Alternative Answers for Back Pain

by Andrew Pacholyk, MS. L.Ac
http://www.peacefulmind.com

Acute and chronic pain effects over 100 million people in the United States each year. While pain is best known and characterized as subjective, meaning only the person who is experiencing it can explain what it feels like, pain is often called the Universal equalizer. Pain affects people differently. What may be perceived as only a minor nuisance to one person, may be completely debilitating to someone else. Pain is a warning that something isn't quite right. Pain is not a disease in itself but the result of an underlying condition or due to injury. Pain is not just a physical sensation or psychological event, but a combination of these and other components.

Back pain can be caused by a variety of situations such as accidents, musculoskeletal disorders, improper lifting, bending, sports activities, misalignment of the vertebrae of the spine and disease. It can also appear out of nowhere with no obvious cause. A viral illness may possibly be a cause, or emotional trauma, such as fear or resentment. In the vast majority of cases, pain is caused by stasis of blood and or our body's energy resulting in muscle spasm, trauma and immobility. a variety of situations such as too much or improper lifting, bending, sports activities and misalignments of the vertebrae of the spine. It can also appear out of nowhere with no obvious cause. A viral illness may possibly be a cause, or emotional trauma, such as fear or resentment.

The pain may be acute or it may develop slowly over a matter of hours or days out of a minor discomfort. In acute form, back pain can render a person helpless, enabling them to get up from a sitting or lying position or to even feed, wash, or dress themselves.

In the vast majority of cases, acute back pain comes from muscle spasm. Many people with acute back problems think they are suffering from a slipped disc, pinched nerve, spinal subluxation, or a torn ligament or muscle, when in fact intense muscle spasm is the sole or primary cause. Spasm of back muscles is maintained by a nervous reflex through the spinal cord that sets up a vicious cycle: spasm and inflammation lead to more spasm and inflammation. Although the cycle can develop due to injury, the ultimate cause is often in the brain, which can interfere with muscle physiology through the spinal cord.

Pain is a vicious cycle: spasm and inflammation lead to more spasm and inflammation. Although the cycle can develop due to injury, the ultimate cause is often in the brain, which can interfere with muscle physiology through the spinal cord. Chronic (long term) and acute back (and neck) pain are common expressions of stress and emotional stress. This demonstrates the true complexity of the mind/body interaction. Many times it is the brain's distortion of muscle function that sets us up for pain by preventing muscles from responding freely to physical stresses.

Acute pain can result from disease, inflammation, or injury to tissues. This type of pain generally comes on suddenly, for example, after trauma or surgery, and may be accompanied by anxiety or emotional distress. The cause of acute pain can usually be diagnosed and treated, and the pain is self-limiting, that is, it is confined to a given period of time and severity. In some rare instances, it can become chronic.

Chronic pain is widely believed to represent disease itself. It can be made much worse by environmental and psychological factors. Chronic pain persists over a longer period of time than acute pain and is resistant to most medical treatments. It can often cause severe problems for patients.

In assessing pain, a useful approach is to assess pain intensity (sensory), pain relief (cognitive), pain location, pain distress (affective), behavioral patterns or other similar sensory aspects of pain.

Without a doubt, added stress and strains can take its toll on your spinal and nervous system. Maintaining a physically fit body, awareness of body positions, a clean and detoxified internal system, keeping fears, stress and insecurities in check and careful execution physically, through each day are all great ways to avoid daily aches and pains.

Proper alignment of the head over the shoulders over the hips over the knees over the feet, are also imperative in maintaining a pain-free body. Firm abdominal muscles help to keep the back straight and strong. Bad posture habits can lock your muscles into positions you are not even aware your body is taking which can put unwanted strain on the lower back.


Exercise: The Back Strengthener

Do this exercise up to 4 times a day.

Lay on the floor, stomach down. Slowly lengthen out the spine as you raise one arm and the opposite leg. Exhale as you raise up into an arch. Hold this as your take two deep breaths. Slowly release back to the floor. Inhale, as your raise up the other arm and opposite leg, exhale. Hold this arch agian for two deep breaths. Lower down. Inhale. Then raise both arms, leaving both feet on the floor. Exhale. Hold the arch as you take two deep breaths. Slowly lower down. Inhale. Raise both feet off the ground, leaving both arms on the floor. Exhale. Hold the arch for two deep breaths. Slowly lower down. Inhale. Lastly, raise both arms and both legs off the floor. Exhale. Hold this full arch for two deep breaths. Slowly lower down. Inhale. Repeat entire sequence one more time. This exercise should flow easily with the breath. (Always feel the energy pulling out in both directions from the top of the head and hands and out the bottom of the feet.) Try to arch up further each time. This amazing exercise will relieve back pain!

