Understanding Back Pain

According to the American Chiropractic Association, back pain affects half of Americans, is the most common reason for missed work, and is the second most common reason a person visits the doctor.  This condition is most likely caused by something that is non-organic (organic being cancer, rheumatoid arthritis) and is mechanical in nature. 

Many patients are concerned with the cause of the back pain but also with answers as to why anti-inflammatory medications and muscle relaxers do not alleviate completely their condition.    Back pain can be multifaceted with many sources being the cause of the pain and often it is not one pain generator but multiple that need to be addressed.  To understand why a pain medication may not be enough, we must briefly discuss the anatomy of this condition.  Your spine is composed of ligaments (structures that connect bones), tendons (structures that connect muscles to bones), joints (areas were bones move with one another), and lastly muscles (structures that generate movement in bones).  These four anatomical components have the potential to generate pain and discomfort in different ways. 

Let’s take a back sprain (injury of a ligament) or strain (injury to a muscle) for example.  If a person lifts something heavy without the appropriate strength and core stability, they may sprain/strain the back ligaments or muscles.  When the muscle strength is not adequate, the back relies on the ligaments to help stabilize joint segments.  Rarely does one occur without the other.  If the ligament is sprained, it typically coincides with an injury of the muscles which spasm or contract in protection.  To add to what appears to be a complex situation, the joint can also become injured in this situation resulting in joint inflammation.  If a muscle relaxer is prescribed, it may relieve the muscle pain but what about the injured ligament and/or joint pain?  Lastly, muscles often do not fire properly after a serious injury, so is the pain reduction a complete assessment of a person’s function or should we also care whether a person’s movement is appropriate after such an injury?

While the last paragraph was quite technical in it’s delivery, the message is important.  There is not a single therapy in most situations that alleviate all the levels of back pain (especially when chronic), but rather a combination of therapies that will deliver complete relief. Treatment plans for every condition, including back pain, must be specific and targeting the areas of deficient in the person’s body.  It is necessary to have a comprehensive evaluation to derive such a treatment plan.  Patients often want to know how long it should take to experience relief.  Any precise treatment plan should deliver relief in a reasonable time frame with 8 weeks being the absolute longest and 3 weeks potentially being all you need.  If the treatment targets the right anatomical issues, back pain and all other mechanical issues should experience a percentage of relief with every visit. 

We would not be a holistic practitioner without recognizing that back pain is not just mechanical but could be as a result of other issues.  We recognize pain related to the meridian system (think acupuncture) and it’s imbalance and internal medicine complaints (for example, constipation) that refer pain to the spine.  These conditions require a different therapeutic approach which we can discuss in another post.

Are you wondering what you can do to make your back pain better?  Here is a list of changes you can make to reduce the pain you experience and potentially remedy it all together.

·    If you are overweight or obese, reduce your weight which will reduce the stress on the spine and aid in strengthening the core.

·    Wear shoes that support the arch and have no more than a 1-inch heel

·    Stretch your legs after sitting for extended periods – if you work at a desk, stand all day, or stand/sit in any position for too long, your body develops tight muscles that need to be stretched.

·    Strengthen your abdominal muscles

·    Sleep on a supportive surface with a pillow beneath your knees if you sleep on your back or between your knees if you sleep on your side.

·    Hydrate and nourish your body with water and nutrient rich foods.

If these changes are not effective, you should consider being evaluated for holistic care.

STRESS!

This blog has taken a hiatus BUT, WE ARE BACK with more helpful tips for our followers. Each time I sit and think of the appropriate topic to discuss, my left-brain takes over and comes up with some clinical topic that is perhaps quite sterile and less interesting. A moment of meditation and stimulation of my right-brain and then a topic comes to my more balanced mind.

STRESS!

Perhaps this is one topic that most of us have in common and experience too much. There are many forms of stress that we are exposed to on a daily basis. When we see the word stress, most of us think of work, financial, family/friends, or life in general. I think it is important to acknowledge that we create our life, our connections with family/friends and our day-to-day experience. So is it fair to say we create our stress?

Stress can be biochemical (you do not take the time to nourish yourself with healthy foods, skip meals, etc. leading to chemical imbalance), environmental (toxin/chemical/behavioral exposure to unhealthy people, places, or things), and emotional (probably in some way related to the environmental J). Whatever form is taking over your life, it is essential to create a better experience for you. Below are some steps you can take to start living a happier, healthier life.

• Eat and not the stuff in packages, cans or rolled up stuff but REAL food! Eat foods in season, locally grown that taste delicious. Eat food prepared at home during family interaction.
• Bask in the sun. Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent as we spend more and more of out time indoors with technology.
• Remove technology from your life for some time. Cell phones, MP3 players, laptops, tablets and computers have taken the place of people, places, and experiences. I believe technology is the root of ALL evil (well maybe not ALL!)
• SLEEP! The body cannot rejuvenate itself if you do not sleep. Children are not the only people that enjoy routine. Have you considered that your body likes 7 hours of sleep on a daily basis?
• Take quiet time. This is hard to come by if you are a parent but it is essential. Spend 30 minutes daily alone so that you think about what YOU need to be healthier.
• Take a day off work. Our Western culture lives to work instead of working to live. On this day spend time with the people you love, doing something you love or just be by yourself.
• If above steps are not helping, you need support. Conservative, natural healthcare offers an abundance of techniques (meditation, nutrition, functional medicine, mind/body therapies) to balance your body both chemically and emotionally. You need only seek this support.

Perhaps I have so much to say about the topic because my life experience has exposed me. I am confident that you can change your experience and your life by self-awareness and taking the time to give your body what it needs.