The Key To Lower Back Pain Relief

The quickest and easiest way to get lower back pain relief is to take a packet of Nurofen, or if the pain is breath-takingly excruciating, a packet of Oxycontin. This is the medical industry gold standard treatment for lower back pain.

Whilst a lot of doctors encourage people to take the drug route, and to be sure, if the pain is bad enough, it might be the only thing that brings sufficient relief to start getting on with life, it will be a tortuous route if it's the only one you take.

On the one hand lower back pain is not caused by a lack of Nurofen or Oxycontin. On the other hand taking a drug to mask the pain diverts people's attention away from doing what they really need to do to permanently relieve their pain.

The medical industry logic goes like this; 'Take the tablet, pain goes away, problem fixed! Next!'

Well, it doesn't work that way. A problem masked is not a problem fixed. It's the great medical industry legerdemain. The pain in the foreground may have gone, but the problem that caused it is still lurking in the back ground, ready to flare up again at the slightest provocation.

Then there's the big worry. Not only does taking Oxycontin not treat the underlying cause of the pain, you could compound your back problem with an opiate addiction problem.

But, turning attention away from the quick fix, the key to lower back pain relief comes in two parts.

First find out what's causing the pain.

No motor mechanic would stay in business for long if they didn't know the cause of a particular problem. In fact motor mechanics are much better at diagnosing the causes of misalignment in various moving parts of motor cars than doctors, radiologists and surgeons are at diagnosing the causes of misalignment in the moving parts of human bodies.

In the sit down society the cause of the problem is rarely at the site where it's painful. So rubbing, crunching, heating and vibrating the bones in your lower back will not do much to fix the underlying cause of the pain.

It's highly likely that the cause of your lower back pain comes from a pelvis that's been drawn out of alignment. Once the pelvis moves out of alignment the bones above it are drawn out of alignment as well, stretching ligaments, tendons and muscles beyond their pain threshold and causing discs to herniate.

You think there's something wrong with your lower back, which there undoubtedly is, but the cause usually lies in weak and tight muscles attached to your pelvis - front, back and sides.

Tight muscles have taken the pelvis out of alignment. Weak muscles have fallen down on the critical job of giving support to its structural alignment.

Which brings us to the second key to lower back pain relief, which is, to start doing the strength and flexibility exercises designed to support the bones throughout your body, and particularly your pelvis, in better alignment.

Loosening tight muscles can be done with a range of exercises, some of which, like 'static back' and the 'supine groin stretch', require absolutely no effort at all. All you have to do is lie on the floor for an hour each night while you watch TV and let gravity do the work for you.

Most of the other exercises you need to do don't take much effort either, exercises like the 'hip crossover', the 'wall sit', the 'sit up straight' buttock stretch and the 'prone frog'.

So how long each day do you need to spend waiting for pain relief to kick in?

I'd say that if you spent a couple of hours a night on the stretching program and if you went to the gym three times a week to do a good set of strength exercises, in a couple of months you should be feeling a whole lot better.

Most people say they don't have two hours a day to spend on an exercise program, yet the average American spends well over three hours a day watching TV. You can do your exercises while watching your favourite programs. It's called multi-tasking and it's not all that difficult.

Large number of people have been conned into believing they can't fix themselves, so they put themselves in the hands of the rubbing and crunching industries. It doesn't work that way either. Sooner or later you have to do something to yourself.

So, if you knuckle down, buckle up and spend a couple of hours each day, on the floor while you're watching TV or reading a book, letting gravity and your own muscles do the work, then in 10 years time you'll be able to look back and say you've been pain free for the last 9 years and 10 months.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember, I can give you the exercises but I can't do them for you.

John Miller

Chronic Upper Back Pain Causes And Treatments

Chronic upper back pain may occur due to some form of trauma, bad posture and/or the constant use of the computer. Where the computer is concerned, you may have an improper tilt of the head due to improper screen height and/or constant use of the mouse. Therefore, upper back pain may also be accompanied by neck and/or shoulder pain. If you are right handed, your pain is most likely found on the right side. Generally, chronic upper back pain is due to muscle pain and/or joint complications.

