Back Pain Treatment in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Sarigim
Do you suffer from Back Pain?
Are you tired of taking medication and relying on injections to treat back pain? Are you lining in constant fear of your next attack of back pain?
Avi Bahat relieves back pain resulting from Scoliosis, slipped disk, disk herniation, bad posture, injuries or other causes. Avi Bahat teaches you how to prevent its recurrence in his clinics in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Sarigim. Avi Bahat treats back pain using the following well known methods:
Structural Integration of Dr. Rolf (Rolfing), Trager Approach, integrative Massage, Paula Method and the Bahat Method.
Why does my back hurt? - 4 parts
10 first aid and immediate Back pain relief tips
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Do not bend forward! When you bend, tension is formed on the muscle and a spasm is likely to occur. (This is the muscle`s way of protecting itself). You must calm the area and therefore for two weeks you must not bend over. Every day of strain on the lower back will add a further two weeks to the healing process.
- Carry out the "pelvic floor muscle contraction exercise" as first aid for immediate lower back pain relief.
Contract the anus and the front sphincter as if you were holding yourself so as not to go to the bathroom. As a result of the contraction the buttocks and the back are centred and lengthened, the interval between the vertebrae of the spinal column increases, the pressure decreases and the slipped disk protrudes less and therefore hurts less.
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Carry out the "bent leg - straight leg"exercise to prevent back pain while lying on your back. This is the basic exercise that releases and alleviates pain in the lower back. It is a very important exercise for building correct posture. Perform it every day at least twice a day, especially on rising in the morning and before you go to sleep at night and preferably once more in the middle of the day!
Perform the exercise while lying on your back with your left leg bent so that the sole of your foot rests on the floor. The weight falls through the front of the heel while the right leg is straight and lies on the floor.
Let the sole of your left foot sink into the carpet or mattress. The hip joints, abdomen and buttocks are relaxed, the sole of the foot slowly presses down more and more into the floor. The movement occurs in the hip joints: the left side of the pelvis rises and turns right while leaning on the right side that lies relaxed on the carpet (all the right leg is relaxed). When the pelvis has easily reached its maximum free movement, the movement is stopped and here the listening begins: is it possible to remain in that position with less muscular strain? Generally we discover that we can slightly release the muscles of the left buttock without really going back down but going down only a very little., this, allows us to feel that the left buttock is hanging from the left knee, which is supported through the sole of the left foot on the floor. By slow and controlled decreasing of the pressure of the sole of the left foot on the floor, there will be a slow descent of the left buttock back towards the floor. Before the buttocks reaches the floor, we will gently again increase the pressure of the sole of the left foot on the floor and we will again find that the left buttock moves upwards only because of greater pressure of the foot on the floor! Slow and controlled decreasing of the pressure on the floor allows the left buttock to go slowly back to its place until equal pressure on both sides of the pelvis on the floor. Passing to the second foot: these transitions are always important and they must be carried out in a way that does not interrupt continuity! Therefore the transition begins with pressure of the left foot into the floor but without allowing the pelvis to turn as before; instead we will use the force returning from the floor in order to bring the vertebrae of the lower back closer to the floor (easily). At the same time we will imagine a narrow and soft rope coming down from the ceiling and we will tie it to the right knee, and then the rope goes up to the ceiling and takes the knee with it towards the ceiling. The right knee bends in this way until a position where the sole of the foot is placed on the floor on a parallel with the sole of the left foot and then we can feel the additional support received by the lumbar area that causes it to draw even nearer to the floor. We press the sole of the right foot a little more into the floor in order to maintain the proximity of the lumbar area to the floor while we allow the left foot to slide straight down and in this way we change the position of the feet and restart the exercise with the sole of the right foot.
Ending the Exercise with the Pelvic Tilt: we will again place the left foot in the same way that we placed the right foot; however, we will not send the right foot down again but will remain with both knees upwards. At the end of the - exercise we press both soles of the feet into the floor and in fact allow the tailbone to roll gently between the feet (like introducing an imaginary tail between our feet). The lumbar area is then pressed to the floor and there is no need to raise the pelvis in the air! This movement is a very precise pelvic roll and without effort of the buttock muscles or of the abdominal muscles.
Note that this is a small movement! Do not employ excessive force and do not raise the pelvis into the air.
