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YMCA Healthy Back Book - YMCA of the USA
YMCA Healthy Back Book
by YMCA of the USA
NEW, 120 pages
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About YMCA Healthy Back Book
If you're troubled by back pain, you're not alone. This problem affects over 70% of all adults at some time in their lives. The suffering can range from a periodic twinge that makes it difficult to perform everyday tasks to excruciating pain that makes it impossible to get out of bed.
Now you can beat the odds and learn how to overcome back problems with the YMCA Healthy Back Book. Developed by the world leader in back care education, this medically sound and easy-to-follow back program will help you
• understand the causes of back pain and various treatment options,
• learn how to exercise to help prevent painful back problems, and
• discover ways to reduce back pain when it occurs.
This book contains the most up-to-date, practical information available from the YMCA--an organization that has helped over 300,000 people find relief from back pain. The book features more than 80 full-color illustrations and a reader-friendly format that makes learning about back care easy.
In chapter 1 of the YMCA Healthy Back Book, you'll learn the warning signs indicating that you need to see a doctor. You'll also learn some common sense first aid tips for treating back pain. Chapter 2 guides you in choosing a practitioner to address your back problems and describes several of the treatment options that are available.
Chapter 3 takes you on a guided tour of the back's anatomy. After you've learned about some of the possible physical causes of back pain, you can take a self-quiz to identify the risk factors that may be causing your pain.
Chapter 4 is the centerpiece of the healthy back program, offering 29 clearly illustrated exercises you can use to improve the health and fitness of your back. The exercises are divided into three levels of intensity, so you can start slowly and work up to a vigorous 20-minute workout. Also included are basic water exercises for those who want to add variety to their workouts and for those who have health conditions that make the other exercises too difficult.
You'll learn the best ways to sit, stand, sleep, drive, and do other everyday tasks in Chapter 5. And in Chapter 6, you'll learn how making lifestyle changes--such as managing your weight and controlling stress--can help ease back pain.
So don't become just another statistic. Read the YMCA Healthy Back Book and learn how you can join the growing group of people who are overcoming back problems and leading active lives again.
Review of this book
"The YMCA Healthy Back Book is a must for the millions of Americans who suffer back pain."
Charles B. Inlander
President, People's Medical Society
"The YMCA Healthy Back Book offers practical information and helpful exercises that will contribute to a healthy lifestyle and a strong back."
Rona Cherry
Editor-in-Chief, Fitness magazine
"An excellent resource which, if followed, should help prevent future problems. The book is brief, easy to read, and easy to apply to one's daily activities."
Stephen Howard Hochschuler, MD
Spine Surgeon, Chairman, Texas Back Institute
"This book belongs in the libraries of all health promotion professionals and should be recommended to any individual concerned with maintaining a healthy lifestyle."
Robert L. Kaman, PhD
Professor of Physiology, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine
About Fitness
Physical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness (a state of health and well-being) and specific fitness (a task-oriented definition based on the ability to perform specific aspects of sports or occupations). Physical fitness is generally achieved through exercise.
In previous years, fitness was commonly defined as the capacity to carry out the day’s activities without undue fatigue. However, as automation increased leisure time, changes in lifestyles following the industrial revolution rendered this definition insufficient. These days, physical fitness is considered a measure of the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, to be healthy, to resist hypokinetic diseases, and to meet emergency situations.
Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health or wellness. It is performed for various reasons. These include strengthening muscles and the cardiovascular system, honing athletic skills, weight loss or maintenance and for enjoyment. Frequent and regular physical exercise boosts the immune system, and helps prevent the "diseases of affluence" such as heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity. It also improves mental health, helps prevent depression, helps to promote or maintain positive self-esteem, and can even augment an individual's sex appeal or body image Childhood obesity is a growing global concern and physical exercise may help decrease the effects of childhood obesity in developed countries.
Types of exercise: exercises are generally grouped into three types depending on the overall effect they have on the human body. Flexibility exercises, such as stretching, improve the range of motion of muscles and joints. Aerobic exercises, such as cycling, swimming, walking, skipping rope, running, hiking or playing tennis, focus on increasing cardiovascular endurance. Anaerobic exercises, such as weight training, functional training or sprinting, increase short-term muscle strength.
YMCA Healthy Back Book
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