Treatment for Back Pain

A june 2010 article by Associated Press medical writer Laureen Neergaard sheds light the problem of back pain in America. In the article, entitled "Back Pain May be Widely Over-Treated in the US.," she brings up some tough questions about how we're spending our healthcare dollars, what we're getting for it and why.

By one recent estimate, Americans are spending a whopping $86 billion a year on treatment for painful backs - from MRIs to pain medications to nerve blocks to acupuncture. That research turned up little proof that the population improved as the bill increased over the past decade.

Ms. Neergaard's writing scores a hit, and the scenario she wrote about is probably familiar to anyone who tried to find relief from persistent back pain, within the past few years. But what are the implications of this article if you or someone you care for is a back pain sufferer seeking relief.

Here is a quick summary from some of the more important pointsin Ms. Neergaard's article.

1) While back pain in general is a widespread problem in the U.S., every specific case is unique There is no one catch all ltreatment -- the treatment that was useful for your neighbor may not be right for you. Your health care specialist has to diagnose your symptoms and advise you on the effectiveness of alternative treatments.

2)Time is usually in the patient's court when it comes to back pain. As many as 90% of patients will recover on their own within a matter of weeks. Therfore, unless your healthcare provider notes "red flag" symptoms, patients should generally exhaust their noninvasive options first before considering surgery.

3)Exercise is a valid form of treatment, but it must be the right exercise. Formal exercise programs that are designed and supervised by experts can be useful so long as the patient is able to manage and function with pain.

4)Individual motivation and attitude make a difference in
effectiveness of treatment. Patients who can work through pain, stay focused on the plan and return to normal activity as quickly as possible will usually do better in the long run.

5)Make sure you have access to a neutral thrid party (perhaps your chiropractor or family doctor) who can help you weigh the advice of various specialists and navigate through your choices. And all alternative treatments are failing, and surgery is being considered, always get a second opinon if surgery is being considered.

Treating Chronic Sciatica

A new Zealand study revealed that males in rural areas are more likely to be afflicted with spinal diseases, including sciatica, then men living in urban areas such as Manhatten. Nevertheless, because of shear magnitudes of people, there are enough victims of spinal and back disease to keep Manhattan chiropractors busy.

Spinal disorders, including sciatica are caused by injury, overuse, muscle disorders, or pressure on a nerve or poor posture. While Manhattan chiropractors are quick to point out that continual sitting in front a computer screen can be stressful on the spine, statistics show that this type of stress is not as likely to cause spinal imbalance as the types of stresses met in the daily physical routine of rural life.

According to Dr. Noam Sodovnik, a Manhattan Chiropractor, chronic sciatica is a torturous and difficult to resolve back and leg pain syndrome. Sciatica is not a diagnosis, but a symptom of an underlying causative condition. True sciatica is sourced by a spinal abnormality, while pseudo-sciatica can come about due to muscular, circulatory or even psychosomatic reasons. No matter what the actual cause of the sciatica, the chronic symptoms can make life very difficult for affected patients.

Despite all this doom and gloom, there is some good news about treatingsciatica Manhatten Chiropractors have found that structural causations which are accurately diagnosed and truly do create symptoms most commonly respond very well to indicated medical and complementary treatment. This means that most true anatomical issues responsible for enacting pain can be completely cured. For patients with long term symptoms which have proven themselves to be unresponsive to various forms of treatment, the answer is simple. In these cases, the condition is virtually always misdiagnosed, leading the sufferer on a wild goose chase using treatments which are all targeting mistakenly identified causes of pain. No wonder the treatments fail.

Spinal Decompression Treatment, Spinal Decompression Therapy

The human spinal column is an incredible part of the body, which can be extremely pliable yet at the same time support incredibly heavy loads. Its purpose is to house and shelter the spinal cord, which the cerebrum uses to communicate its messages to all of the limbs and extremities. If there is a impairment in the spine, it can create all sorts of problems within the human body. A blockage in communication between the brain and any structure of the body can cause anything from pain to tingling sensations. One treatment for a damaged spine is spinal decompression therapy.

What makes spinial decompression work? To understand how spinal compression provides relief, it is necessary to understand something about spinal anatomy. The bony skeleton of the spine is compopsed of building blocks called vertebrae. These fundamental units of the spine are insulated from each other by discs which act as a padding between each vertebra. If these discs should be damaged by disease or accident, they can cause the vertebrae to become misaligned and cause problems with signals coming to and fromthe central nervous system. It additionally cause quite a bit of pain.

Surgery is one way that a spine can be corrected. Decompression surgery involves inserting metal rods on either side of the spine, to hold it in position. Generally speaking, any time a person can avoid having surgery they will do so. When it comes to having back surgery, most people are hesitant, and understandably why.

In general, people would prefer using a non-invasive treatment for any of their health problems. When it comes to non-surgical therapy of the spine, most people think about turning to a chiropractor. Chiropractic practitioners have been successfully helping people with back problems since the inception of chiropractic. Chiropractic spinal manipulation can help ease a lot of common health problems associated with the spine.

Using chiropractic spinal manipulation , the vertebra in the back are put into traction. Chiropractic maniipulation makes the vertebrae to be slowly pulled apart from one another, so that nutrients to make their way into the damaged {tissue|area|region of the spinal disc and vertebrae. This allows healing to begin. Chiropractic decompression therapy has been used successfully to treat spinal disorders such as herniated discs.

After chiropractic spinal decompression therapy, the spine is put into negative pressure, it begins to elongate so that nutrients from the body can get into the damaged areas of the spine. This promotes healing to the damaged area. Injuries can heal much quicker in this manner.