Upper muscular back pain occurs along the shoulder girdle that attaches to the muscles of the shoulder blade (scapula) and the back of the rib cage in the thoracic region. The upper back muscles easily develop muscle problems that are very painful and difficult to get rid of. These muscles often lack in strength and may be overused by regular movements performed at work, during exercise or even while sleeping in an inappropriate position. There are a number of ways to alleviate this pain and all involve some type of physical treatment. Exercise works well here by using stretch and strengthening therapies. Of course, they must be done properly so make sure you consult your health care provider before you begin. You may need to seek professional assistance such as a chiropractor, massage therapist or acupuncturist. If you have one particular area that is sore, this may indicate a trigger point. Trigger points are generally found in skeletal muscle and can be relieved by massage therapy or acupuncture. Local injections of a painkiller or anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen or naproxen may also be used if the pain becomes excessive. This will allow you to continue exercising to allow for recovery.

In some cases, your chronic upper back pain may be caused by a joint dysfunction. Your ribs along the back connect with your thoracic spinal vertebrae by two joints on both sides known as the costovertebral joints. If these joints are not working properly, you will experience upper back pain. This may be caused due to improper posture, lack of exercise or by some form of accident. Treatment is again physical in nature. You may want to see a chiropractor or physical therapist to get the joint working again to relieve your pain. Long-term relief will involve exercising by stretching and strengthening the spine. Again, if your pain is so severe that it makes it difficult to exercise, you may need to take some pain medication such as an anti-inflammatory to relieve the pain enough so that you can exercise. Exercise is imperative! Without exercise, you will not recuperate. If all these therapies are not doing the trick, you may need to consider back surgery.

Muscle pain and joint dysfunction are the most common forms of chronic upper back pain. However there are other causes although rare. Herniated discs are rare in the thoracic region because you have very little motion associated with this area. This makes the thoracic spine very stable. It has been reported that around 1% of all disc herniations occur in the thoracic region. The rest occur in the cervical and lumbar region of your back due to a greater range of motion. Other rare forms of chronic upper back pain involve thoracic disc diseases or trauma. Trauma may have occurred due to a car accident or serious fall. Trauma of this type requires immediate medical attention with X-rays or a MRI scan to determine the amount of damage and what treatment should be administered.

Some form of trauma or bad posture is a common cause of chronic upper back pain. The pain you experience is usually due to muscle strain and/or rib-vertebra joint dysfunction. The best treatment involves some form of physical treatment whether by a chiropractor, physical therapist or exercises you do at home.

If your pain is severe:-
- you may need to take a pain/inflammation reliever to allow you to continue exercising. Exercising in the form of muscle stretching and strengthening is the key to recovery.

Chronic Lower Back Pain - You CAN Get Rid Of It!

Chronic lower back pain can be caused by quite a few different factors. The problem is, the lower back (lumbar region) is the main support for the weight bearing motions we all go through every day and is particularly susceptible to injury.

Your back is a powerful, intricately designed support system for your body that is made up of bone, muscular tissues, tendons, ligaments and discs. They have to all be in balance and work together or injury and chronic lower back pain is the result.

If we try to lift something incorrectly or take part in a strenuous physical activity (like sports) without an adequate stretch and warm-up, we could pull, strain or tear a muscle. Or, an the worst end of the spectrum, could even cause bone fractures.

Chronic Lower Back Pain - The Disc...

These same types of activities could create a bulging, slipped or herniated disc. The discs are made up of cartilage pads that act like shock absorbers between the vertebrae. They cushion the area in between the different segments of the spine.

Daily gravity, wear and tear on the discs makes the fluids seep out of them - making them less effective as shock absorbers as the day wears on. This loss of fluid can cause us to lose as much as 3/4 of an inch in height throughout the day! This is normal and the liquids are reabsorbed at night (if you get a good nights rest) but as we age, the ability to reabsorb the liquids lessens. This is commonly known as degenerative disc disease.

