** ** I am not a health professional. I do not play one on TV and I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn Express. Please consult your doctor or health professional before adding exercise routines to your lifestyle.
Starting in part two I share things that can help after you’ve sustained a back injury. Of course seeing your doctor, chiropractor or physical therapist should be your first stop to get diagnosed and begin the healing process. I’ve worked with all of the above health professionals at one time or another. It wasn’t until I worked with my physical therapist that I began receiving instructions on proper exercise techniques and exercises for proper stretching and care of that marvelous mechanism called the spine. (see here for part one)
When it hurts it can be excruciating…
So how do we help it to stop hurting?
Proper exercises to align all those bitty pieces back into the space they were meant to be. One system that I found to be extremely helpful was from Pete Egoscue. There are clinics around to help you with this but I found his books and careful application and paying strict attention to the instructions to be quite helpful. This book was recommended by a massage therapist. Pain Free – A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain
Egoscue and his writing partner Roger Gittines share very specific exercises and body position to get you re-aligned and I’ve found them to be extremely helpful. They are so sure of themselves the obligatory message like you see at the top of this page with a legal disclaimer about seeing a doctor etc… is omitted. He urges readers, “who feel they need the disclaimers protection and counsel to close these covers and leave the pages unread. My working principle as an author and exercise therapist is that the most important consultation is the one a person has with him- or herself. Any disclaimer that suggests otherwise does a great disservice.”
IN the introduction They go on and share a philosophy I believe in, “Being pain free takes personal effort and commitment. It doesn’t come from a pill bottle, a sugeon’s knife, a brace or in specially designed mattresses, chairs and tools…. The following pages show you the way. It does not involve high-tech medicine or elaborate physical therapy routines.”
He shares his views on how the body operates and gives you simple directions on how to get it back to your optimum condition.
A More Advanced Option
Another book by the same authors take you to another level of conditioning and exercises to support specific sports. The book is fulll of common sense advice. There’s a little over twenty easy, effective exercises that help to strengthen, stretch and relax your body which gets you back into proper alignment and form. I have used this book also and find it effective in prevention of injury. Here’s the link… The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion
Final Thoughts for This Post
It’s not magic. It takes some time, thought and attention to not end up with pain from working as a photographer. I hope you’ll look into the prevention of injury. But if you get injured I hope you will look into ideas that allow you to do most of the work and healing yourself with the guides I’m sharing with you in these posts. The next installment of Photographers Health Back share another way to help yourself heal in the quickest way possible with as little outside intervention as possible.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
