Archive for December, 2009

Sciatic Discomfort – Quick Tips to Help Keep Your Sanity

Dec 31

Posted by Back Pain editor in Sciatica | No Comments

Accurate Diagnosis of your condition – The first thing is to get an accurate diagnosis of why you are in pain. Often times sciatica is caused by muscle tension or imbalances which can directly affect the discs and vertebrae in your back which results in a irritated sciatic nerve. Other ‘structural’ problems with your spine can also cause this irritation and that is why an accurate diagnosis is essential for finding the best treatment.

Heat and Cold Packs – many people report gaining relief through the use of heat and cold packs particularly where the problem lies with increased muscle tension. Alternating between both hot and cold packs on the affected area has also been reported as a good pain reliever. The hot pack promotes blood flow and can release tensed up muscles and the cold pack helps in reducing the amount of inflammation so you are getting the best of both worlds when alternating between the two.

Physiotherapy – this is something that I have not had any success with in dealing with my sciatica, however combined with the right exercises and assuming that your condition is suitable to be treated this way there is no reason not to give it a go. Many doctors see physiotherapy as the first step to easing the problem and once again the blood flow in and around the muscles and loosening of joints may be beneficial to you.

Anti Inflammatory/Pain Relieving Medication – No doubt one of the most important steps to easing your sciatic pain is to reduce any inflammation of the offending area and of course to limit your pain so you can get on with life. Unfortunately this is where the use of NSAID’s or non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs is the road most doctors take. Sure, they may ease your pain and reduce inflammation but if you had any idea of the unwanted effects these drugs can have on you I’m sure you would think twice.

Many back pain and sciatica sufferers are forced to use these drugs long term, previously myself included, as most back complaints are not easily or quickly resolved. This long term us of NSAID’s can have lasting effects on your health. Problems with kidneys, the liver, the intestines and the stomach lining itself are not uncommon and of course add to this the noticeable side effects like cramping, headaches and drowsiness just to mention a few.

So how do we protect ourselves against these problems while still getting the pain relief and reduced inflammation that we need? The answer is natural medicines that do the same job without jeopardizing our future health. There are many great all natural products on the market these days and for peace of mind there really is no other choice.

Craig Wilson
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/sciatic-discomfort-quick-tips-to-help-keep-your-sanity-635100.html

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Why You Need Chiropractic Care and How to Work With Your Chiropractor to Get Optimal Results

Dec 31

Posted by Back Pain editor in Pinched Nerve | No Comments

Are you seeking treatment for back and neck pain? Are you weighed down by headaches or migraines? Are you still bothered by a pinched nerve, or a sports injury that just won’t heal? This article’s intention is to offer you an introduction to chiropractic care and provide you with guidelines for choosing a Sydney North Shore Chiropractor.

 

Chiropractic treatment is a form of physical therapy concerned with the functioning of your spine and central nervous system. Chiropractors provide their clients with the foundation to stay healthy by utilizing the power of their own bodies to promote natural healing in an efficient manner.

 

This physical therapy explores the connections between the anatomy of your spine and its effects on your health. The health problems that arise as a result of misalignments of the vertebrae in your spine can be effectively treated by a chiropractor.

 

Numerous North Shore Chiropractic clinics exist in the North Sydney, Neutral Bay and Cremorne areas. If you are contemplating chiropractic treatment, these are some questions you need to ask them:

 

1. Will your Australian Health Fund reimburse some of your money, and if so, how much of it?

 

2. Have they dealt with issues similar to yours before?

 

3. What is the price of each session?

 

4. Do they have discounts if you purchase multiple sessions?

 

5. Do they aim to treat the root of your problem and put you on the path to greater energy and wellness?

 

The last point is very important. In addition to adjusting your spine and alleviating your neck or back pain, their job is to guide you toward total wellness.

 

The following guidelines should assist you on your journey to better health:

 

1. Make regular visits to your chiro so as to aid your spine and nervous system to function at their best and assist in building good health;

 

2. Consume those foods which will help your body to work in the best way it can by providing it ample the nutrients;

 

3. You must drink plenty of water; it flushes your system of toxins and keeps you hydrated;

 

4. Regular exercise will improve both your health and your energy;

 

5. Make sure you get plenty of rest so your body can recuperate and build up more energy;

 

6. Keep a positive mental attitude;

 

7. Learn about other ways to enhance your health.

 

A professional chiro should educate you along in the process so that you understand the basis of what they are doing. Chiropractic treatment is no immediate cure. A few sessions may be required to resolve your sports injury and additional care may be needed to maintain and build on your progress. Your emotional, physical and chemical aspects should be examined, in order to truly improve your overall wellbeing.