And these are only a few of the problems that could cause chronic lower back pain and have us searching for some severe back pain relief. There is sciatica, osteoporosis, arthritis, rheumatism, just to name a couple others.

In many cases, it is difficult to determine - even for medical professionals - what the root cause of lower back pain is. It could be something as simple as bad posture!

Chronic Lower Back Pain - Muscle Strain

But, more often than not, chronic lower back pain is caused by a soft tissue muscle strain. These can be notoriously difficult to recover from - thus the chronic lower back pain.

Research has shown that muscle strain can lead to eventual total imbalance of the spine and its structure... which in turn leads to a relentless strain on the muscle groups, ligaments, skeletal frame (bones), as well as discs, causing the lower back to be even more vulnerable to further injuries.

Whatever is causing the chronic lower back pain can eventually lead to other problems as we compensate for our injuries. For example, if you have strained a muscle you will more than likely begin to carry yourself differently to avoid the pain. In doing so, you end up over using muscles groups that weren't sore to begin with, and end up with more pain in new areas.

Stress and depression can also cause chronic lower back pain. An individual's state of mind can have a powerful impact on the height of your pain as well as whether or not it results in long lasting, chronic lower back pain. Individuals that suffer from depression, are under a huge amount of stress, or are generally unhappy will often experience symptoms and seek lower back pain relief.

Are you scared yet? You should be, I certainly am! Chronic lower back pain is nothing to fool around with.

Chronic Lower Back Pain Prevention...
If you are healthy now, get started on a daily regimen of back and abdominal exercises. These should include both stretches and strengthening. Don't forget your abdominal muscles! They help support your back more than you may imagine. And yes, if you are overweight, you need to change that.

These preventative type exercises can be done in only a few minutes a day, but can easily save you a lifetime of pain and suffering. According to CNN.com "More than 50 million Americans deal with chronic pain, at a cost of more than $100 billion annually." It is one of the leading causes of missed work! Chronic Lower Back Pain Recovery... If you are already injured...

As always, it is best to check with your doctor to be certain of the cause, but it is likely a muscle strain. In that case, take an anti-inflammatory medication (a systemic enzyme) and apply ice for the first 48 hours. Stay away from the prescription and OTC medications, they all have well documented side effects that can literally kill you!

Our bodies naturally produce anti-inflammatory enzymes. As we age and/or when we are injured, we need to boost our systemic enzymes. As pain killers and anti-inflammatory medication, they work better than anything you are likely to be taking OTC and they have no known side effects!

Next, apply heat to get the blood flowing into the area. If there is someone that can give you a massage that is a great option. A massage will not only get the blood flowing, but will help to release our body's natural pain killing endorphins.

While injured, though the desire will be to rest, current research shows that inactivity will weaken the muscles and make the problem worse. You need to stay active... Start with some - gentle - stretches and gradually (as your back gets better) work your way into muscle strengthening routines. The good news is... You don't need to live with chronic lower back pain.

Once you become aware of some of the causes of chronic lower back pain, you can start working on the solution. Whether it is just making simple lifestyle changes or requires medical attention, you can find the help you need.

Back Pain Can Be Excruciating - Treat Early

Back pain can be very excruciating and it may leave you crippled for the rest of your life. It is something that requires immediate medical attention and care. Writing off a backache as something trivial will only make things worse. It can be nightmarish if the pain gets unbearable and you end up with a medical emergency. Treating this condition early is a kind way of saving yourself from further torture. Health conditions when ignored often multiply with the passage of time. You cannot expect some miraculous healing unless you don't do something about it. Ignoring a disease often leads to chronic conditions and takes a long time to cure. The best bet is to treat yourself early. Get yourself rid of the excruciating pain and its relatives, the lower back pain.

How do you differentiate between a regular muscle pain and a serious backache? Well, you have to read the signs and symptoms and identify the causes of back pain. Identifying the reasons will enable you to take the right treatment in an early stage.

