Physical therapists Marijean Piorkowsi and Julie Bathke from the Cerritos College Physical Therapy Assistance Program lectured on Oct. 11 at the teleconference room about how to take care of the lower back.

“The back is built to move,” Bathke said.

She added that the back is not built to be just in one position.

One of the things that people lose when having chronic back pain is flexibility and the loss of the body’s shock absorption.

Piorkowski agreed.

“One of the benefits that students can do is to have good body mechanics; that is good posture,” she said.

She adds that men and women have an equal number of back problems and, “women have back pain due to pregnancy and men from activity trauma.”

She continues, “Men that do too much lifting, from construction or lifting in offices, have back pain.”

Bathke says that the four components of therapy are: exercise, proper posture, conditioning, and body mechanics.

With a demonstration of 15 at-home exercises, Piorkowiski said, “If students do 15 to 20 minutes of these exercises men and women will have much less problems.”

Justin Joson, radiology major, said, “For me it was a reminder to take care of my back.”

Students can be vulnerable because students don’t care to prevent back pain, Joson added.

If students don’t take care of their backs, recent statistics say that, “Eighty percent of people will have back pain,” commented Bathke.