Backache Stress and Tension: Their Cause, Prevention and Treatment

by Hans Kraus

Today’s busy world provides too much stress and not enough time for exercise. Instead of walking, running, and doing physical chores, we sit for hours at a desk, use machines to do work for us, and drive a car for even the shortest trips. As a result, more than sixty-five million Americans experience back pain, neck stiffness, and tension headaches. Dr. Kraus explains the causes of back pain and tells you what you can do to prevent and alleviate it.
He presents six simple tests to determine whether you have the strength to carry your own body weight and the flexibility to match your height. According to Dr. Kraus, if you fail any one of these tests, you are underexercised or overtensed, and the odds are high that if you don’t already suffer from back pain, you will in the future. Dr. Kraus provides various approaches to back and tension problems, the primary focus being a series of carefully planned exercises to strengthen the whole body and to correct specific physical deficiencies. Featuring a foreword by Robert H. Boyle, Backache, Stress, and Tension is an essential handbook for everyone in today’s overworked, overstressed world.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Hans Kraus M.D.

Reviews

[Yycdaisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information that could have been presented better. This book was originally written back in 1965 so some of the author's observations of the medical establishment and politicians seemed like an amusing history lesson. The text is also filled with case histories that perhaps should have been presented in sidebars. However the six tests to figure out where one's problems are were easy to do, and the exercises section was well laid out and clearly illustrated with good photographs. Depending on which test or tests an individual failed, the author set up a series of exercises to follow. The routine that results takes about half an hour to complete.

[lisa fildes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't waste your time if your looking for answers.

What a load of boring oaffle. All case studies and paper references , nothing particularly constructive . There was a section of exercises . Save reading. this book.go to a Pilates c!ass and jog. Really disappointing read .

[Chris Gager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up at the transfer station and currently in my "browsing" pile. It seems to be an original paperback edition from 1965. 173 pages... I do have back problems and I'm pretty sure some of it's from being 20lbs overweight. Just did some sit-ups this morning!
Now reading more regularly. This is good stuff for our overweight, sedentary culture. I'm being inspired to take my own back issues more in hand. Mainly by exercising more(I hate sit-ups!) and eating better.
Now for the solution... various exercises to do. Some look familiar. some look like Yoga and some are new. Time to get after it!
The section on exercise and sports is kind of funny. He doesn't think much of golf, football, baseball etc. They aren't body-healthy and cause injuries and/or unrelieved tension. He doesn't even mention hockey-the worst! Likes boxing though... as a workout, not a bloodfest.
Finished this morning. The last part of the book is more of a general indictment of our state of physical and emotional health. Probably even more true today than when the book was written. He does make one false statement. It DOES indeed matter how much you eat. Even today such "experts" don't seem to understand the reality of compulsive eating in our world. Food and eating as self-medication along with the proliferation of junk food is causing a health apocalypse. All public schools should have non-competitive mandatory physical education every day. Too much time, money and energy is put into competitive sports teams while the overall physical fitness of students declines. More evidence of America the dysfunctional...