struggle until they find that one trigger that motivates or inspires them. Exactly what it is or where it will come from I don’t know. What I do know is that the sooner they start looking, the sooner they’ll find it.

A different way to think

Regardless of the severity of your condition and the amount of progress you are making, it is up to you and you alone to find the inner strength to continue. You must abandon the “What can YOU do for ME” attitude. Try to think differently, keeping the following two principles in mind:

1) There’s a difference between knowing and believing.
It’s really a difference of degree. Believing in something, say, being 100 percent free of back pain, is fine. But if you simply believe it will happen and then have a setback or flare-up, you’ll find yourself doubting or questioning that belief on some level. On the other hand, knowing that you’re going to get 100 percent relief will help you get through the inevitable ups and downs. So live knowing.

2) Live with expectancy.
You should go through each day confident that you are going to get better and stay healthy. It starts with your thoughts and the words you use. These will affect your actions. For example, if you haven’t been able to do something you love for a very long time, tell yourself you’re going to be doing it on a specific date in the future. Talk to everyone about it. Read books and watch videos about it. Fill your mind with the joy of it. Then begin to prepare for it. Dust off that fishing pole. Clean that bike. Go buy that new pair of running shoes and have them sitting where you can see them every day to remind you that you expect to run again.

Immediate steps to take
• Change the way you think and feel about your situation.
• Allow others to help you, even if they are not professionals.
• Do not give in or let the system beat you down.
• Recognize small gains as progress and hope that you are getting better.
• Treat both the symptoms and the cause of your condition.

Please don’t let five years pass without taking responsibility for your recovery. If you are suffering now, you will only continue to suffer unless you educate yourself and take action.

Regardless of the answers you get to the two questions above, your partner will now understand the pain you’ve been feeling without your having to say it. Sometimes, being honest with each other is the most powerful demonstration of love. I don’t mean to minimize your situation. It may be extremely difficult for this man to live his life, but as long as both of you live expectantly, you can never fail.

Lecture’s over, as my dad would say

No matter how bad your problem is, there is a solution. So live knowing you will get better. Live expecting to get better. Live by taking action and not settling until you have achieved your goals.

Back pain is pervasive throughout the adult population. It is one of the most common reasons to visit a doctor. Young children are suffering from back pain much earlier than previously reported, and the use of overweight backpacks is a major contributing factor. In addition to overloaded backpacks, improper wearing of them may predispose a child to various health problems. Back pain usually results from repetitive loading as well as improper mechanics, not to mention kids are getting weaker and less physically active, leading to the child’s inability to handle the load of the backpack.

Does your child complain or exhibit the following signs and symptoms?

• Aching back
• Aching neck and shoulders
• Tingling in the arms and hands
• Slumped posture: rounded shoulders, forward head
• Posture changes when wearing a backpack
• Struggling when putting on or taking off the backpack
• Redness and/or soreness on the shoulders

The major contributing factors associated with injury;

1. Muscle imbalances: too weak in the abdominal area, shoulder blades, and/or lower body
2. Slumped posture while standing and sitting
3. Posture changes: arching the back, leaning forward, leaning to one side

These factors may cause improper loading on the spine, which in turn can cause poor alignment of the vertebrae, which negatively impacts the function of the discs as shock absorbers. When the backpack is too heavy or positioned poorly, this causes muscles to work harder, leading to strain and fatigue that ultimately makes the back, neck and shoulders more susceptible to injury.