Identify the Causes

The causes can be classified into medical and non-medical conditions. Some of the non-medical conditions would include, sitting for long hours, lifting heavy weights, using an uncomfortable chair, using the wrong mattress while sleeping, slouching while sitting, and lack of exercise and so on. These non-medical causes can be treated at home by paying attention to detail. However, the medical causes of back pain may not be avoidable. Nevertheless, there is a link between the medical and non-medical causes. Some of the medical causes of lower back pain are associated with long sitting hours, heavy weight lifting and so on. There are other medical causes too like spinal fractures, herniated discs, spondylitis, and nerve root disturbance.

Once you identify the causes of backache, it is easy to treat the condition. An early treatment will save you from supra major surgeries and hospitalization. Some of the simple treatment methods for early signs of back pain include physiotherapy, medication, traction and the likes. In fact, light to moderate stretching exercise and yoga too is recommended for strengthening the back. Apart from that, increasing the intake of calcium or any other deficit vitamins can also help a great deal. Good health may not be gifted to everyone but it is important to take care of yourself and treat health conditions as soon as they occur. Be vigilant and watch out for early warning signs.

Can Anger and Depression Really Trigger Your Lower Back Pain?

My most recent article addressed the challenge that arises with naming a condition and offering it as a diagnosis to a patient. When a person is labeled, they often feel they are sentenced to a field of pre-existing outcomes and a prognosis for recovery that is attached to such a diagnosis. This field is generated by what the person already has heard or knows about their condition, from what their friends or relatives have told them and what they have read about it in magazines; on the internet etc. It is as if they have stepped into a new constellation and things shift from a personal, intimate and unique relationship with what is happening in their body to being part of something much larger. It is as if they have been initiated into a special new club.

This field exists energetically around those that are in the disease club. Those that are new to the club, it is premised, can be influenced directly and indirectly by other members of the group by the development of a "morphic field" that surrounds it. This is the term coined by researcher Rupert Sheldrake, PhD., biochemist, plant physiologist and author of numerous books including Seven Experiments That Could Change the Worlds and The Sense of Being Stared At. His hypothesis is that a particular person, plant or animal that is belonging to a certain group, which has already established its (collective) morphic field, will tune into that morphic field. The particular form will read the collective information through the process of morphic resonance, using it to guide its own development. This development of the particular form will then provide feedback to the field of that group, thus strengthening it with its own experience, resulting in new information being added. This may explain how a collective of peoples' thoughts and actions can affect others indirectly. Perhaps The more people that contribute to the field the greater its potential influence, which can be either encouraging or fear promoting.

What does all this have to do with back pain? First, it is important to understand the extent to which back affects us as a society. It has been reported that over 80% of adults in the US will suffer a debilitating episode of it. Back pain is the number one cause of absenteeism from work in the US and health care costs for it are well over 60 billion dollars per year. This is a big problem. In this article I am going to go out on a limb to discuss an extremely controversial point of view, that of John Sarno, MD, the author of Healing Back Pain and Mind Over Back Pain. I mentioned him briefly in my last article but found his work worthy of further exploration.

Dr. Sarno, after supervising a medical rehab hospital clinic for over twenty years, found, in his opinion, that the true cause of most back pain ultimately is the result of unexpressed emotions such as anxiety, anger and fear that result in the harmless condition that he named Tension Myositis Syndrome, or TMS. He explained that this underlying and often asymptomatic condition can be triggered by physical traumas or stressful life situations. It is his belief that rarely is back pain truly caused by well-known conditions such as herniated discs, strains, bursitis, arthritis, etc., but are instead really caused by this pre-existing tension in the body. He defines tension as the emotions that are generated in the unconscious mind and that, to a large extent, remain there silently just waiting to be triggered by some every day type stressful event.

The notion that unexpressed emotions can lead to physical symptoms is certainly not a new idea. It is well accepted that there is some causal relationship between stress and hypertension, tension headaches, many digestive and skin disorders, insomnia and many more. Sarno takes this idea much further than would be comfortable for even the most open minded physician or practitioner to accept. His "treatment" of a wide variety of chronic back pain patients (after ruling out the small percentage of patients requiring surgery) ultimately became a mandated four hour of instruction that included two things. First, the objective was to gain knowledge and understanding of the cause of the pain resulting from subconscious and repressed emotions. Second, it required taking the actions required to change the brain's behavior.

