The Spine

Once again I am thinking of a statement said by Dr. Stuart McGill. He gave the anaogy that the spine is like a clothes hanger and will has a breaking point when bent too many times. However there are a decent number of people who never have to see a Dr. for their back because they don't have back problems. My own father for example is 76 years old and I asked him if he ever had back problems. His answer was "No". He worked in manual labor for the majority of his life and before that was a 3 sport athlete. We always focus on the 80-90 % who have back pain but why don't we ask the question, "Why do the 10-20% NOT have back pain?"

The second question I would like to ask is, "Why that particular vertebrae?" Why not another one? If we can find the answer to "Why this one?" I think we may be able to fix more than just the symptoms.

For a great perspective on this go to the Gray Institute's website and read this months newsletter on knees.