Archive for November, 2009

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Pregnancy & Back Pain: Part 1- The Cause

Monday, November 30th, 2009

This is the first part of a series on back pain during pregnancy. Last week I posted a request for topics and questions on my Facebook page. The most common inquiry I received was about back pain during pregnancy. My own sister posted the following on my page:

“My worst back pain ever was during pregnancy — my OBGYN gave me drugs because I was in so much pain (I drove over 300 miles in 2 days, my back would have been tender if I wasn’t pregnant) but then Scott used some of the techniques from Back Together to help ease my tender back and make it feel much better. You’re a great big bro and a great doctor!”

I am grateful for the complement Julie! Your story is not too different from many I hear. Depending on whose study you reference, anywhere between 50-80% of women develop back pain during pregnancy. I should mention that the techniques you used were from a pre-release manuscript (The Back Together book on bookstore shelves is definitively NOT for pregnancy related back pain.)

In this series, I will cover the causes of pregnancy related back pain, some suggestions for preventing and relieving it, and end with some hands-on techniques you and a partner can do to reduce it.

Enjoy!
-Andy

pregnancy

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Posted in Couples & Intimacy, Ergonomics, General Health Information, Low Back Pain, Neck Pain, Pregnancy, Tips, Videos | No Comments »

Economic Stress and Back Pain…

Monday, November 30th, 2009

If you had a chance to look at my last post, I touched upon the relationship between gratitude and back pain. I came across this posting on economic stress and back pain based on a study from the American Pain Foundation. Its pretty interesting…

http://healthcare.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?type_news=latest&newsid=195941


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Some Post Thanksgiving Thoughts

Monday, November 30th, 2009

London was fantastic! I have had a week to recover from the trip and from my jet lag. I will have some more posts from the trip and some other goodies later this week.

Last week was the Thanksgiving Holiday here in the States, and I though it would be a nice time to be a little reflective. When you are walking around in pain, it can be hard to feel thankful for anything- I was in a nasty car wreck two days before Thanksgiving when I was a medical intern, and I know I was not in a festive mood.

I posted a ‘what are you grateful for?’ post on my Facebook page, and some of the responses were remarkable. I was really happy to be able to read all of the things which people felt thankful for. I feel like I needed to post this one here on BackWords:

“I an truly grateful for you, Andy. You gave me back movement and reduced pain. You helped return my youth and restored hope for days of less pain. And you did all of it not just with technique, but with patience and compassion. :-) ”

-Colleen

I wanted to cry when I read this. When I first met Colleen, she had just began to recover from  pretty terrible accident, and had serious doubts about whether she would ever feel better again. I am am so grateful to be able to help people to feel better. It is truly a gift that I receive almost every day. Thank you, Colleen, for reminding me of this.

Now, back to the idea of feeling grateful…

When you are feeling pain pretty much all the time, it can become the focus of your life, and it can be easy to forget about all of the positive things you may have going on in your life. Friendships, family, work, other experiences- all may be providing benefits to your life which you can lose site of because of your pain. During this holiday season, I will ask each and every one of you to take a moment or two out of each day, and focus on the things which are going right rather than the things which aren’t- which in this case, if you are checking in on my blog, may be back pain. When those feelings of pain are compounded with all of the other stressors which can effect you during the holidays, it can make matters worse.

Sometimes simply bringing some of those positive ideas back into focus can help you to feel less pain. Just something to consider.

I have had several requests for information about pregnancy and back pain- look for some video tomorrow.

Have a great holiday season, and BE WELL!

-Andy

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Posted in Announcements, Couples & Intimacy, Low Back Pain, Neck Pain, Tips, Uncategorized | No Comments »

A further note on Disc Replacement Surgery…

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

This morning I received an email from Maria- “I have had disc replacement surgery, and it was the biggest mistake I ever made. How can you recommend this? I have had no relief, and had to go through major surgery and a long and painful recovery.”

She elaborated on all of the ways which the surgery had adversely affected her life.

