Exercises to treat lower back ache

We give you simple exercises to treat lower back ache 

Almost everyone suffers from lower back pain at some point or the other. It could be for a variety of reasons and is especially common among adults. It is often caused by overuse and muscle strain or injury.

Here are some simple tips that will help you overcome it better...

- Avoid positions or activities that increase or cause back pain, use an ice pack when needed and take a painkiller only if you really require it. Most lower back pain gets better when you remain active.

- When your pain is getting relatively lesser, you can opt for simple strengthening exercises for your stomach, back, and legs along with some stretching exercises. Exercise not only helps you recover quicker, it also prevents re-injury to your back. 

- Remember that you should get active gradually once you're recovering from pain and slowly increase your activity level. Very little activity will lead to loss of flexibility, strength, endurance levels and eventually pain again.

- Avoid sleeping on your stomach because when your stomach sags downward, it arches your back, increases the lumbar curve and gives you pain. Sleeping on your back will be as uncomfortable. Experts, therefore, suggest sleeping on the side with your legs bent at the knees. This minimises spinal stress by straightening the lumber curve. Try and place a pillow under your knee - this pulls your hips upwards, flattening the lumbar curve and reducing the tension in the area.

- Pay attention to how you sit and stand - bad posture is often the main culprit. Don't slouch when you sit and don't hunch when you stand. TNN

Teen girls prone to binge drinking

A new study, which examined gender-specific influences of binge drinking on spatial working memory (SWM), has found that female teens may be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of the habit. 

Binge or "heavy episodic" drinking is prevalent during adolescence, raising concerns about alcohol's effects on crucial neuromaturational processes during this developmental period. Heavy alcohol use has been associated with decrements in cognitive functioning in both adult and adolescent populations, particularly on tasks of SWM.

"Even though adolescents might physically appear grown up, their brains are continuing to significantly develop and mature, particularly in frontal brain regions that are associated with higher-level thoughts, like planning and organization," said Susan F. Tapert, acting chief of psychology at the VA San Diego Healthcare System as well as professor of psychiatry at theUniversity of California, San Diego.


"Heavy alcohol use could interrupt normal brain cell growth during adolescence, particularly in these frontal brain regions, which could interfere with teens'' ability to perform in school and sports, and could have long-lasting effects, even months after the teen uses," added Tapert.

Tapert and her colleagues recruited 95 participants from San Diego-area public schools as part of ongoing longitudinal studies.

"Our study found that female teenage heavy drinkers had less brain activation in several brain regions than female non-drinking teens when doing the same spatial task," said Tapert.

"These differences in brain activity were linked to worse performance on other measures of attention and working memory ability. Male binge drinkers showed some but less abnormality as compared to male non-drinkers. This suggests that female teens may be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of heavy alcohol use," added Tapert.

The study will be detailed in the October 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.