Don’t Be Sidelined With Back Pain This Fall and Winter: Leading Rheumatologist Offers Tips to Prevent Seasonal Back Aches

Des Plaines, IL (PRWEB)

Those lazy days of summer have ended and it’s time to prepare your back for the upcoming fall and winter seasons. Whether it’s raking leaves, shoveling snow, or cleaning out the garage, your back muscles will be strained and abused. For those not prepared, this will mean getting a backache.

“Fortunately, with attention to proper techniques and exercise, you can help to prevent seasonal back pain,” said Dr. Keith Reich, a board-certified rheumatologist and contributing editor to OurHealthNetwork.com. Here are a few tips that Dr. Reich shares with his patients who are prone to back pain:
Do not rake, shovel, or lift heavy objects first thing in the morning. Move around a bit and “loosen up.” The back is most vulnerable to injury after being at rest all night.

Do warm-up and stretching exercises just before beginning the job. Dr. Reich describes several stretches you can do at http://www.OurHealthNetwork.com/backpain .

Try not to twist your spine. If you need to reach for something, turn your entire body, rather than twist. Twisting along with bending will severely stress the spine and back muscles.

Do not use rakes and shovels that are too heavy for you.

If you need to lift a heavy load, get help.

Take frequent breaks and stretch your back in the opposite direction (lean backward).

Raking leaves and shoveling snow are strenuous activities that, if done properly, will help you burn extra calories and give you a good cardiac workout. If done improperly though, you will experience hours of back pain. If you follow these tips, you will enjoy your raking and shoveling “workouts”:

Raking Tips:

Stand straight and walk to the leaves, instead of bending at the waist to reach them.

Once you have the leaves under the rake, pull them straight back toward you. Don’t twist your body to get another load of leaves.

Avoid overuse injury to the back and shoulders by switching sides every few minutes. Rake ten minutes left-handed and another ten minutes right-handed.

Snow Shoveling Tips:

Lifting a shovelful of snow should be done with your knees, not your back. Keep your back straight, bend your knees, and lift the snow by straightening your knees.

Lift smaller loads of snow rather than heavy shovelfuls.

Turn your entire body and step in the direction in which you are throwing the snow. Do not just twist at the waist and throw. Twisting and throwing a heavy load will cause early back fatigue and make the back susceptible to severe injuries.

When the job is finished, Dr. Reich suggests taking some time out for yourself, and treating your muscles to a warm, soothing bath. This is good therapy for your mind, as well as your back!

Additional tips from Dr. Reich on avoiding back pain can be found at http://www.OurHealthNetwork.com/backpain .

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Spine Surgeon Robert Berkowitz, MD, at Northeast Ohio’s Center for Orthopedics Now Offers Neck Disc Replacement Surgery


For patients with a herniated or diseased neck disc, neck disc replacement surgery is a new alternative that can help preserve motion in the neck — and may avoid the need for future surgery.

Robert Berkowitz, MD, a board-certified spine surgeon at The Center for Orthopedics in Sheffield Village, Ohio, just west of Cleveland, is the first and only physician in Lorain County and Western Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to perform cervical (upper-spine) disc replacement surgery.

Until now, patients who suffered from a herniated disc in their neck had essentially one surgical choice: surgical removal of the disc — a discectomy — accompanied by a fusion of the vertebrae above and below the removed disc. But spinal fusion surgery has two drawbacks: a restriction of neck motion, and increased wear and tear on the adjacent discs, which could necessitate future disc surgery.

“Disc replacement is intended to maintain a normal range of motion in the neck and may prevent breakdown of the adjacent discs,” says Dr. Berkowitz. “If you fuse one disc, or level, in the spine, the levels above it and below it are exposed to higher forces — so they tend to break down quicker.”

“The theory behind disc-replacement surgery is that if you preserve motion in the level you’re doing surgery on, you will help prevent the increased wearing out of the levels above and below it — and thus help avoid the need for future disc surgery,” he explains.

Nancy Hughes, 45, of Elyria, Ohio, was the first patient of Dr. Berkowitz to undergo cervical disc replacement. “Before my surgery, my neck and shoulders felt like they were on fire,” she recalls. “The pain gradually went down my arms and made my arms and hands numb.”

“My hands were always cold, mostly my left,” says Hughes. “Then I started getting headaches. I got to the point where I couldn’t live with the pain anymore — living on a hot water bottle or a cold pack and taking ibuprofen.”

“What excites me the most about cervical disc replacement is that patients like Nancy who want to maintain motion in their neck have this new option,” said Dr. Berkowitz. “This disc may revolutionize treatment options for surgical patients who normally would only have the option of a motion-restricting process of spinal fusion.”

Dr. Berkowitz performed cervical disc replacement on Hughes, and today she is pain-free. “I feel wonderful,” she says. “My hand isn’t numb or cold anymore. My upper back is not on fire, and I don’t have the headaches.”

And Hughes has a normal range of motion in her neck. “I have full mobility,” she says. “I can turn my head up, down, sideways. It’s just awesome!”

“I’m so glad we didn’t have to go with a spinal fusion,” she adds. “And my insurance covered my surgery.”

How cervical disc replacement works

The new artificial Prestige® cervical disc is inserted into the neck using a technique similar to the one that surgeons use when performing a spinal fusion. A recent clinical trial comparing the clinical outcomes of cervical artificial disc replacement vs. spinal fusion surgery found that the Prestige disc showed superior neurological and overall success.

In the U.S. clinical trial of the Prestige cervical disc, patients who received the disc showed improved neurological success at 24 months and improved overall success. The clinical trial is the largest completed, prospective randomized controlled study of its kind on the cervical spine, enrolling a total of 541 patients.

For more information on neck disc replacement surgery, visit http://www.center4orthopedics.com/procedures/neck-disc-replacement. To schedule a consultation with Dr. Berkowitz, call Northeast Ohio’s Center for Orthopedics at 440.329.2800.

Northeast Ohio’s Center for Orthopedics, with offices in Sheffield Village, Oberlin and Westlake, Ohio, offers complete bone and joint care by five advance-trained, board-certified orthopedic surgeons. Call 440-329-2800 or visit www.center4orthopedics.com for more information.