Maria, please understand this- and it is important for all of my viewers to be aware of this; I try to make my posts educational, informative, and sometimes entertaining. My wish is to provide useful information about all of the back pain options out there. Everyone’s back pain situation is unique, and some approaches to relief will not be appropriate for other individuals.

In my post, I did not recommend disc replacement surgery- if anything, I feel I came across as too skeptical of the procedure. I am sorry that you did not get a positive outcome. There are people who are perfect candidates for the procedure, and even when everything is done perfectly, those people do not get relief. I have spoken with patients who had a 100 percent improvement in their pain- complete relief- following their procedure. I don’t know- and clearly at this point in this relatively new technology- I don’t think anyone knows a completely guaranteed way of identifying which patients will derive benefit.

In my area of back pain management/treatment, I will always lean towards the more conservative, less invasive approach to relief- but for some it simply is not enough. For those patients, surgery is the best option.

Again Maria- I am sorry you did not get the relief you were hoping for. I hope you can find an approach that works for you. Thank you for your question.

In the mean time, I am preparing some other video posts while I am still here in London.

Be Well,

-Andy

L1010219

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Update from London, Sex, Muscle Spasm & Umbrellas…

Friday, November 20th, 2009

LiveinLondon

Again, I am not doing a travel blog (heaven knows I don’t travel enough to support that sort of endeavor)- but there is an addition at the end of this video posting about a remarkable shop I visited here in London- James Smith & Sons- an umbrella shop which stocks literally thousand of umbrellas, and will cut one to a custom length to accommodate your height. A really fantastic service based experience- the men working there have obviously been doing this for years and take great pride in the work they do. Check the store out if you ever have an opportunity. You can see their website: http://www.james-smith.co.uk/

Sales floor at James Smith & Sons.

Sales floor at James Smith & Sons.

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Dr. Kirschner and Back Together- LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall!!!

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

OK, so I was at the Royal Albert Hall, and I was live, and I did have a copy of Back Together with me.  So I was stretching it a little- but with your continued support of Back Together, maybe someday…

Travel was uneventful- I utilized my own back pain prevention tips as outlined in my previous post- and alas got off the plane with no back pain. Interestingly there were two other physician going to the same conference who did NOT. They carried wrong, sat wrong, and slept in every  twisted way they could.While one of them arrived fine, the other, whom I shared a cab ride with confessed that he had chronic back pain, and was worse off following the trip. Now, keep in mind this is a physician who treats back pain-he proceeded to tell me that there really was nothing he could do about it.

If you are familiar with my work and writing, you already know that I firmly believe that there is very little in the back pain world which is immune to treatment of some sort. I really did not like hearing (from a physician no less)  that there was nothing he could do about it. I parted with one of the two copies of my book which I brought with me, and asked him to email me in a couple of months to report on his progress. I will keep you posted.

Tomorrow, I will be doing a video interview with an critical care nurse who works here in London. She has had extensive exposure to the British approach to nationalized health care, as well as the Australian system- which has a need-threshold system of distribution. Perhaps will share some insights into some of the things we in America seem to have anxiety about.

I look forward to hearing your questions and comments. As always, be well.

-Andy

The Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall

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Back Pain and Airline Travel: A few tips.

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

I am getting ready for my trip to the UK for lecturing and a little promotion of Back Together. Over the past several days, a few patients have made comments: “Ugh, that plane ride is horrible.”,”Your back is gonna need help after that plane ride.”, “Those seats are so uncomfortable.”

Yes- traveling on an airplane can be a miserable experience, particularly if you have back issues. There are a few things you can do that will likely help you avoid real exacerbation of your back pain:

1) If you have carryon luggage, resist the habit of carrying them in the same hand all the time. Switch sides- even if you are carrying two bags. It is pretty likely that they don’t weigh the same, and by favoring one side or another you will be creating an imbalance.

2) Better yet, use a rolling bag, and stack additional carryons on top of that. Switch the side you are pulling with.

3) Carry an extra t-shirt in one of your carryons- When you get to your seat, make a small roll from it, place it against the seat in the small of your back as a portable lumbar support.