After the pelvis has rolled to a maximum and the lumbar area is completely against the floor, we begin to reduce the pressure on the soles of the feet and in this way allow the tailbone to return to its place. After three particularly slow roll and return cycles, the last time after the tailbone has returned to its place, we allow it to continue onwards towards the floor. This creates a small arching of the lumbar area and a slight pulling of the head downwards. When we feel that the head is being pulled down we breathe in deeply to the upper part of the chest through a large movement of the ribs upwards and forwards. Exhaling freely, not slowly in a controlled way, we press the soles of our feet down to the floor again and this once more brings the lumbar area into contact with the floor and presses it down there. We now release the pressure of the soles of the feet not all at once but slowly, and arrive at a neutral state in which the body lies without pressures.
The Pelvic Tilt, should not be done in the first days when the pain appears because of strain (you should avoid stretching) and it can be carried out only when the feelings allow this.
Transferring weight from side to side
- an exercise that will connect you to the ground. it is the basic exxecise to learn how to release - reduce tension and thus reduce back pain.The exercise is carried out while standing, with transfer of the support point from one side to the other. We lean on one foot and then push the ground, for instance to the right in order to transfer the weight to the left foot. When we carry out the exercise with attention to the weight flowing to the ground and each time through another foot, it constitutes an extremely basic exercise in grounding-connection.
The more slowly and gently we carry out the weight transfer with attention to the change in pressure in the sole of the foot, attention to the way in which it passes from one side of the sole to the other side and to the second foot, so the connection to the ground becomes deeper and with this, release of excessive controls when we are standing.
Releasing the leg while bending the torso forwards, an exercise that can create deep release in the leg and buttocks and up to the lower back. It is a little more difficult to carry out for someone who is not used to different body muscle releases. It is carried out bending slightly forward. For instance you can rest your hands on a table or lean lightly against a wall. Then, slight bending up of one knee, and then release it down. You allow free fall of the leg with creation of waves of release that reach and go past the pelvis and the lower back. The leg falls slightly backwards, the toes of the falling foot are drawn easily upwards so that they do not hit the floor, after the leg straightens it moves of itself slightly forward and stops gently with the release of the toes. The fall of the leg is the important thing, it must be free but gentle - not a kick but a released fall. The aim is to arrive at the release of the buttocks and the lower back. When the exercise is performed correctly it should release from sciatica pains.
"Rolf Pelvic Lift" Lie on your back with your knees bent. Begin with a pelvic roll. The roll is a result of the gentle pressure of the soles of the feet on the mattress. Pay attention to the movement between the feet and the pelvis. Abdomen completely relaxed, and buttocks relaxed in as far as possible.
Press a little, the tailbone rolls a little towards the ceiling as easily as possible, increase the pressure of the soles of the feet on the floor, the knees go forward and pull after them the pelvis that now hangs like a hammock from the knees. Come down in two stages: in a first stage the diaphragm area comes down and touches the mattress again, breathe in to there; in a second stage also lower the lumbar area and breathe into it. The tailbone remains rolled between the legs towards the ceiling. At this stage remain for a while: breathe to the waist and feel the waist`s contact with the floor. Elbows point outwards, palms of your hands in line with the pelvis, bend elbows slightly outwards, without lifting your shoulders and in order to straighten the elbows again, send your palms down towards the soles of the feet without turning the elbows that still face outwards. Repeat this this three times. Now the head movement: lift your head with the jaw close to the throat and lower it again with the jaw remaining close to the throat until the head comes back down.From top to bottom, release neck and head, chest and waist, pelvis and only then, the tailbone rolls back to the neutral place. Continue the tailbone roll down towards the mattress - a small arch is created in the lumbar area and the head is pulled downward to the mattress. This is the time to take a large breath into the top part of the chest - allow the ribs to rise up. When you breathe out, the soles of the feet again press gently into the mattress so that the lumbar area is again pressed against the mattress. As you breathe out, you release the pressure and the entire body is relaxed and rests in "neutral" on the mattress.
"Diamond Stretch" - Stretching and strengthening of the lower back. As a direct continuation of the previous exercise, press the sole of the left foot a little on to the floor in order to press the lumbar area lightly into it and at the same time glide the right knee to the right chest (a gliding movement is a movement in which there is a feeling of weight of the leg in an exact direction of movement).