 

Before bringing your children to your health professional for a spinal adjustment, you need to ensure that they are comfortable working with children.

Jerry Carpos
http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/why-you-need-chiropractic-care-and-how-to-work-with-your-chiropractor-to-get-optimal-results-687274.html

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Lower Back Pain Treatments

Dec 31

Posted by Back Pain editor in Lower Back Pain | 7 Comments

Lower back pain is causing a great concern in the United States. Moreover because it is in a recent study it is anticipated that four out of five adults in the United States will experience lower back pain in some point of their lives. Back pain being a common problem may sometimes hamper ones day to day life and may even lead to surgery. So it is always recommended to consult your physician even for the smallest back pain symptoms you will notice and get the advice before the problem grows.

Back Pain is indeed a very painful experience and ironically the severity of pain is often unrelated to the extent of physical damage it has caused. A simple strain can be extremely painful, while a herniated disk between vertebrate may cause little or no pain at all. That is why it is always beneficial that you may go in for many types of back pain tests that are available and can be administered to more accurately determine the cause of your pain.

Common causes of lower back pain can be found in the following:

• Injury to the bones, joints or ligaments in the lower back

• Smaller nerves running along and inside the spine becoming irritated or damaged

• Strain to the lower back muscles, or erector spine

• Damage to the intervertebral disks, which separate the vertebrate

• Irritated nerve roots connected to the hips, legs or even arms

At times many physical injuries can be attributed to specific incidents but still lower back pain may be slow-building, yet progressive. This can make it difficult to notice complicated lower back problems before they require treatment. Although lower back pain does not require emergency medical attention, a few symptoms may be signs of severe medical conditions.

Back pain as we have discussed is slow yet progressive and rarely requires emergency medical attention. But it is highly recommended that you consult your physician and follow his advice to avoid such emergency situations. In some cases if anytime you experience the following symptoms with a regular slow back pain you need to have an expert for emergency medical attention.

The symptoms are

Severe or constant pain in the lower back or abdominal region

Sudden bowel or bladder movements

A progressive feeling of weakness in the legs

An immediate medical attention saves you from any damage to your body and excruciating pain it may cause to you. For severe or chronic back pain, you should consider seeking lower back pain treatment, which is available in many forms. Lower back exercise can both help with back pain relief, and prevent it from recurring later. Most low back pain can be treated without surgery. Treatment involves using analgesics, reducing inflammation, restoring proper function and strength to the back, and preventing recurrence of the injury. Most patients with back pain recover without residual functional loss. Patients should contact a doctor if there is not a noticeable reduction in pain and inflammation after 72 hours of self-care. The best way is to take necessary precautions and make necessary changes in lifestyle, standing, sitting and sleeping positions and doing regular exercise. It is best to keep the back pain away from you and your family.

Dhiraj
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/lower-back-pain-treatments-127476.html

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Vertebral Axial Decompression or Vax-d and Their Results

Dec 31

Posted by Back Pain editor in Herniated Disc | No Comments

Vertebral axial decompression therapy is a very useful tool for people who have horrible back problems because it is relatively inexpensive and it does not involve surgery. Data was collected from twenty-two medical centers for patients who received VAX-D therapy for low back pain, which was sometimes accompanied by referred leg pain. Only patients who received at least ten sessions and had a diagnosis of herniated disc, degenerative disc, or facet syndrome, which were confirmed by diagnostic imaging, were included in this study.

The data contained the patients’ quantitative assessments of their own pain, mobility, and ability to carry out the usual ‘activities of daily living’. The treatment was successful in 71% of the 778 cases, when success was defined as a reduction in pain to 0 or 1, on a 0 to 5 scale. Improvements in mobility and activities of daily living correlated strongly with pain reduction. The causes of back pain and their relationship to this therapy are also discussed.

Although imaging procedures, including CT and MRI, are able to accurately define structural pathology, the correlation of these anatomic findings with physiology, back pain, and other clinical complaints is imprecise. Although surgical decompression, epidural blocks, and spinal instrumentation can sometimes help patients suffering from back pain, these treatments do not completely take the biomechanical function of the disc into account, and may leave patients unrelieved of their suffering.