4) When you are not asleep (and the fasten seatbelt sign is NOT lit), get out of your seat and stretch out your legs every 30 minutes or so. When possible stretch your arms out over your head. This will prevent the onset of stiffness & soreness.

5) When seated, with your feet flat on the floor in front of you, do ten repetitions of heel lifts (leaving your toes on the floor, going up & down) every hour. This helps to move your hips,prevent soreness, and may even help prevent blood clots from excessive sitting.

6) If you do sleep, use a travel pillow which provides support for both sides of your neck. They make inflatable ones which get very small when deflated, and only cost a few bucks if you don’t try to buy one at the airport.

7) Drink plenty of fluids. The air in planes is very, very dry. Staying hydrated will help prevent a whole host of problems, and will ultimately ensure that you get out of your seat pretty regularly.

Hopefully, these tips will help you to avoid too much discomfort the next time you travel.

Gotta go pack. Catch up with you from London!!

-Andy

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A Couple of Tidbits….Brian Dawkins, Back Pain Gadgets.

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Well, yesterday the Eagles came home to roost, as it were. The Eagles managed to lose another game they should’ve won. If you look back in my posts from the last postseason, you will see my post about Brian Dawkins. It seems that after a period of completely betraying those players most loyal to them (Brian Dawkins, John Runyan, Jeff Garcia, going all the way back to Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent, etc…) and of trying to get away with spending as little as possible- they have finally reached rock bottom. What did they think would happen when they cut out the heart of the team? If only the Eagles could trade Joe Banner to the Broncos, and get Brian back. I can only hope that Brian can find continued success with the Broncos- nobody deserves a Superbowl more than him.

I just wanted to put up a quick note about the proliferation of back pain gadgets. There have been a rash of infomercials and products I am seeing in stores, and even in supermarkets (heaven knows that’s where I go for back pain relief!) I get plenty of letters and emails about these products asking me whether they work or not. I am not in a position to say whether they are of any benefit without actually testing out the item in question. What I can tell you, is that any product which claims to be able to fix all back pain is probably not worth even looking at. There are products that can be helpful, to be certain, but no one product can get rid of all of your discomfort. Here’s a hint- if the product says ‘as seen on tv’ on it, I would tend to be a little suspect.

I am getting ready for my trip to London- look for some posts from the UK by the end of the week.

Be Well!

-AndyIMG_0090

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Wellness & Prevention: Real Health Care Reform

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

While there are lots of views about the way health insurance reform should play out, there is one thing which remains clear: As a whole we are not sufficiently focused on wellness & prevention. Most Americans think more about curing an illness after they have it, rather than addressing the lifestyle, nutritional, and fitness issues which may have prevented them from having it in the first place. These actions would save untold amounts of money, and have the added side effect of leaving everyone feeling healthier and happier.

Here is a short article from Mehmet Oz, M.D. which lays this out really well:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mehmet-oz/real-health-care-reform-w_b_356123.html

Enjoy,

Andy

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Thank you for your support! Announcements, and contest coming.

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

I am so excited by the response to Back Together, and especially to our new DVD program!!!

In December, I will be premiering my new blog series ‘The One Thing’ where I will be asking experts in the field of back pain what is the number one recommendation they have to prevent or relieve back pain. These experts will be coming from fields such as physical therapy, exercise, orthopedics, chiropractics, and others.

In anticipation of the new series, I am asking viewers to send me their ‘One Thing.’ What one thing have you found helps with your back pain? The flip side of that is what things have you found which makes it worse? Your responses will appear in BackWords- the Back Together Blog at www.backtogether.org. Please submit your responses to me at our facebook fanpage, or here at the blog.I cannot wait to hear what you have to say.

And as a thank you to all of Back Together’s supporters, I will be holding our first Back Together Stories contest, where we will be asking Back Together participants to share their best stories of how Back Together helped them and/or their relationships. The winning entry will win a trip for two to Miami Beach, Florida and receive a day of one-to-one Back Together Training with me! Contest rules and information will be posted in January- Check the facebook fan page or backtogether.org/blog for more information as it becomes available.

Again, thanks for your support,

AndyGKP_0138

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