Those individuals who suffer from chronic back pain caused by spinal structural problems could potentially benefit from spinal decomrpession therapy. Usually the treatment is given multiple times within a week, and then sessions are scheduled further and further apart. Many patients who have used it have experience significant reduction in chronic pain. The method has been proven safe and effective, and it is significantly cheaper than traditional back surgery.

How Do Subluxations Affect Our Health?

According to J.P. Pawliw-Fry an expert in chiropractic and graduate of Harvard's Mind Body Institute, many practicing chiropractors who believe that treating subluxations is dead, are still connected to traditionial chiropractic through the belief that the body has the ability for self heaing and self regulation.

The connection between traditional orthopedic style subluxation theory and the modern study of mind body medicine, according to J.P. Pawling, is the area of nociceptive irritation and the dorsal horn. Out of place vertebrae that impinge on nerves occurs only rarely, he points out, whereas out-of-wack micro neuro-circuits can occur on a regular basis. In fact, as Mr. Pawling notes, auto-suggestion was considered one of the three principle causes of "subluxation," in traditional chiropractic, and the ability of auto-suggestion to influence nervous activity is well known. The auto suggestion concept alone takes the whole chiropractic field solidly into the era of mind body healing.

Mr Pawling urges modern chiropractors to be flexible and go outside the model of hands only spine only manipulation that powers innate healing, an approach that traditional chirorpactors accept and modern chiropractors reject. Instead of fighting with the model chiropractors need to do whatever works to stimulate innate healing in their patients. If not, he warns, the field will be left behind as professional in other healing specialties race to lift up the gauntlet of stimulation of innate healing.

Mr. Pawling quotes from Albert Schweitzer who stated that everyone carries their own Doctor within. It is up to members of the chiropractic profession to give permission to that inner healer to act.

Chiropractic and Kabbala

As a field of healing, the science of chiropractic has baffled some people and made them to call it unscientific, but from the perspective of Jewish Cabalists, the belief is well rooted in mystical traditions. Chiropractic theory teaches that the body is infused with a vital principle, which imparts a native intelligence to the body. This vital spirit is connected on the up side to a Universal intelligence.

According to Chiropractic teachings, the job of the physician is to allow the vital spirit to suffuse freely through the body, and then the body's innate intelligence will do its job, healing itself and seeing that the body works properly and heals. Scientists consider the theory somewhat magical in nature, because, after all, what physical evidence is there of the existence of a non-physical vital principle.

Mystics, on the other hand, have been teaching about the existence of these phenomena from time immemorial. In the Tanya, a book about Cabalistic teachings composed by a Russian mystic, the Alter Rebbe, readers are taught that the body is suffused by a spirit called the "nephesh." While the nephesh is connected to four higher spiritual bodies, the nephesh itself is divided into an animal portion and and intelligent portion. The "intelligent nephesh" resides in the spinal cord and brain. From this central position, it can extend its influence on the whole body. The "intelligent nephesh," therefore, corresponds to the vital principle described by the founders of chiropractic science
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The connection between the body and the vital flows in the CNS are the nerve roots that leave the spinal cord and go to all organs and parts of the body. Thechiropractor's job is to make sure these living highways of life remain open, and serve as channels of the intelligent nephesh to the rest of the body. This is the essence of chiropractorschiropractic science.

Taking Steps to Alleviate Neck Pain

What a shame, you've got neck pain. And, with all those hours spent working on the Web is it really any wonder where it's coming from? The human skeleto-muscular system was never created to be seated in front of a desktop for many hours at a time. To make matters worse, now that we have all the smart phones and hand held devices being sold on the market we are starting to see new pain syndromes developing as a result of their use. According to Noam Sodovnik, a NYC Chiropractor who help found the Center for Chiropractic and Decompensation, a New York City Chiroproactic office, habits and daily activities play a major in adding to your neck pain. Dr. Sodovnik notes that no matter what your injury is the first stage is always naming and removing the causative stresses. As Dr. Sodovnick reminds his NY chiropractic patients, it is useless to treat neck pain while continuing to do the identical activities that caused it in the first place?


Not at all! Ergonomics education is a big part of preventing repetitive stress injuries that are so typically at the root of many neck pain, shoulder conditions and mid back conditions that Dr. Sodovnik sees in his New York City Chiropractic and New York City Rehabilitation practice.

The cause of these pain phenomena. is explained by the principles of basic physics. When you're spine is in proper alignment and in a balanced state everything moves smoothly and fluidly with a lack of friction. It's only when these spinal mechanics breakdown that chiropractors start to see decreased movement efficiencies that lead to increased friction, heat build up and inflammation. A worn out, stressed and fatigued muscle just can't get a chance to rejeuvenate itself. It's a return to the same routine the next day and by the 5pm closing bell you're experiencing pain again.

If all the massages you've been getting, at the nail salon or elsewhere, haven't helped much at this point it's time to seek professional chiropractic help A sometimes persistent neck pain may be an indication of something more serious brewing beneath the surface. Getting piece of mind after a proper chiropractic evaluation and knowing that nothing more serious is happening is half the battle. Once you've clearly defined what's causing the pain, then you can map out a plan to help resolve and prevent this painful condition.

Traditional Chiropractic Theory

Traditional chiropractic, as developed by D.D. Palmer was a science that blends mysticism and healing in one. Palmer believed in vitalism, the theory that the body is pervaded by an innate intelligent force, which is a derivative of a universal intelligence. This force is taken in while breathing, and guides all bodily processes. According to Palmer, diseases occur when the body, and most especially the spine go out of line. He called this misalignment a