Backache, Stress, and Tension: Understanding Why You Have Back Pain and Simple Exercises to Prevent and Treat It

by Hans Kraus, Melanie Trice (Photographer), Norman Marcus (Foreword by)

Overview

Today’s busy world provides too much stress and not enough time for exercise. Instead of walking, running, and doing physical chores, we sit for hours at a desk, use machines to do work for us, and drive a car for even the shortest trips. As a result, more than sixty-five million Americans experience back pain, neck stiffness, and tension headaches. Dr. Kraus explains the causes of back pain and tells you what you can do to prevent and alleviate it.
He presents six simple tests to determine whether you have the strength to carry your own body weight and the flexibility to match your height. According to Dr. Kraus, if you fail any one of these tests, you are underexercised or overtensed, and the odds are high that if you don’t already suffer from back pain, you will in the future. Dr. Kraus provides various approaches to back and tension problems, the primary focus being a series of carefully planned exercises to strengthen the whole body and to correct specific physical deficiencies. Featuring a foreword by Robert H. Boyle, Backache, Stress, and Tension is an essential handbook for everyone in today’s overworked, overstressed world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632207739
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	04/07/2015
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Hans Kraus was a world-renowned expert on back ailments and sports medicine. He served on many notable committees, including the President’s Council on Youth Fitness. Dr. Kraus also spent two years as President John F. Kennedy’s back specialist and was a world-renowned mountain climber. He lived in New York City prior to his passing in 1996.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the 2012 Edition Robert H. Boyle vii

1 Test Yourself 3

2 Why Back Pain Comes 31

3 The Importance of the Muscles and the Spine 51

4 Fight or Flight: Why Tension Builds 63

5 Why We Get Sick Backs 73

6 Exercises for Sick Backs 85

7 Running, Yes; Golf, Maybe; Football, No 169

8 Suggestions for Daily Living 183

9 The Diet Fad: Eat but Exercise 193

10 What Can You Do for Your Children? 203

11 What Can Be Done for Our Country 215

Conclusion 225

Bibliography 227