Learn to manage, maintain and care for the back

- a course for health professionals, fitness leaders, people with back issues.

Understand the options from surgery and drugs to stretching and complimentary therapies

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Patterns, Causes, and Effects of Back Problems
   • Red Flags for Back Pain
   • Pain only on One Side
   • Back Injuries
   • The Connections Between Back Pain and Depression
   • Work Related Back Pain
   • Posture and Ergonomics
2. Back Anatomy and Physiology
   • The Skeleton
   • The Skeletal System of The Back
   • Spinal Curvatures
   • The Relationship Between the Muscles and The Skeleton
   • Stretching A Muscle
   • The Nervous System’s Supply to The Back
   • Experiencing Pain
   • Trigger Points
3. Preventing Back Injuries
   • Lifestyle Issues and Habits
   • Correct Lifting Technique
   • Good Posture
   • Diet
   • Ergonomics
   • Preventative Treatments
   • Muscles and Flexibility
   • Managing Back Related Injuries
   • Taping Up an Injury
   • Managing Inflammation
4. Types of Back Injury
   • Spinal Injuries
   • Musculoskeletal Injury
   • Neurological Injuries
   • Pinched & Trapped Nerves
5. Assessment and Screening
   • Collecting Client Information
   • Functional/Physical Assessment
   • Psychosocial Assessment
   • Symptoms of a Spinal Injury (Bone)
   • Symptoms of a Muscular Back Injury
   • Symptoms of a Neurological Back Injury
   • Clinical Assessment Procedures
6. Professional Treatments
   • Back Care Professionals
   • Complementary Therapies
   • Psychological Treatments for Chronic Pain Management
7. Surgical and Pharmaceutical Treatments
   • Pharmaceutical interventions
   • Understanding Prescription Medication Addiction
   • Surgery
8. Back Health Maintenance
   • Best Practice
   • Changing Habits
   • Legal Issues
   • Specific Practitioner Issues
   • Ethics
   • The Mind’s Impact on the Physical Body
   • A Holistic Approach
9. Rehabilitation
   • Back Pain & Grief
   • Progressive Programme Design
   • Providing Psychosocial Support
   • Establishing and Monitoring Exercise Quotas and Intensity
   • Personal Rehabilitation
   • Professional Rehabilitation and Care

LEARN, APPRECIATE, AND WHERE POSSIBLE PREVENT ISSUES ARISING OR GETTING WORSE.

Back Maintenance is subtly different to preventative back care. Maintenance involves doing things to ensure issues related to the back remain unchanged. Such actions can include lifestyle choices (avoiding doing certain things), economic management (ensuring ongoing funding is available to maintain back care through insurance or savings), and even by making ethically sound compromises.

There is often a difference between what can practically and economically be done to maintain a back in good condition, and what is realistically able to be done. Dilemmas arise for individuals and for practitioners; and compromises often need to be made.

Consider:

• A person who needs a back operation in circumstances where funding or other resources are unavailable to provide the operation.
• A person who needs a back operation, but surgeon availability means that a protracted wait is required.
• A back condition that causes high level pain which can only be mitigated by the use of drugs that create other health issues.
• Situations where the only way to stop back degradation is to stop working, which results in significant loss of the income required to pay for back care.
• Changing the design of spaces to reduce risk of back issues

Anyone can have an opinion on what others should do about a sore back, and many people do. However, advice on backs should be given cautiously with awareness of what is appropriate, and consideration of the risks involved to both the advice giver and the advice receiver.

PREVENTION DOES NOT ALWAYS WORK THOUGH

There are many reasons for back pain, and lack of maintenance is only one. Accidents and pathological conditions might simply be unavoidable. Often rehabilitation may be possible, but perhaps to varying degrees depending upon the situation.

Back pain can develop quickly following an accident, or it can develop slowly due to poor habits, stress, or overuse. Unfortunately, recovery and complete rehabilitation often takes even longer to complete. This can result in frustration, anger, depression, and anxiety – along with the potentially destructive habits associated with these feelings. Some of these emotions are inevitable, especially if the pain or the injuries sustained will mean substantial changes to the patient’s life.

This course provides a broad and significant foundation in the subject. It helps you to appreciate the conditions, causes and possible responses to back issues, and in that respect is a valuable course for anyone dealing with these issues.