This would mean changing the conversation one has in their brain about their pain and behaviors, finding ways of becoming aware of the underlying emotions, mandating a return to all previous physical activities and unlearning of all of what he calls the "medical mythology" of ideas about what causes back pain (everything from the idea that there is a wrong way to bend and lift, that a hard mattress is better than a soft one, that you should sit in a particular way, etc.).

He also reached a point where he recommended the abandonment of all physical treatments of any kind which would
further embed in the patient's mind that the pain problem is a physical or structural issue that requires physical treatment. Therefore, no physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, medications, etc. were to be prescribed for his patients.

As I said at the beginning, this is a controversial and radical point of view, one that certainly threatens the existence of multiple established professions; including my own, that view back pain as a primarily physical entity. However, I find myself in agreement with Dr. Sarno on several of his hypothesis. I do find clinically that unresolved emotions often underlie pain episodes that I treat as a chiropractor. The metaphors are often so obvious, as when someone in their family is being a "pain in their neck" or a "pain in their derriere". When patients come in feeling pressure at work and lower back pain, it's as if they feel the weight of the world on their back.

I have seen the power of the metaphor and physical manifestation of emotional pain very personally, especially in the use of EFT, a powerful energy psychology technique that involves the use of stimulating certain acupuncture points through tapping. Several years ago I "strained" my back after heavy lifting in the garden and was in severe pain. My wife offered to work on my pain using EFT. I went along with it and begrudgingly I had to admit that my pain was gone after 15 minutes of working on a resentment issue that I had recently been stewing on prior to hurting myself. I refused to admit at first the possibility that this had even the remotest chance of being connected but I do know this connection to be true.

I also know that pain itself creates a host of emotions that serve to keep itself in place. Examples of these emotions are patients that feel anger towards their body because they feel that it has somehow betrayed them, are fearful of a recurrence of pain that arises when they begin to feel better, have anxiety and sadness over what they can and cannot do physically with their children, or stress over how their pain will affect their ability to work and possibly result in loss of income. All these feelings lead to a host of thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that create its own morphic field that make recurrent episodes of pain more likely.

On the flip side, research shows objective evidence of physical effects of things we do to our bodies that may promote lesser well-being, like prolonged sitting raising the pressure in discs, that bending, twisting and lifting creates significant torsion under which lumbar ligaments are under the greatest strain, and that scar tissue resulting from injury repair is stiffer and more vulnerable to injury than un-injured tissue. Research has shown the effectiveness of clinical treatments, including spinal manipulation, for acute lower back pain far exceed placebo. Many studies have shown physical treatments that have resulted in greater relief of symptoms when compared to placebos, so how does a doctor balance both perspectives? How do we promote health by educating a patient so that they are empowered to make choices supported by current research as well as not create a state of fear and anxiety that causes them to lead a diminished life of trying to avoid any situation that may cause them harm?

For me, it means finding a way to include both perspectives. It is my responsibility to understand that there may be both physical and emotional components to every patient's pain. It is always my intent to be skillful in addressing all potential causes with a patient. It is my vision to always create a path or program that is tailored to the individual that empowers them to expand their physical and emotional life expression as a result. Finally, it is my challenge to assist them in gaining greater perspective so that they can see the opportunity they have to make whatever behavioral and cognitive changes needed in order to facilitate true healing in their body which is much more than just having found relief from their pain.

I wish to end my thoughts with an offering of gratitude for the courage of Dr. Sarno, who was ahead of his time when he spoke out as an isolated voice in his era for the inseparable marriage of the mind and body. The idea that what we think and feel affects our body's responses and vice versa is no longer a wild hypothesis; it has its own growing morphic field that is being supported by a large body of scientific data.

A Diet For Lower Back Pain

Back pain is among the most common health problems. It is the leading cause of job-related disability, the second most common cause of missed work days, and the leading cause of disability in people aged 18 to 45. Pain in the lower back is most likely to occur between the ages of 30 and 50, during the most productive period of most people's lives.

