BackWords

I knew this tagline would get someone’s attention. I am not above being a little provocative if it will help me to make a point. So now that you are here, let me tell you a short story, which I was reminded of when editing this weeks ‘The One Thing’….

I was seeing a 32 year old mother of 3 for her back pain- let’s call her ‘Sue’- and after seeing her weekly for about 8 weeks, I managed to get her essentially pain free. We discussed her workout regimen, some home exercises I wanted her to do, some ergonomic things she could do around the house, and a few other things before I sent her home.

When I get someone to the point they are feeling pretty good, my goal is to see them for occasional maintenance, perhaps every 6-9 months- with the option of them coming in sooner if they ever had an exacerbation. I never got into the whole ‘I need to see you every week for the rest of your life’ thing (the exception being some of the professional athletes I work with who put themselves in harms way pretty regularly.) I booked Sue for six months, and she was so happy for her relief.

I came into my office one morning about 3 weeks later, and there was Sue- looking none-too-happy with me.

I asked Sue what brought her in. She had full return of her pain, and was incredibly frustrated by her setback. I didn’t want to discuss this in the waiting room, and scare off other patients, so we went back into the treatment room.

Had she fallen, been injured, over did it in the gym?  No- none of the above- her pain was back and she was pissed.

She got up on my treatment table and I began to palpate her spine. Lo and behold, her spine was right back where we had started. It was as though I had done nothing at all. It was at this point, I pursued a different line of questions….

Had Sue taken any of the ergonomic suggestions we discussed for her house? No.

Had Sue been doing any of the specific exercises I had prescribed to help keep her back moving? No.

Had Sue changed her child care situation to involve her husband a little more, so she wouldn’t be the only one picking them up? Nope.

Basically, she left my office the previous visit feeling great- did none of the things we discussed to help maintain her wellness, and was really annoyed when her pain came back.

Here’s the bottom line: If you are going to a Chiropractor, Osteopath  -or anyone else who does manual medicine or body work- you are wasting your time and money if you don’t address the lifestyle issues which caused your back pain in the first place. Back pain is not just a structural  thing. I talk about the pain triad with many of my patients- that is the essential 3 things which I feel contribute to back pain. They are as follows:

Structural issues: These are what they sound like- problems associated with basic structure and function. These things can usually be measured or imaged with x-rays or MRIs, and they can usually be fixed with manual medicine, therapy, and addressing underlying ergonomic concerns.

Psychological Amplifier: This is the part of your mind which gets frustrated or annoyed with the effect back pain has on your life, and can actually make it worse.

The Learned Neurological Response: This is the part of your central nervous system which controls modification of your normal body mechanics in order to find less painful ways of functioning following an injury or compromise, and sometimes has a difficult time resetting once the structural cause of pain has been addressed.

Almost all of my patients have each of these factors contributing to their discomfort- perhaps to different degrees, but they are all there.

For you to really control your back pain, rather than having it control you- you need to look into each of the components of your back & neck pain, otherwise you will forever be at the mercy of physicians and therapists to find relief from your discomfort- and throwing money out the window. Really- give this some thought the next time you experience an exacerbation. Take your practitioners suggestions and information- and use them!! This is the only way you will find lasting relief.

Best,

Andy

One week to the Philadelphia Flower Show- Spring is four weeks away!