At the same time, the knees push the hands outwards so that this mutual pressure causes strong pressing of the lumbar area into the floor. While pressing, the toes are pulled up towards the face while the heels are pushed down, and in this position, we wait for seven long breaths, and only then do we release the pressure.
The palm of the right hand holds the right knee and helps to press the lumbar area to the floor while we move the left knee to the left chest and hold the left knee with the palm of the left hand. Now join the fingers of the two hands that are pressing on the knees towards the chest and bring them almost to the chest.
"Hanging" - The main grounding exercise. Stand with your feet apart at width of pelvis, with the soles of the feet turned a little inwards (towards each other). The knees are bent as required so that the contact of the soles of the feet with the floor is full, comfortable and gentle in as far as possible. The torso falls (hanging) forwards and down, The neck is relaxed and the head hangs loosely from the neck downwards. The palms of the hands are on the floor, touching but not taking weight. The body`s weight passes through the front of the heels to the ground.
The movement is carried out very slowly and is directed to two ends at the same time: the heels press downwards into the floor while the tailbone goes a little upwards towards the ceiling. This movement creates tension at the back of the legs and if the weight remains at the centre - on the front of the heel - trembling then appears that starts from the back part of the knee or the thigh. You must give the trembling a lot of "air" by breathing in fully. We can and should also breathe out aloud and check that we are not stopping our breath and/or response to the pain (the stretching pain of the rear muscles). Remain for several minutes in the trembling state (or only seconds the first times you do the exercise) and then go back to standing erect through the next exercise).
- Enrolment" – exercise for straightening the body to upright position through the opposite of bending down. The uniqueness in this way of straightening up is the experience of straightening the back without using the back muscles at all but through correct work of legs and pelvis. In this way, the exercise serves as an important milestone in building the correct posture in which the back receives support from the pelvis and the legs and does not control or use muscles unnecessarily. The exercise can be carried out in two ways: one fast and the other slow.
In the rapid movement, the emphasis is on the movement of the pelvis forward so that it takes the place where the diaphragm was in the hanging position. The feet press on the floor while the torso is thrown upwards. The flexibility of the knees and the pelvis also flows to the lower back and the neck, and the movement causes straightening with the torso`s support on the legs - there is no muscular activity of the back, it rests on the pelvis and the pelvic movement throws it upwards.
In the slow movement, the emphasis is on thinking down: the pelvis is pulled back down – that has the effect of the front being pulled up! The result is the that the back straightens and becomes erect without a muscular effort to raise it but on the contrary, the thinking downwards in the back side means - up in the front side and therefore it creates the straightening of the back without thinking up and therefore without effort. The pelvic movement in the slow movement is far smaller than in the rapid movement, but there is more time to verify the relaxing of the back and to focus the thought downwards and the support on the soles of the feet. 
"The lift" exercise - Demonstration of the central axis
An exercise that practices the use of the central axis for support in standing straight. Stand with your feet slightly apart (width of pelvis) with your knees slightly bent, your head over the soles of the feet, move your knees forward and back. While moving your knees forward, pay attention that your body weight does not go forward, but remains precisely on the front of the heel. The pelvis is not pushed forward and also is not thrown backwards but remains in the centre. For this the sit bones move very slightly back while the knees move forward.
The movement of the sit bones backward during bending of the knees forward maintains the angle of the pelvis in standing straight (usually sending the knees forward cancels part of the natural arch of the lumbar area).
The exercise becomes clearer precisely in the movement upwards that commences with pushing the ground with the soles of the feet and straightening the knees. Pushing the ground must be directed precisely as if we were pushing it from the front of the heels. This movement creates a feeling of being in a lift. The entire torso and head are lifted up without any effort in the neck or back area, the entire movement comes from below so that the feeling as regards the head and the back is as if a lift raises them up. You must continue to push the ground down all the time, also when you send your knees forward (namely, also when lowering your height). An image that can greatly help in correct work of the system is that when you send your knees forward the body is lengthened and it is as if it becomes taller. (You can imagine that the crown of your head is lengthening towards the ceiling). When you rise up (pushing the floor) pay attention that your weight does not go back to the heels. And that the movement of the knees does not cause the body to seek an anchor - locking the knees forcefully, but that at every stage it can stop and feel stable and safe. These 10 tips are designed as first aid and the first stage in building correct posture.
For considerable relief of back pains, preventing their recurrence and healing, Touch and Movement Therapy is recommended in addition to these exercises.
