"Oh, My Aching Back!"
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007 5:45 PM by Jaclyn Levin
(From Gil Reisfield, TODAY Producer)
A wonderful lady who I happen to be very close to is suffering from terrible back pain right now. I'm not privy to exactly what's going on, but from what I understand, the doctors think it's a spinal stenosis - a narrowing of the spinal column that puts pressure on the nerves. She's in her '70s, and a recent meeting brought home how debilitating back pain can be. "I realized I didn't buy enough cheese for the soufflé` I was making," she told a group of us. "The worst part about it was imagining myself having to drive to the supermarket and walk down that long aisle again ... I just didn't know if I could do it."
It's with that backdrop that I was assigned a segment dealing with women and back pain, which aired on the show this morning. WATCH VIDEO
After a setup spot, which highlighted some of the common back problems women often face, Dr. Jennifer Solomon from The Hospital For Special Surgery, appeared live in our studio to address some of the ways women can avoid those aches and pains. Having seen first-hand how debilitating it can be, I certainly hope some of that information was helpful to viewers.
One thing that's certain is that my friend isn't alone. According to the National Institutes of Health, almost everyone experiences back pain that interrupts their lifestyle at some point in their lives.
* Back pain is the second most common neurological ailment in this country, second only to headaches.
* Americans spend at least $50 billion a year on low back pain.
One of the doctors we interviewed for the story is Dr. Todd Schlifstein, a specialist in sports, spinal and pain rehabilitation at NYU School of Medicine. Since so many of us spend long periods of time in front of computers, I wanted to show you a diagram he made that provides some pointers on how we can do that in an ergonomically correct way.
Aside from working with computers, what struck me were the many potential risk factors that could make women particularly vulnerable to back pain. Things like pregnancy, wearing high heels, carrying heavy purses/bags and of course, lifting young children. Has anyone had problems with these activities before?
From my perspective, an important point I hoped to convey is that back pain is often times avoidable with the proper care. The correct exercises, maintaining a healthy weight, refraining from smoking and sitting and standing up straight are all key factors that I urge everyone to pay attention to.
One of Dr. Schlifstein's stories that didn't make it into the piece might raise a few eyebrows. In his line of work, he's seen women arrive at his New York City office wearing nothing but towels. Turns out, they were taking their morning showers and while bending over to soap themselves or shave their legs, they threw their backs out. They couldn't even get dressed before coming in to see him. What a nightmare!
