Back and Neck Pain
Back and neck pain is/are the second leading cause of doctor visits. Generally, the visits either lead to pain medication, or for more naturally oriented people, chiropractic adjustments.
If you go the pain medication route, the standard is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). If you complain a lot, or frequently, there are certainly more powerful pain blockers such as opioids (Oxycontin, Morphine, Demerol, Percocet), although you will generally have to really, really complain to receive these as they are so addictive.
You also may be offered steroid shots, and MRI or CT scans for diagnosing disc herniations, bulges, etc., which are basically qualifying you for surgery.
My personal opinion is that these are all ideal paths to chronic pain. If you start blocking the recognition of pain when it begins as an injury or repetitive strain, the injury site is not supported; in fact you no longer “hear” the alarm (pain) and do what your body is trying to prevent you from doing (moving). Rather than support, you supply irritation.
As for surgery, I have seen incredible recoveries following surgery. Yet, I would move very slowly towards surgery. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that approximately half of the surgeries performed were unnecessary. For every wonderful recovery, how many have little to no improvement, with a new, deep injury site? How many worsen? It’s been awhile since I’ve looked up the studies on that, but they are good questions to ask directly to your (potential) surgeon.
I believe that a full functional diagnostic workup using reflexes and muscle testing to locate the weakness or irritation is the key to successful conservative management. (Save the drugs for parties!) Conservative treatment includes ice, rest, chiropractic, massage, and kinesiology (muscle testing). I also use a neurological technique called injury recall technique, and acupressure tapping for pain.
Diagnosis: Is it a nerve, muscle, spinal disc, spinal cord, brain stem, or cerebellum?
For instance, if it is caused by weakness in the cerebellum, you miss your nose when you try to touch it with your eyes closed….if it is in the brain stem, there will often show a problem with pupil reflex to light, or ability to elevate your palate by saying “Ahhhhh.”
If the pain is caused by a nerve pressure or irritation, versus a muscle or tendon injury, we will find a muscle weakness in both cases, but the nerve problem will strengthen when we manually stretch the muscle, and the muscle/tendon problem will not.
So, in 2 minutes I have diagnosed whether you need exercise (cerebellum), rest (brain stem), muscle work (Muscle/tendon), disc rehab (spinal disc), or chiropractic (nerve irritation).
I would also take natural anti-inflammatory herbs such as boswellia, turmeric and ginger, and oils such as fish and black currant seed oil if the pain came on gradually or with no apparent cause.
If there was an apparent cause, such as a lifting injury or car accident, I would take proteolytic enzymes in addition to the physical work. (They “digest” the inflammation associated with fresh trauma, even bad bruising)
With that said, I have also personally experienced a back injury that turned out to be “in my head.” I hurt my back at the gym a couple years back and was in severe pain, very limited in movement and quite whiney!
I went to a chiropractor, rested, iced, had muscle work done, and was still totally pathetic. My wife Sonya treated me using Neuro-Emotional Therapy (NET) while touching my back, and I swear, I stood up after the treatment (10 minutes) and the pain was gone. Maybe it was the combo of all the treatment, but the key that set me free was the NET. And the pain in my A&$ was my brother, literally this time.
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