None of us likes pain. Few are prepared to put up with it if it can be avoided or relieved.

One of the most severe pains is produced by a stone from the kidney.

Renal stones or calculi are common in Australia and other warm climates because, it is thought, of the concentrated urine which is a feature of those who live where a lot of fluid is lost by perspiration.

Before the 20th century, bladder stones were common and gave rise to a lot of controversy as to whether they should be removed by operation. The original oath of Hippocrates forbad physicians to “cut even for the stone.”

Now bladder stones are rarely seen. This may be due to better nutrition or other factors.

Apart from the increase in the amounts of soluble substances which may precipitate out of urine there are several other factors which may cause stones to form in the kidneys.

Vitamin A is concerned with the nourishment of skin and other epithelial surfaces.

It is thought that a deficiency of this vitamin may lead to degeneration of the epithelium lining the kidney and debris from this could form the nidus on which various salts are laid down and stones form.

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Backache is one of those common symptoms from which nearly all of us suffer at some time.

For the majority, it proves to be a minor problem like an occasional headache. For others, it may lead to severe and prolonged pain and disability and result in permanent invalidity.

It may be associated with secondary emotional illness with depression, lack of self-esteem, chronic anxiety and domestic and marital problems. The old idea of many chronic back sufferers being malingerers has, one hopes, almost disappeared.

The spinal column consists of a number of bones, the vertebrae. When looked at from the front, it is straight, but when viewed from the side, it has a number of curves. Because they are arranged like two Ss, one on top of the other, the end result is a functional straight line.

Each vertebra consists of a thick portion of bone, the body, from which two projections come off and meet at the back forming a canal through which the spinal cord passes.

A further projection, the spine, comes off where these join and this is the knob we feel in the centre of our backs. Further projections both upwards and downwards form joints with the vertebra above and below.

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