If I could get you and 99 other readers to come into my facility and be asked by a show of hands how many of you suffer from low back pain, the numbers would be frightening.

You see, about one-third of all Americans over the age of 18 have suffered from a back problem in the last five years severe enough that they sought professional help. Even worse, according to a study by the American Chiropractic Association, over half of all working Americans have admitted to having symptoms of back pain each year.

The question was raised in a previous column: "How many of you out there have noticed that it's a little harder to get up and going in the morning, you are stiffer than you used to be?"

Well, if this is you, I am sure that you find comfort in telling yourself that this is just old age or referring to your physical ailments as just getting older.

Although age does play a very important part of this equation, you can find comfort in knowing that there are a few things you can do in order to not be a statistic. The back pain we generally suffer from can be directly associated to a few different problems that you may have not taken into consideration. These could include any of the following - tightness in the hamstrings, a tight or weak gluteus maximus, overpowering hip flexors and an all-around weak mid section (core).

Please keep in mind that the "core" doesn't just mean your abdominals. There are several muscles and muscle fibers that join in to aid in core stability.

If tightness is your issue, then chances are that there is also a weak antagonist muscle (opposing muscle group, i.e., triceps to bicep, quad to hamstring, etc.) to go along with the over-strengthened one. Muscular imbalances like this can be fixed by stretching the tight muscle group with activities such as yoga, Pilates or simply doing some stretching on your own. This, along with strengthening the lagging body part, will help to cure the imbalance, thus creating a more efficient kinetic chain and a happy back.

I received a question not long ago regarding the use of weight lifting belts for back safety during workouts, and for that individual, here is my take ...

THE TRUTH ABOUT WEIGHT BELTS

I am sure that if you attend any gym or fitness facility on a regular basis you have seen people, guys in particular, wearing thick leather or Velcro belts for back support during exercise.

Let's look at the logic behind this. I am going to throw the term midline stabilization out there. This is, basically, the capacity to maintain a neutral spine throughout the full range of motion of a particular exercise or task.

Have I lost you? Well, look at it like a hot dog on a stick. The hot dog is our body and the stick is our spine. The stick runs from our head to our tail and is the center of all movement. Now, never should our "stick" bend past our body's natural lumbar curve. We should always have an imaginary straight line from our ears to our hips and at anytime the line is broken; we are in danger of hurting ourselves.

One of the main muscles that is in charge of this is known as the transverse abdominus. This muscle is engaged whenever you make a conscious effort to pull your belly button into your backbone.

Now, back to the belt. The belt is worn to keep our "sticks" in the center of the hot dog by the using the opposite action. You are to push into the belt by relaxing this transverse abdominus, thus making it weaker and relying more on the belt for safety.

Even though you will achieve this neutral spine position by using this method, anyone who uses a weight belt for a prolonged period will essentially weaken those muscles needed to keep the core strong and injury free.

In closing, be good to your back and it will be good to you! Taking preventative measures to both stretch tight muscles and strengthen weaker ones will help you in your fight of low back pain. For more information on this or any other fitness related topic, feel free to e-mail me.

Thank you for all the e-mails, I enjoy reading them and promise to answer them in timely manner. Please keep them coming and, as always, thanks for reading The Herald!

E-mail fitness columnist Kris Morrill, certified personal trainer and owner of World Camp Fitness in Albany, at kris@worldcampfitnesstraining.com.