Low back pain is aggravated by activities that increase axial loading on the spine, such as sitting, standing, and lifting. Patients may describe some relief with walking, but more particularly, by lying down, which unloads the spine and reduces intradiscal pressure. The causes of mechanical low back pain may include degenerative disc disease, degenerative spondylosis with limitation of range of motion, facet arthropathy, relative lateral recess stenosis from a combination of the above, microenvironment presure changes affecting the thecal and epidural space from disc bulging, subligamentous and/or extruded herniation, and segmental instability.

A number of potential mechanisms are specifically addressed by the lumbar vertebral body separation achieved during therapy. With aging, disc desicction occurs, disc height is lost, and this process is accelerated with activities which produce high physical loading of the lumbar spine. Osteophytes develop along the anterolateral and posterior border of the vertebral bodies, and facet arthropathy increases as degenerative disc change advances . Normal vertebral body separation is lost as the disc degenerates. blood supply to the nerve roots of the cauda equina is sensitive to compression. Even at pressures of only 5-10 mmHg, the flow in over 20% of the venules was completely stopped. Flow in all the capillaries stopped at pressures between 20 and 50 mmHg. A pressure of 30 mmHg is slightly less than one pound per square inch, so solute transport is easily reduced. Even vertebral distractions of 1 or 2 mm per disc would reduce ligamental redundancy and help to restore canal/foraminal patency, reduce venous congestion and increase axoplasmic flow.

For more resource about back pain or even about back pain Chicago and espcially about bulging disc please click these links.

Groshan Fabiola
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/vertebral-axial-decompression-or-vaxd-and-their-results-106783.html

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Why People Resort to Chiropractic Treatment

Dec 31

Posted by Back Pain editor in Chiropractic | No Comments

Face it, there are really health problems that though being attended and treated by professional health care providers remain to be an ailment that continuously afflict us. And because of this, we are sometimes compelled to look for alternative treatment to relieve us from our ailment and for us to work again without mending any pain or discomfort.

Ailments or disorders that frequently bother us are muscle aches, neck pain, backache, spinal injuries and joint pains. These discomforts are more often experience by adult especially the elderly regardless of their lifestyles and diet. Some muscle pains and joint pains are chronic or recurrent for reasons that we do not know why even we are already given medication and medical therapy.

And for many decades now, chiropractic has been very helpful in relieving ailments that pertains to the human muscular and skeletal structures like bone, muscles and joints. Chiropractic is also said to be capable of treating pain arising from problems in cartilage, ligaments, and tendons. It attracts many patients because chiropractic procedure is non-invasive, it does not necessitate surgery or operation but provide promising result. The result of treatment is achieved faster than taking up pain relievers.

In the United States, people who commonly seek chiropractic are those with persistent headaches, backaches and neck pain. There is also growing number of people with arthritis and sport injuries that resort for chiropractic treatment to relieve the pain. A report says that there are approximately 200 million Americans that annually seek treatment from chiropractors because of the above said conditions.

And come to think of it, these people do not resort to chiropractic immediately as most of them had first consulted a professional medical physician to diagnose their condition. They have undergone series of test, laboratory examinations like x-ray, CT Scan or an MRI but the doctors could not find what causes the pain.

The doctors will then prescribe pain reliever to alleviate the discomfort of the unknown condition. But taking medicine is often not enough because it can not do anything to take away the pain permanently and to allow us to lift our arms or straighten up our back again and to some, engage in their work or hobby again.

It is in these instances that people try chiropractic treatment. Who will not be convinced to try it if there will be no strings and needles involve especially if the chiropractors will explain that all they will do is to adjust your misaligned spines by using their hands? The procedure of chiropractic is relatively simpler and do not require any confinement that makes chiropractic even more reasonable alternative treatment.

And most of the people who tried chiropractic have attested to significant improvement from their aliment if not totally removed. Chiropractic has some quackery or unscientific connotations in the past because of their treatment approach but the experiences of the people who experience this alternative form of treatment are now too many to disregard. These results were on the other hand pave way to the recognition of Chiropractic as a safe and generally accepted complementary alternative medicine.

Merry Jazz
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/why-people-resort-to-chiropractic-treatment-115549.html

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3 Common Back Pain Questions Answered

Dec 31

Posted by Back Pain editor in Back Pain | 4 Comments

Millions of people struggle with back pain and fail to get lasting relief and the primary reason is a lack of knowledge and understanding about back pain.

In our work with over 20,000 back pain sufferers here at The Healthy Back Institute, we have identified several questions that are common among nearly all, back pain sufferers. And unfortunately, for many, these people continue to struggle with back pain because their questions never get answered or they get the wrong information.

