HOW THE BACK WORKS

HOW THE BACK WORKS

     The center of  gravity is exerted vertically throughout the length of our body. As a consequence, the human spine, together with its muscles and ligaments, has become a vertical shock absorber, with curvatures to provide the necessary resilience

       The spine supports your entire body,it is responsible for almost all the movement we make in our daily life: we walk not only with our legs, but with our whole back, and we reach for, grasp, lift, and carry objects not just with our arms, but also with our back.

      The spine must be firm enough to support your body when standing erect, yet strong and flexible enough to provide a source of movement for your upper and lower limbs. It is structured to allow complex movements, such as bending, reaching, lifting, and twisting. These movements are possible due to elaborate and highly sophisticated relationship between discs, vertebrae, ligaments, and muscles

     

    If you think of the vertebrae in a spinal joint as two pieces of wood and the nucleus pulposus as a soft rubber ball bearing, as shown below (image left), it is easy to see why the disc forms such a mobile joint.

      Ligaments extend right down the spinal column to support the vertebrae, hold the spinal joints together, and allow lateral movement (image right)