Back Pain

In last Sunday's Sun Magazine, an article about back pai failed to make clear that osteopaths receive the same training as medical doctors as well as training in osteopathy and that their title is doctor of osteopathy. They may prescribe drugs and do surgery in addition to performing the corrective manipulations of the musculoskeletal system that osteopathy emphasizes.The Sun regrets the error.NThe way Joanna Watson sees it, she brought it on herself.She was working on her house one weekend, scraping and painting and doing all those things people do to keep their houses looking the way they want them to look.

MOST BACK PAIN GOES AWAY by itself. If yours doesn't, here is a list of the kinds of doctors and therapists to whom you might turn for a diagnosis, and some of the treatment options that might be considered. Neither list is all-inclusive.DOCTORS AND THERAPISTSInternists. Internists are generalists and can distinguis between the kind of back pain that needs to be sent on to a surgeon and the other kind. If your regular doctor happens to be an internist, visiting him or her will probably be less expensive -- and perhaps psychologically more comfortable -- than seeing a specialist.

Welcome to Fitness Profile, a new feature. Each Sunday we'll tell you about a Baltimore-area resident who inspires others with his or her quest to be more fit. If you know of someone who'd be a good subject, write to: Fitness Profile, Baltimore Sun, Features Department, 501 N. Calvert St., P.O. Box 1377, Baltimore, Md. 21278.About 250,000 men, women and children will hit the golf links around Baltimore this season, and, says Ron Herbst, "Too many of them will end up playing in pain."Many of these duffers have sat idle over the winter, and don't realize how the inactivity has affected them.

So there I was, the quintessential battered athlete, standing in a silly little hospital gown with a back that wouldn't close so physical therapist Susan Lattanzi could put me through my paces. I had arrived on her doorstep at Mount Auburn Physical Therapy Associates in Watertown, Mass., because my right shoulder was killing me. I had just joined a swim team and quickly increased my weekly yardage by a substantial amount. By the time I saw Lattanzi, I couldn't swim 15 minutes without my shoulder screeching in protest.

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH back pain was 20 years ago last summer. I was tie-dyeing T-shirts at the time; it was my hippie phase. I started to straighten up from the table I was bending over -- and couldn't. That was the beginning.I was sent to an orthopedist at a major medical center, a surgeon whom other doctors referred to as a "top man in his field." Dr. Top Man eyed me resentfully as I walked in the door, and the interaction went downhill from there. If brusque weren't a fancier word, I'd say the man was pretty damn rude.

The choices are boring exercises for the rest of your life, potentially risky surgery, being stuck with needles, or a butter-soft leather recliner that massages you as it plays soothing music.Who you gonna call?Not your personal trainer or your orthopedic spine surgeon or your acupuncturist.Try JoAnne Schatz.JoAnne Schatz is the owner of a Beltsville-based chain of stores selling back-care products. JoAnne's Bed & Back Shops moved into Timonium and Catonsville last summer, and a third opened in Annapolis a few weeks ago. Schatz, a perky 60-year-old, has discovered -- like many entrepreneurs -- that back pain can be big business.

Understanding: Fire Friday, 2 a.m. and 10 a.m. Science For centuries, people have used fire to sustain life, to worship God, to annihilate enemies and to create technologies that run the world. Discover how both civilization and science were created from playing with fire. Outdoors Maryland Saturday, 5:30 p.m. WMPT "The Root of It All." The nutria, a large South American animal introduced to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to bolster the fur trade, escaped years ago into the wild and ate thousands of acres of precious marsh grass.

Truth and Consequences Alison Lurie Viking / 232 pages Truth and Consequences begins ominously when Jane Mackenzie, working in her garden, catches sight of a man coming up the driveway whom she does not recognize as her husband, so bent and broken is he by lingering, terrible back pain. The injury itself was ominous. Alan Mackenzie, an academic luminary in architectural history and 11 years Jane's senior, hurt himself during a midlife testosterone surge on the volleyball court. Now that injury has changed the dynamic of their relationship to a fatal degree.

FOR THE RUNNER who can't get out on the road or the tennis player who can't serve because of an aching back, hearing from sports medicine experts that no sport is intrinsically bad for your back, or that sports don't cause injury, they just bring out an existing precondition, is not terribly comforting.All the weekend athlete really wants to know is which sports are pain free and which ones might be accompanied by some back pain.Sports that qualify as pain free are swimming, walking and cross-country skiing, because for the most part they can all be done without sharp, sudden movements, hyperextension (severe arching)

Have you ever wondered what your child is carrying in his or her backpack? Textbooks, notebooks, pens. Perhaps gym clothes. A library book or two. Oh, and don't forget lunch. With all this - and who knows what else? - in their backpacks, is it any wonder that youths may be at risk for back pain? Indeed, overstuffed backpacks can cause aching muscles and strained backs, long the province of the over-the-hill set, in youths, says Chris Wood, a physical therapist with Good Samaritan Hospital's Back School.