Warning…Danger!
Filed under: Why Your Health Care Providers Have Not Been Able To Fix Your Back!
It is essential that you understand the symptoms of back pain in order to make an informed decision on how to address it. Some symptoms are of course more serious than others, and may indeed require medical intervention. Now, of course, as you may have guessed, I’m not a big fan on medical interventions for chronic back pain, BUT, there are a few situations in which I HIGHLY suggest you seek medical attention. These may include back pain that is associated with:
- Bowel trouble
- Difficulty keeping balance
- Difficulty walking
- Numbness in the lower pelvic area or saddle
- Shooting pains going down your legs
- Abnormal weakness in the legs
These are not the normal signs of chronic back pain, and can be signs of a potential serious condition. If you have any of the above, I HIGHLY suggest seeking the counsel of your medical health care provider.
Welcome back!
Mind-Body Pain Relief
The mental-emotional aspect of health is for sure the most controversial topic. I have to say, it absolutely boggles me how one can not see how this critical area is so VITAL to the health and well-being of every single human being on this planet.
It is also EXTREMELY correlated to chronic pain and through its elimination.
Here is a short list of some of the common mental-emotional stressors:
Job: Love vs. Hate relationship
Job: TOO much love! (yeah, I”m talking to you work-aholics!)
Generally feeling bored or stagnate with life
Lack of passion
Feeling stuck or frustrated in certain areas of life
Relationship stress: Abusive relationships, lack of connection, relationship has long been over, but hasn”t been ended!
Social stress: Perception of self in the context of your own social group, Caring too much about how others perceive you
Imbalanced or limiting spiritual beliefs: No connection with something greater than self, Limiting beliefs about own capabilities or what life holds for you. Believing in hell vs. heaven and questioning which one you’re gonna go to! (more on this very touchy topic later!)
Now, can you start to understand, after reading this list and paying attention to what goes off in your head as you do so, how these areas can create emotions and feelings (which ARE things) that can affect you on many levels?
Here’s just a sample:
An interesting case includes a woman who came to see me who had structural scoliosis for her whole life. She had been in pain for a long time. Unfortunately, after a mis-diagnosis, she had a piece of her intestines surgically removed.
After interviewing her, I found that she had been experiencing many digestive problems, along with her chronic back pain. On a 1 to 10 scale, her pain was at about an 8. She was about to go on vacation for a few weeks right after I saw her, so I decided to start her on some nutritional principles that really help reduce inflammation in the body.
What is really interesting is that she had MANY unresolved issues with her family, and had not visited them in a long time. While on her trip, at my recommendation, she began dealing with these emotional blocks. Upon returning from her trip, she was so excited when returning to my office and couldn’t stop raving about how much better her back had been. Now on a 1 to 10 scale, her pain was a 2!
All without any exercises or stretches yet!
If you have ever had the unfortunate experience of having a family member or someone close to you pass on, then I am sure you can understand the emotional changes you may have undergone in that time. The internal stress of this type of situation may cause us to question the nature of life and death, why we are here, our purpose, what it all means, or any of the more perception altering belief systems that form the basis of our reality. Your body will for SURE feel the extent of the power of the mind.
The effect of the mind is without a doubt, one of the more mysterious, intriguing, and challenging aspects of the healing process.
Why Your Health Care Providers Haven’t Been Able To Fix Your Back!
A back pain tale…
You wake up one day and realize that your back pain has been gradually increasing over the last few months. You decide to make an appointment with your doctor.
You visit your doctor and have an MRI done and its shows you have a minor disc bulge. You have no physical signs of disc bulge, which include a lateral shifting of your pelvis, or immediate pain upon bending forward, no pain during coughing or sneezing, or any major symptoms that would indicate a disc bulge, however, your doctor is convinced that your pain is coming from the bulge. By the way, no movement testing was done.
Your doctor first recommends that physical therapy may help. A prescription is written and you’re on your way to the therapist. The first day, your therapist does some general flexibility testing, takes a list of your symptoms, and some notes. From that day on, you meet with the therapist’s assistant when you visit to do a general back pain program that every patient gets. After doing physical therapy for 8 weeks, 3 times per week and doing exercises and back stretches, ice or heat and muscle stimulation with electrodes, you feel a bit better, but the pain keeps coming back, particularly if you miss a therapy appointment. You decide its time to re-visit your doctor to get another suggestion.
