Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times pens an excellent on backs. Among her key points:

Competitive sports can have debilitating effects on the back. She particularly mentions tennis, football, cycling, gymnastics and golf-up to a third of all football players experience back injuries, for example.

To protect your back, “core” strength and training are paramount and in this article the core is defined broadly, roughly from the knees to the mid chest area. All of the cores muscles and infrastructure are important in stabilizing the back.

In addition to core strength, core endurance is critical as well as you have to have the capability to complete an athletic event without losing your core support.

Many athletes tend to concentrate their training too much on the specifics of the muscles and strength that they need for their individual sport and downplay the crucial importance of cross training and core conditioning.

Sit-ups are not the right answer for a strong back.

Surgery is only required in 3 to 5 % of the back problems.

Ms Reynolds goes on to catalogue and describe three distinct exercises that she feels are excellent for core conditioning and which will reduce your chance of back injuries.

This is really a great article that has application for everyone, not just athletes. Please read the full article. Back injuries are prevalent and extremely painful. Learn more about core conditioning and the interrelationship between a strong core and protecting your back.

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Bloomberg reports that obesity and smoking add $100 billion annually to health care costs in the US.  The obesity rate in the US is 33% compared to 17% in Europe.  “Health policy makers can't rein in medical costs in the U.S. unless they reverse obesity trends, said lead researcher Kenneth Thorpe, an Emory professor of health policy.”

Obesity threatens to reverse the years of gains in improved health and life expectancy that the US has been enjoying over the last several decades.  It also threatens the solvency of the health care system.  The huge difference in obesity rates between the US and Europe are a ready refutation of the theory that individuals can’t control their weight, or that it is genetically determined. 

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