If you want to spend your years enjoying life without that "nagging backache" cropping up, or having a "chronic" condition, it would be in your best interest to know a bit about your back. First, your back consists of a column of bones called vertebrae that are separated by cushions called disks and are held together with ligaments and muscles. The space between each disk is called a joint, and function much as the hip, knee, and ankle do. The healthy back has three natural curves, strong pliable muscles, flexible joints, and thick, cushion-like disks. A healthy disk consists of a jellylike center surrounded by a tough fibrous ring. The disk's purpose is to act as a shock absorber protecting the vertebrae from grinding into each other. Your back supports your upper body torso and protects your spinal cord, a bundle of nerves that runs from the base of your brain stem to the coxyx.
A healthy spinal column consists of 24 individual bones (the vertebrae) that are aligned into three natural curves. They are the cervical curve, which is the natural curve of your neck, the thoracic curve, which is the back portion of the chest region, and the lumbar curve, which is your lower back. Maintaining these three natural curves by practicing natural posture and evenly distributed weight will lead to a healthy back by keeping less pressure on the disks and vertebrae. You can easily keep your posture correct by having your ears, shoulders and hips in a straight line.
The three natural curves are supported by the muscles of your abdomen, back, buttocks, and thighs. Strong muscles, kept in tone (by use of proper exersizes) not only support you well, but permit you to move freely, support your back firmly, and reduce your risk of injury.
Keeping flexible joints (in the vertebral column) allows for a full range of pain free back motion. Flexible hip, knee, and ankle joints allow for overall fluid body movement and pain free locomotion. More, they all work along with the muscle groups to keep the back's three curves in proper alignment.
The lower back, or lumbar region, is the most important area from the standpoint of posture. Since we (homo sapiens) stand and walk erect, the lumbar region must support the entire weight of our upper body (the torso) and the head and arms. It also must support most of the load when we work. Improper alignment, weakened muscles, unhealthy joints, or compressed (squashed) disks will usually result in lower back problems and pain, conditions that severely restrict or reduce the quality of life.
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