Here is my most recent post on Martha’s site. Again, if you have not had a chance to check out this blog, you should. It is hosted by Terri Trespicio of Whole Living on Martha Stewart radio. She is a wonderful host on the air, and a terrific moderator on the blog.
Look for some interesting stuff this week. Thanks for visiting.
-Andy
My mentor was a the Yoda of Osteopathic medicine, and to his detriment, was also a gentleman. I say this not because it is a bad thing to be a gentleman, but because he was too good a guy to ask the nurses and OR staff to stand on steps when he did surgery. Instead at 6 foot 4 inches, he would lower the table, and do surgery hunched over to accommodate them. The result was that he spent the later part of his life shaped like a question mark.
If you are an Osteopathic Physician, Chiropractor, Massage Therapist, or other type of body work specialist- purchase an adjustable height table (well worth the investment), and vary the height throughout your work day. Certainly there is a range of height appropriate for the patient you have on your table, but by moving it around, you will prevent yourself from structural compromise over time.
Stop back tomorrow for tips on making commuting a back friendly endeavor!
-Andy
A study out of the University of Warwick, published in the Lancet suggests that cognitive therapy may be a useful tool for combatting back pain.
For those unfamiliar with cognitive therapy, here is a description from the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders:
Cognitive therapy is a psychosocial (both psychological and social) therapy that assumes that faulty thought patterns (called cognitive patterns) cause maladaptive behavior and emotional responses. The treatment focuses on changing thoughts in order to solve psychological and personality problems.
In this study, focused around 701 patients pulled from family practices, people with ongoing back pain were given cognitive therapy in the form of ‘Back Skills Training,’ Those who had the therapy were then compared to those who had not, utilizing a subjective measure of pain pain known as the Roland Morris scale.
Those patients who participated in the cognitive therapy group had significantly less pain than those who did not. The bigger issue, as with any lifestyle modification, is compliance. The study found that only 63 percent of those patients inserted into the therapy group were compliant with the therapy.
Again, I can’t stress strongly enough, the link between mind and body. How you perceive and experience pain is every bit as important as the physiological issues which caused it in the first place. If you are someone who has been dealing with back or neck pain for a long time, you already know the psychological burden it can be. Perhaps this additional modality could be a benefit to you.
If you have had cognitive therapy for your back pain, or another psychological modality, please share your experience here on BackWords. I look forwards to hearing from you.
Be well!
-Andy
Bringing a partner into the healing cycle can have significant benefit to a person in pain.
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