Back Pain

Just got back from day one of physical therapy. I've had a bad back for years and my mother finally badgered me into getting it checked out, so today I got to go in and get prodded. Wasn't too bad actually, the woman that I saw was quite friendly and informative. Turns out if you have tight hamstrings that aren't very flexible it can add stress to your lower back. Rather than trying to touch your toes as a way to stretch those muscles, what you want to do is A) lie on your back, B) lift one knee toward your armpit, C) hold the back of your leg with both hands right below the knee, D) straighten your leg until you start to feel the stretch, and E) hold that position while you rotate that ankle 30 times. Then, obviously, the other leg. Also, a way to help support your spine and back muscles if you need to bend or lift or whatever is to contract your abdominal muscle. This does not mean sucking in your stomach, this means tensing the stomach muscle that is about even with or right below your belly button. Imagine if someone was going to punch you in the gut, that's the muscle you would want to tense to protect yourself. And with any back pain walking on a flat surface is the best way to start relieving the strain, assuming of course that the pain isn't so bad that you can't walk. Anyway, that's me being helpful today.