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                    BACKACHES AND BACK PAIN: A PERSPECTIVE 
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       The statistics are staggering. Each year more than 7,000,000 
       people in the United States report to their physicians suffering 
       from backaches. More than 500,000 workers suffer on the job back 
       injuries annually. And over 2,000,000 new backaches are added 
       every year. If back pain was an infectious disease it would have 
       been declared an epidemic years ago. Chronic backache is our 
       most silent and painful epidemic. 

       The cost of backaches in terms of lost time, wages and 
       productivity run into billions of dollars annually. Some 
       insurance companies report that reimbursements for back therapy 
       and back surgery leads all other diseases in terms of total 
       payments for medical care. On average, one out of four people 
       gathered at random will report having a chronic, continuous 
       backache within the last month. More than 30% will report having 
       had a severe back strain or "sprain" within the last six months. 
       And more than 20% of chronic back pain sufferers will request 
       surgical intervention. 
       
       Recently a large corporation held a "health fair" at its company 
       headquarters. Presentations were offered on topics such as 
       nutrition, exercise, pregnancy, aging, alcohol abuse, smoking 
       and other health topics. Those who organized the health fair 
       were stunned when employees overwhelmed a single presentation on 
       back pain which had to be repeated FIVE times in order to 
       accommodate all who requested seating at that specific 
       presentation. Something is seriously wrong when a majority of 
       individuals report chronic nagging backaches. And what is more 
       frightening is that if neglected, back pain can yield to more 
       severe permanent structural changes in bone, muscle or tissue. 
       
       But there is hope. 

       Amazingly, the majority of backaches can be relieved with common 
       sense therapies, exercises and a simple understanding of 
       anatomy. You do NOT need to suffer back pain. 
       
       Make no mistake. You have to USE the ideas within this tutorial. 
       You have to DO the exercises and try the suggestions. And of 
       course you should have your physician CHECK your back and spinal 
       condition prior to proceeding if your back pain is severe or 
       chronic. You cannot handle your back pain simply by reading this 
       tutorial, although it is a start. You can make backaches vanish 
       if you decide to follow a few common sense therapeutic 
       behaviors. 

       Why does this software program exist? Because I needed this 
       information myself. As a computer programmer I spend long hours 
       sitting in front of a keyboard. Inevitably back pain found me 
       and I did the wrong thing: I ignored it. The agony became worse 
       until I decided to do some research. In between writing other 
       software programs I spent almost a year investigating the topic, 
       talking to physicians and thinking about what I could do to 
       prevent back pain. Naturally my stack of notes became the 
       perfect candidate for a software tutorial program and an ideal 
       "electronic reference" I could use from time to time if my back 
       pain returned and I needed to look up a reminder, an exercise or 
       a tip. It's a bit ironic that long hours in front of a computer 
       caused my back pain, yet some simple research produced a 
       software program which helped relieve the backache which the 
       computer caused in the first place. 

       Let's move on in our tutorial and begin with the basics of human 
       back and spinal anatomy.... 

       This tutorial is merely a starting point! For further 
       information on back care and back pain, be sure to register this 
       software ($25.00) which brings by prompt postal delivery a 
       printed, illustrated guide to back pain written by a physician 
       plus two software disks. From the main menu select "Print 
       Registration Form." Or from the DOS prompt type the command  
       ORDER. Mail to Seattle Scientific Photography (Dept. BRN), PO 
       Box 1506, Mercer Island, WA 98040. If you cannot print the order 
       form, send $25.00 to the above address and a short letter 
       requesting these materials. End of chapter.