Author's Note

A spontaneous question arises: Why make love with a partner who has back pain?

The answers are varied, ranging from philosophical considerations to calculations of mere opportunism.

One might hypothesize that confronting pain has always been a source of fascination for human beings. Or that our social organization leads to the instinctive aid of those less fortunate...

Less noble considerations should not be excluded either.

One is the propensity of some human beings to stand by their fellow man to satisfy sordid narcissistic needs.

Nor should we exclude the possibility that a certain cold and calculating mind might see the back pain sufferer, prostrated by pain and immobility, as an almost defenseless being, an easy victim of psycho-physical manipulation.

In reality, the true reason is not to be sought in subtle sociological discussions but, rather, in the acceptance of a more mundane reality: it's inevitable!

The fact is that almost everyone, sooner or later, has to contend with this unpleasant symptom, and sooner or later, either personally or as a partner, one will find themselves having to reconcile primal urges with physical blocks...

Since the dawn of history, man has had to contend with back pain.

Evolution, in this field, has not helped him, and nature, for once, has been substantially fair, so much so that today, about 95% of individuals have experienced, at least once, the unpleasant surprise of lumbago.

The sense of powerlessness it generates, combined with pain-- sometimes unmanageable-- are, therefore, common experiences for almost all of humanity.

A beloved companion to many, and an occasional torment to even more, lumbago is characterized by the typical physical inability it causes, which makes the unfortunate person's existence truly painful.

All spheres of relational life are altered.

Work, hobbies, sports: every activity undergoes a desolate freezing and is set aside until the dawn of better days.

The sense of impotent frustration is also reflected in the life of a romantic couple.

The extreme difficulty in acceptably managing one's body makes the concept of forced abstinence tragically familiar, fueling the atmosphere of nervous restlessness of the lower back pain sufferer.

While the suspension of normal professional and leisure activities is often accepted with Christian resignation, the same can almost never be said of the forced cessation of all intimate relations with one's partner.

Unable to even console himself with sex, the pain sufferer falls into depression and sets in motion a perverse spiral of PAIN-IMPOTENCE that can lead him, depending on the duration of the symptoms, from absolute “coital apathy” to the radical choice of a life of contemplation in a Cistercian monastery. This latter applies, of course, specifically to males...

The heartfelt plea for help from so many unhappy people could not, then, go unheard.

In recent years, the ever-improving knowledge of the mechanisms responsible for back pain puts us in a position to effectively counteract its malignant grip that tightens and paralyzes the loins.

In the following chapters, you will finally discover all the precautions you need to know, the techniques to master, and the choices to make to win at least one battle in the eternal struggle against back pain and to repel, with as few sacrifices as possible, the insidious attacks of what can rightly be considered the evil of our times.