Fortunately, most cases of lower back disability are self-limited. That is, they go away no matter how they are treated. For some people the pain becomes chronic, meaning it is does not go away and causes problems indefinitely.

Lower back pain usually develops over a period of years from accumulated abuses of the spine, many of which are not painful when they are incurred. Even when there is a single identifiable acute injury that causes the lower back to hurt, the overall condition of the back, not just the condition of the spine, determines speed of recovery and whether pain becomes permanent.

Nutritional supplements do not have a direct or immediate on pain. They prevent further injury to bone. Over the course of months and years, this reduces back and related pains, but you will not see immediate results.

Is there a food that can give you fast relief from pain? Actually, there are two: Almost any entree made with ginger and/or a peppery food (chili sauce, hot salsa, curry) will offer you a slight amount of relief. For long-term improvement of pain in the back, however, you will do best to follow the bone-building guidelines for any good diet for osteoporosis.

Back Pain Is More Prevalent Among Tall People

Back pain is a common phenomenon in the general population, but it is more common among tall people. A study of 17-year-old Israeli military recruits from 1998 to 2009, published in Health & Science Today, found that males over 6 feet tall were 44% more likely to experience lower back pain, whereas females above 5 feet 7 inches were 22% more likely to experience back pain than shorter females.

There are some things you can't change, and your height is one of them. Being tall does not mean that you are doomed to back pain, however. We must first identify the mechanisms of pain, then proceed to find possible solutions.

Body Structure

The way in which height can cause back pain is two-pronged. The first prong of height-related back pain involves the body structure itself. Tall people are especially susceptible to disc degeneration, and there are a number of possible reasons for this.

Taller people likely have taller spinal discs than an average-sized person. A study by Natarajan et al published in the September 1999 issue of Spine confirmed that tall disc height is associated with greater rate of failure. When a disc with average area and extra height is loaded, it experiences extra stress. If a tall disc bulges, its bulge will be bigger than a disc of average height; this leads to increased risk of nerve impingement in the form of sciatica.

Another possible cause of back pain in tall people is the distance between the arm hinge and the lower back. The arm acts as a lever on the body. The closer the hinge (shoulder/armpit) is to your center of gravity, the less strain will be placed on your spinal discs when lifting objects. In tall people, who have a greater distance between the hinge and the center of gravity, more strain is placed on the spine, particularly on the lower back.

If you are tall, it is important to reinforce your spinal discs with strong muscles. A solid core will help to take pressure off your discs. It would be wise to invest in a lumbar cushion to give added support to your spine while sitting. It is also important to avoid lifting very heavy objects, and to practice proper body mechanics when lifting (for example, lifting with a straight back).

Postural Dysfunction and Strains

When you're a tall person in a small world, you find yourself bending and reaching frequently. From doorways to chairs, most things are not designed for you. Ergonomics and proper biomechanics are the keys to avoiding repetitive strain injuries.

For a tall person, an ergonomic chair is a necessity, not a luxury. The seat and arm rest heights of an ergonomic chair are adjustable. Some have built-in lumbar cushions; make sure these are adjustable as well. Whatever your job, your work station should be tailored to your height. You may need a taller desk or work surface to avoid constant bending.

To limit the deleterious effects of constant bending and reaching, you must train your body to move with maximum efficiency and without dysfunction. When bending to reach an object, bend at the hips rather than at the lower back. This maintains your natural lumbar curve and takes pressure off spinal discs. When ducking beneath a low doorway, bend your knees or hips and keep your back and neck straight rather than tilting your neck sideways. These and other simple maneuvers could prevent height-related muscle strain, joint dysfunction and disc degeneration.

If you require a more structured approach to correct body mechanics, consider studying the Alexander Technique. This program focuses on efficient movement that places body structures under the least amount of stress possible. The Alexander Technique can be pursued at home or with a trained instructor. See http://www.alexandertechnique.com/ for more information.

While you can't change your height, you have the power to limit its effects on the health of your back. The way you move and the spaces you work in can be altered to prevent or resolve back pain.