By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Oh, our achin’ backs! It’s a common complaint and also one of the first subjects being tackled by a new direction in the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

The Chicken Soup books have always been about life improvement and now, they’ve added health improvement to the mix. Dr. Julie Silver of Harvard Medical School wrote one of the first offerings, Say Goodbye to Back Pain. It collects dozens of stories of people confronting (and in the way of this series, triumphing over) back pain. She says movement is the key to prevention, but what about a cure?

“When I talk about this with my patients, I say, ‘What’s worked for you in the past?’ and sometimes they’ll say, ‘Ibuprofen really works for me.’ I say, ‘Put that in your bag of things that help you,’ and they’ll say, ‘Massages seem to help,’ and I’ll say, ‘Put that in your bag too.’”

Dr. Silver says people care for their teeth but still have problems, but we seem to overlook the care and maintenance of our backs until they set us, well, crooked.