So the purpose of this article is to educate and inform anyone suffering from back pain by answering these common questions and by giving specific recommendations and actions to take.

Question #1 – Is my excess weight causing my back pain?

While excess body weight is a factor, it by itself typically isn’t enough to create a condition that would cause back pain. Excess body weight in the form of excess body fat can worsen a pre-existing condition and can also make recover more difficult.

Also, it’s important to understand that if you are overweight it’s very likely that your muscles are out of balance. When your muscles are out of balance, it forces your body to function and move in an unbalanced way and this places uneven pressure, strain and wear tear on your body. And it’s this process that is responsible for creating any conditions or physical dysfunctions that are causing the pain. Unfortunately, most people aren’t even aware when this is happening with their body.

Action to take:

Don’t worry so much about your weight right now. First focus on eliminating your back pain by identify the muscle imbalances that are throwing your body out of balance and work on improving and correcting them. Then, once your back is feeling better you can focus more on losing weight.

Question #2 – I’ve tried everything but nothing has worked, what should I do?

First off, while it may seem like you’ve exhausted every possible treatment, it’s not likely that you’ve tried everything. So unless you’ve given up and plan on living the rest of your life in pain, you need to make the decision to be open-minded and continue to identify and experiment with other available treatment options. But, before you try any other treatments, it’s important that you understand why what you’ve already tried hasn’t worked.

The reason nearly all back pain treatments fail to deliver long-term relief is because they treat just the symptoms and fail to address the actual, underlying cause. For example, let’s talk about back surgery. While removing a piece of a herniated disc may, if you’re lucky, reduce or eliminate your pain, the fact is it didn’t deal with what caused the disc to herniate in the first place.

In fact, a study published in the June 2004 issue of Spine, an international journal for the study of the spine, found that 40% of people who underwent back surgery had no decrease in their pain even though their doctor/surgeon had assured them of the results.

So in order for you to get long-term, lasting relief you need to identify and address the underlying cause of your pain.

Action to take:

Identify the underlying cause of your pain by identifying the muscle imbalances that are creating your physical dysfunctions and conditions. Make sure any treatment you are given or perform addresses both the symptoms (condition and pain) and the cause (muscle imbalances and dysfunctions).

Question #3 – My doctor not to exercise, what should I do?

Find a new doctor. Too many research studies have shown that people with back pain who avoid exercise and activity, end up suffering longer and have a more difficult time getting relief.

While you may need to rest for a few days initially to let things settle down, after that you will get better results by staying active because by continuing to move you keep your blood circulating and your muscle active, which will prevent them from getting weaker.

But that’s not enough.

Even though staying active may help; it’s not enough to get rid of the underlying cause of the pain. In order to do that, you must identify and address your imbalances and dysfunctions.

And the generic exercises that almost every back pain sufferer receives from their healthcare professional, may or may not help… it can even worsen the condition. And the reason is, these exercises do not address the specific muscle imbalances and dysfunctions that are responsible for their pain.

Action to take:

If your doctor or healthcare professional hasn’t taken the time to educate about the effect of muscle imbalances and importance of performing targeted and specific, corrective exercises and stretches, it’s time to look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the number of healthcare professionals who are educated and trained in the art of identifying and addressing muscle imbalances is small and finding one can often be difficult. If you have trouble finding someone in your area, please feel free to contact us here at The Healthy Back Institute by calling 800-216-4908 and we’ll do our best to help you.

Conclusion

If you’re a back pain sufferer, you well know that these are just a few of the many questions that you may have. The fastest way for you to get lasting relief from back pain is to become an expert on it and your body and you do that be educating yourself.

I strongly encourage you to learn as much as you can about back pain, how it develops and the various treatment options that are available. And lastly, stay focused and don’t give up.

Steve Hefferon
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/3-common-back-pain-questions-answered-94284.html

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What’s the best mattress for a herniated disc?

Dec 30

Posted by Back Pain editor in Herniated Disc | 3 Comments

I recently found out that I have an L5 herniated disc. I’ve been following my doctor’s orders and taking the meds. But the pain has gotten increasingly worse and it’s clear it’s the mattress that’s not helping. So, I want to buy a new one. But there are so many, I wanted to at least have an idea. Any suggestions?

Years ago, they used to recommend getting a hard mattress. Now they’ve discovered that getting a hard mattress creates pressure points and closes off blood flow. I would recommend getting something in the middle. Not very hard, not very soft. Although there are lots off great quality innerspring mattresses available, I would consider looking at Latex or Memory foam.

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