Recommendations to ensure proper and safe backpack use:

1. Do not carry more than 15 percent of the child’s body weight. For example, a child who weighs 100 pounds should not carry more than 15 pounds in his or her backpack.
2. Utilize both straps over the shoulders. This provides better distribution of the weight. Make sure they are well padded. If the backpack has a waist belt, use it to reduce the load on the shoulders and neck.
3. Load the heaviest items closest to the child’s back. Make sure the books and the other materials do not slide around.
4. Make sure the backpack is positioned across the mid back and do not allow it to hang below the waist of the child. Straps should not be loose, and should be adjusted while putting on and taking off to permit free movement of the arms without twisting and side bending the spine.
5. Parents should assist with the loading and the organization of the books and materials. Make sure the items are necessary for each particular day. If necessary, it’s OK to have the child hand carry a couple of books.
6. Listen to your child. If he or she continues to complain of pain and discomfort do not shrug it off. There are plenty of things children can do to avoid pain. Have them evaluated by a medical professional.
7. You may consider a backpack that has wheels. Make sure the extended handle is the appropriate length to prevent the child from bending and twisting excessively.
   Be aware of your child’s habits and physical make-up. Proper exercise and nutrition are key to preventing injuries immediately as well as later in life.

The truth is as kids get stronger and their muscles become more balanced, they will build up the tolerance to these and other daily stresses of life. It just takes a little bit of knowledge and coaching from Mom and Dad to encourage your child to become more active in a fun way.

I encourage you to keep in mind what I call “balanced muscle development.” It is the key to any and all development. If you are not certain as to how a child can achieve a balanced body, please seek professional help from a certified health care provider.

If done correctly, massage therapy can work wonders for people with back pain. It may not always be the best choice, and it may not work for everyone. But most people will get great results if the massage therapist has a good understanding of the human body, muscle imbalances, and how to work with them. A word of caution: Massage therapy should never be considered a substitute for proper medical attention.

As a massage therapist for the past 10 years, I have watched massage therapy grow in popularity and credibility to the point where the practice is now commonplace for those who suffer from back pain. There is no denying the positive effects massage can have on the body. Most massage therapists use a variety of techniques during a session, such as energy techniques and stretching, along with traditional massage. The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami has coordinated more than 100 studies that document the therapeutic effects of massage. One study on massage and back pain found that massage decreased back pain and depression while also improving sleep and range of motion for most joints.

What to look for in a massage therapist

As in many other professions, there are varying degrees of training and qualifications a massage therapist can have. It is up to you to find one who is trained in techniques that actually address back pain issues. Some of the more popular styles of massage for back pain are: orthopedic massage, medical massage, and something called St. John’s Technique. It would also be a good idea to look for a massage therapist who has comprehensive knowledge of muscle imbalances relating to back pain. Good luck finding one, because they are rare.

How does massage therapy provide relief?

You probably have heard that massage improves circulation, right? But exactly what does that mean? Well, throughout our bodies we have a clear fluid that circulates around the body tissues called “lymph.” At the same time, we may have inflammation, which is an immune response to injury or infection that causes pain, redness, heat and swelling in the affected area—in our muscles, around our muscles, even in our joints. When lymph and inflammation start to accumulate in the body, the excess fluid will put pressure on blood vessels and our circulation will decrease, limiting blood flow to that area. As the pressure increases, it irritates the nerves, which will cause you to have pain. By helping the body remove excess lymph and inflammation, massage therapy can make your blood flow better, which will reduce the pressure that is irritating the nerves and get rid of your pain.

And as if that were not enough, massage provides a number of other benefits: relaxing the muscles, improved range of motion, improved sleep and increased production of endorphins, which will improve your mood. Is it any wonder you feel like a million bucks after a massage?

Is massage all you need to get relief?

As helpful as it is, massage has a very limited scope and cannot fully address your condition. It’s great for removing inflammation and providing relaxation, but back pain is a physical condition that requires a physical solution. Sure, a massage therapist may stretch your body a little. But that’s not a substitute for identifying muscle imbalances and postural dysfunctions, and then developing a very specific and very targeted action plan to correct them to restore the body’s harmony.

If massage is part of an overall plan that includes working with a trained expert in muscle imbalances and postural dysfunctions, then you may be on to something. Unfortunately, most people don’t go this route. In my opinion, the ones who do will get the best and fastest results.

Is massage right for everyone?

Of course not. There are a number reasons why massage might not be right for you. Please review this list as you consider massage as an option.