Back Exercise: Stabilize, Mobilize, and Reduce Pain

by Brian Richey

Overview

Most people will experience back pain at some point in their lives, but only a few have the resolve to seek answers and find relief. Back Exercise: Stabilize, Mobilize, and Reduce Pain explores the anatomy and movement of the spine and offers exercises that will help you move—and feel—better.

Back Exercise goes beyond exercise and rehabilitation to help you understand the why behind spinal conditions and back pain. Throughout the book, unique clay models of the spine reveal each layer of the spinal anatomy, from the spinal vertebrae and discs to the muscle and tissue. These engaging full-color photos make it easy to visualize the structure and biomechanics of the spine and uncover the sources of your pain.

You’ll then be guided through an evaluation of your current back health with a self-assessment. Using only the floor, a wall, and a camera, you can check your pain response to several simple exercises and identify postural deviations and muscular imbalances in your body.

Once you’ve assessed your back mobility, the book features 60 exercises—complete with instructions and safety tips—that help stabilize, strengthen, and rehabilitate the spine. Create foundational stability for your spine, extend your range of motion, and relieve pain with exercises that build strength, mobility, and flexibility in your back.

Finally, Back Exercise explores five common spinal conditions: nonspecific low back pain, disc bulge and herniation, spondylolisthesis, stenosis, and spinal surgeries such as spinal fusion. Six months’ worth of tailored exercise plans are presented for each condition, offering a safe progression of exercises to improve mobility, increase stability, and reduce pain.

No one wants to live with back pain or discomfort. With Back Exercise you will understand the sources of your pain and take control of your back health for the long term.

Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes both the book and exam.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492594765
Publisher:	Human Kinetics Publishers
Publication date:	12/30/2020
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	632,087
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brian Richey is a personal trainer, educator, and industry leader in the fields of medical exercise and corrective exercise. His unique approach to managing clients’ medical conditions through exercise has helped thousands move better, stand taller, and exercise without pain.

Brian earned his BS in kinesiology and exercise science from the University of Hawaii. He has multiple certifications from the American Academy of Health, Fitness, and Rehabilitation Professionals: Medical Exercise Program Director, Medical Exercise Specialist, and Post Rehab Conditioning Specialist. He is a faculty educator and master instructor with Balanced Body.

Brian brings his knowledge in medical exercise, corrective exercise, and integrated movement to the masses through lectures and workshops, both in person and online. He is based in Washington, D.C., where he proudly owns and operates Fit 4 Life DC.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Part I The Spinal Unit

Chapter 1 Anatomy of the Spine 3

Chapter 2 Spinal Stability Training 21

Chapter 3 Assess Yourself 35

Part II Exercises

Chapter 4 Supine and Prone Exercises 53

Chapter 5 Quadruped, Seated, and Standing Exercises 75

Chapter 6 Mobility and Flexibility Exercises 101

Part III Common Conditions

Chapter 7 Nonspecific Low Back Pain 123

Chapter 8 Disc Bulge and Herniation 143

Chapter 9 Spondylolisthesis 161

Chapter 10 Stenosis 181

Chapter 11 Spinal Surgeries 201

References 223

Index 227

About the Author 231

Earn Continuing Education Credits/Units 232

Editorial Reviews

“Brian Richey is a medical exercise specialist known around the world for his ability to get people out of pain through exercise. Back Exercise: Stabilize, Mobilize, and Reduce Pain will help you understand what kind of pain you have and how to treat it. He makes complicated concepts easy and provides effective exercise strategies for people with muscular, disc-related, or spine-related low back pain.”
—Nora St. John, MS, NCPT, Education Program Director at Balanced Body Inc.

“There’s no one person better suited to identify and rehabilitate your back pain. Brian Richey takes the time to give you the why behind the what by illustrating the anatomy, using clay on a skeleton to demonstrate what is happening in your body. His advice and exercises will help you find relief. Back Exercise: Stabilize, Mobilize, and Reduce Pain is a must-read for everybody!”
—Portia Page, Author of Pilates Illustrated

“Brian Richey has a strong grasp of kinesiology and corrective exercise—he is an incredibly talented exercise professional. Back Exercise: Stabilize, Mobilize, and Reduce Pain should be on the shelf of anyone in the field.”
—Scott Kahan, MD, MPH, Director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Tamerah Hunt, PhD (Georgia Southern University)
Description: This book is designed to support people with back pain in an informative and engaging way with real-life "straight talk" callouts and relevant algorithms for exercise progressions and pain management.
Purpose: This guide provides facts and exercises used to support a clinical diagnosis after consultations with medical professionals. The book approaches a common issue that many people have with back pain when the patient asks, "What can I do for my back pain?" The book accomplishes this purpose by providing relevant literature and real-life experiences. It fills the space between textbooks for back pain management and patient educational pamphlets for clinicians.
Audience: The book is written for people who want more information about how they can help their pain level with back injuries. While it appears the author has written this book for the average person, many healthcare professionals can use this as a guide to support their management of back pain. The author brings his educational background in kinesiology and exercise science with additional expertise in medical and corrective exercise to provide both factual and real-life information to the readers.
Features: The book provides an overview of back pain, which includes anatomy, mobility, and stability relating to function of the spine. The book progresses to movement-specific exercises and concludes with common back injuries that result in pain. The book is well written and easy to follow the logical progression of information. The section on common injuries and alignment of exercise progression empowers the reader to take control of their own back pain. The addition of the straight talk callouts provides additional engagement into real world situations. While the author was able to cover the most common causes of and suggested exercises to reduce back pain, the references and citations are limited in number and recent literature.
Assessment: This book is an easy read that provides basic and advanced knowledge of back and spine anatomy, mobility, flexibility, and strengthening exercises to support injuries that cause back pain. As written, it fills the gap between clinical textbooks and lay media articles. I am not aware of any other books in this area that combine real-life examples with a self-help design for the average person. Further, I believe it also supports clinicians working with patients with back pain as a supplementary resource.

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