Exercise: Abdominal Work

Ab work can be done on a daily basis. By strengthening the abdominal wall you are helping to support the lower back. 300, 400, 500 situps are not only a waste of time but allows for that many more attempts to injure yourself. It is the quality not the quantity of sit ups that makes all the difference. SLOW and controlled is the most powerful approach. Stretching a sore back will actually enhance the healing process. One good stretch for lower back pain is to gently bring your knees up to your chest. Once there, put a little pressure on your knees. Stretch, then relax. Repeat. Stretching will help the muscle calm down sooner than just waiting for it to calm down on its own.

Exercise: Sciatic Pain

Sciatic pain is generally the result of pressure on the sciatic nerve. When an intervertebral disc presses on the nerve root as it leaves the spine it causes pain and often numbness along the route of the nerve which travels down the buttock, down the thigh and sometimes down into the lower leg. This can result in a feeling of weakness as well. This is sometimes caused by a disc prolapsed or "slipped disc". Since sciatic pain can be the result of a disc prolapsed, it is the prolapse that we need to understand. The prolapse is most often the result of a harmful habit or pattern of bending and putting stress on the spine. A herniated disc in the back, spinal stenosis and piriformis syndrome are also medical disorders that can cause sciatica.

Stretching a sore back will actually enhance the healing process. One good stretch for lower back pain is to gently bring your knees up to your chest. Once there, put a little pressure on your knees. Stretch, then relax. Repeat. Stretching will help the muscle calm down sooner than just waiting for it to calm down on its own.

A variation on this exercise is to lay on your back and gently bring one knee up to the chest. Keep the opposite leg elongated along the floor. Keep the energy of that foot moving out through the foot. Squeeze and hold the knee to the chest. You can make small circles with the knee. Pull your abs in and slowly lower the knee. Switch sides.

Stabilizing exercises are also best for strengthening the back. The most important aspect is sensing and controlling motion in the spine. Once learned, the body can eventually take over and do this without the level of concentration it takes early on.


Exercise 1.

In a standing position, cross right ankle over left knee. Now slowly bend your standing leg. Sit back in the position so you feel a stretch in the buttocks. To increase this stretch, use one hand and gently evert your foot by simple pulling the toes toward you. Keep the foot on the knee. Make sure you sit back into the buttocks in this sitting position. Switch legs.


Exercise 2.

Laying on the floor with knees bent, arms at sides, tighten abdomen and slowly raise alternate legs 3-4 inches from the floor. With the arms, lower the opposite arm over the head.


Exercise 3.

Laying on the floor with knees bent, feet on the floor, bridge upward, slowly raising the buttocks from the floor. These should all be performed with a rigid trunk. The pelvic tilt will be used to find the most comfortable position for the low back.


Exercise 4.

This same pelvic position is maintained while performing stabilizing exercises from the prone (on the stomach) position: With elbows bent and hands under the shoulders, raise one leg 2 to 3 inches from the floor. With elbows straight and arms stretched about the head, raise an arm and the opposite leg 2 to 3 inches off the floor.

Exercise variation can be done on hands and knees, raising the arms and legs only as high as can be controlled, maintaining a stable trunk and avoiding any twisting or sagging.

Raise one leg behind with the knee slightly bent and no arch in the back or neck. Raise one leg with the opposite arm with the knee slightly bent and no arch in the back or neck.

Exercise: Piriformis Syndrome

Lay on your back and gently bring one knee up to the chest. Keep the opposite leg elongated along the floor. Keep the energy of that foot moving out through the foot. Squeeze and hold the knee to the chest. You can make small circles with the knee. Pull your abs in and slowly lower the knee. Now gently stretch the knee so that it crosses your midline and hold the knee there for 15-30 seconds. Switch sides.


Andrew Pacholyk, MS. L.Ac
http://www.peacefulmind.com/back_pain.htm
Therapies for healing
mind, body, spirit