Back Pain: It Isn't Always What It Used To Be

If you ignore a back problem, it will likely not go away on its own. Sometimes you can get through an episode when it’s early in the condition with some over the counter medications and rest. So you’d think. If the underlying problem is never addressed, the back pain problem is there to resurface again at a later date.

Usually when the pain returns, it hurts a little bit more and lasts a little bit longer. Over time, the episodes will start to show up more frequently until the person takes the actions necessary to create a more substantial healing. (Hopefully they go to see a chiropractor and get their spine in its proper alignment instead of relying on stronger and stronger medications.)

More often than not, the person dealing with the back pain follows their doctor’s orders and concern themselves with their back only when the pain shows up. Then they return to doing all the same things that led them to the the problem in the first place. Then the symptoms return and they show back up to their doctor.

“I know what I’ve got, doc. Last time you told me it was my L5 disc.” They then expect you to do what you did last time, give them the relief in the same time frame you gave it to them last time and they can get on with their lives. Sometimes it happens just like that, sometimes the episode takes a couple of extra days to return back to normal.

Eventually, they’ll get the same condition, they’ll show back up to your office, expect the same results… and they won’t happen. The doctor will end up doing more tests and discover that they don’t just have an “L5 disc” problem anymore. They now have L4 and L5 and the sciatic nerve is being compressed. The previously minor disc bulge at L5 has turned into a full blown disc herniation with potentially more invasive treatment needed to alleviate the pain.

How could this have been avoided? Once you’ve been notified that you have a back problem, seek relief from the pain first. Once the pain is gone, you must distinguish that your “pain” and your “problem” are two different things. Celebrate the relief of your pain, but evaluate what may have led to the problem in the first place.

Are you strengthening your back muscles? Are you getting enough exercise? How are your daily activities contributing to the problem and how can they be modified. Don’t accept your back condition and assume it will never change or get worse. Most of them can and do get worse over time.

Jerry Rice Shares His Testimonial

Just Do One Thing At A Time.

If you’ve started to notice that your health is declining and it’s time to do something about it, you’re probably wondering where to start. You know you don’t feel good, you know you’re not doing enough healthy things for yourself, but it can all be a bit overwhelming. Even if your primary goal is to drop a few pounds and just feel better… which action should you take first?

One school of thought is to take massive action. This is certainly a good thing and has helped many overcome great obstacles. Taking massive action should lead to massive results. However, when it comes to changing your health, which massive action should you take? Go and buy every vitamin in the store? Run laps around your block until your legs won’t move? Schedule appointments with a chiropractor, personal trainer, massage therapist, and psychologist?

My suggestion is to take massive action… on one thing at a time. Pick something. It doesn’t have to be anything other than something that will move you closer to a long term goal of being healthy. To me, that would mean that I’m an appropriate weight, I’m generally free of pain, I have lots of energy, and my moods are pretty consistent in a positive way.

The major categories are going to be eating better and exercise.

Eating right can start with eliminating the things that you know are bad for you that you regularly eat. Too many sodas? Trips to the vending machine? Double frappacinos with whip? Something just popped into your head and you know it’s been slowing leading to a decline in your health. Pick one and let it go.

Bring your lunch to work a couple of days per week or find something healthy that you can eat at least once per day. Start taking a decent multi-vitamin if you’re not doing so already and drink a lot more water. Just do something healthy.

Once you’ve got this habit formed and are starting to feel pretty good about your results, time to reassess and eliminate something bad and add in something good. Keep this up until you get where you want to go.

What about exercise? I have to admit, doing this regularly is not always the easiest thing for me. I say it’s about spending the time and effort, but I think it’s more about not spending the time finding something that I really enjoy doing. You don’t have to start an exercise program by planning to run a marathon (unless that helps you get motivated).

Walking 1 mile and running 1 mile burn about the same amount of calories since it takes longer to walk that same distance. Find ways to walk more, even if it just means parking your car further away from the building at work. You can do it, but you have to start somewhere and that means taking action towards your goal.

You can get healthy, really! It’s possible for those that are willing to make the effort. If your health has declined to such a degree that you need professionals to help you heal and feel better, then by all means do that too. Take massive action… just do it on one thing a time.

Chiropractic For Kids On Nightline

Why do people see Doctors?

Why do most people see doctors? If you guessed, because they are sick; you're right. When you think about it, it's not ideal is it? People should see doctors before they get sick in order to stay well. There is a big push in health care today for prevention; I'm sure you've heard of it. Do you know when chiropractors started talking about preventative maintenance? About 90 years ago. We have found that if we keep the nerve channels clear of pressure or interference, people stay a lot healthier. Do you know why? Because your nervous system supplies life to your body, and when that life is interfered with, you get sick. If a doctor knew how to to keep that from happening, wouldn't it make sense to see him/her?

4 simple principles that (easily) explain Chiropractic

1) You have a health potential. That means you were born to be healthy. That's the way you were made.
2) All the functions, including your health, are directly run by your nervous system.
3) Like a dimmer switch; pressure on the nervous system lowers your health potential. In essence, nerve pressure shuts off life to the tissue cells.
4) Taking the pressure away from the nerve allows the life back into that nerve and tissue. And then we can watch the body heal itself. It's as simple as that!

Pain is a warning, not the problem.

Today I want to go over the importance of understanding what pain is and what pain relief means. First, pain is a signal. It means that something has gone wrong for long enough to cause a problem. Often, a vertebra was out of position long enough to cause a pretty serious misalignment, putting pressure on important nerves that eventually caused the pain. When we first start treatments many will get some pain relief fairly quickly. That means the bone is barely clearing the nerve, so to speak. Does it make sense that we have not fully corrected the cause of the problem yet? There still may be some work to do, even when the pain is gone. That work may consist of spinal correction and strengthening. The more correction and strengthening we do, the better the chance of never having the symptoms come back. I find it's what most people want--to get well and stay well .