Your doctor then refers you to an orthopedic surgeon, who reviews your case, and your MRIs, and additional relevant information. The surgeon then recommends one of the following options; you can do nothing and see if it goes away on its own, have an epidural, or schedule surgery to repair the disc. Again, no movement testing was done.
So, first you decide that an epidural is the least invasive option, and your back is really bothering you, so maybe it will give you relief, and surgery doesn’t sound good to you. After receiving the epidural, you experience a minor reduction in pain, and wait a few weeks to see what develops. Over the next few weeks, you feel pretty good, and have noticed that the pain has calmed down a bit. You go back to your own daily routine. After a few more weeks, you notice that your pain levels are starting to rise again, and visit your surgeon for a follow up visit.
Once in your surgeon’s office to find that the exact same options are all that’s available to you. Surgery is still not enticing to you. What do you do now??
99.9% of chronic back pain cases are stuck RIGHT here!
So, what’s WRONG with this scenario??
Right now, let’s get something out of the way. I am NOT anti-traditional medicine nor am I against medical doctors. Medicine absolutely has its place, and we are all so blessed to have a doctor around should we break an arm, get an infection, or need a specialty operation or medication to help overcome an immediate health challenge.
However, in the context of chronic back pain, the truth is, most medical care is not effective. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that assisting patients in overcoming chronic back pain takes time, patience, a number of visits, and effective systems for assessing and treating all aspects of health that contribute to back pain.
Think about the last time you visited your primary healthcare provider. First, how long did it take to get a visit? How long was your appointment? How much time did you ACTUALLY SEE your physician? How much time was used to visit symptoms, complete history, physical assessments of multiple muscles and joints, nutritional analysis, and creating an itemized list of potential contributing lifestyle stressors?
Bottom line, it’s not the doctor’s fault. Overhead costs of running a medical practice are immense, and insurances just don’t pay for spending that kind of time working with patients. They do what they have to do, which unfortunately, unless you have an acute episode of back pain that must have a surgical procedure done, or you really need pain pharmaceuticals to make it through the day, isn’t much of anything.
The other challenge with seeing your medical doctor about back pain is that the majority of MD’s are not specialists in movement therapy. Very rarely, if ever, are physical assessments done on patients in that setting. In order to effectively rule out certain causal factors of back pain, these forms of testing MUST be done. Unfortunately, the majority of MDs don’t know how to perform or interpret them.
So, how does an MD generally diagnose back pain?
That leaves visual tests to lead to a diagnosis. These tests can include MRI, CAT, or X-ray, amongst some others. There are MANY reasons why visual diagnostic tests can be misleading and can overlook the actual reason why backs hurt.
One of them is that these images are taken when you are lying down. Most chronic back pain sufferers don’t have pain when they are on their backs. Pain on standing or moving means that the problem is based on your body’s interaction with gravity, and how it stabilizes itself during motion. A visual diagnostic test may not reveal these issues.
Very simply put, if I were to bend over and pick up something from the ground, and my back goes out, then wouldn’t it make sense to assess the position of the body, and the activity of the muscles in this position? (or at least what they were SUPPOSED to be doing!)
With this use of visual diagnostic tools, the END result of the back problem is actually being assessed alone, may reveal how to treat the symptoms, but will not reveal the real root cause of the problem or how to treat the person so that it doesn’t happen again.
So, what are the primary treatment options? Pharmaceuticals or surgical intervention are commonly the only offered. Many ask and pose the question to experts to establish if these two options are in fact valid treatments. That is indeed a very good question. To answer that, the following references are provided by quite well-known and respected physicians, as well as industry journals for medical professionals.
Imaging studies overestimate the problem, resulting in an increased number of unnecessary surgeries, yet thousands of medical doctors and osteopaths don’t know this. Surgery is the last resort.
90% percent of MRIs read as abnormal.
Pretty scary stuff, eh?
–Sam Visnic
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"Having someone like Sam to refer my patients to who is as comprehensive, brilliant and caring as he is makes my job so much easier!! I feel assured that my patients are in good hands and are going to get the results they so desperately want. I highly recommend Sam to anyone who is looking to resolve their back pain easily and effectively!”
-Dr. Holly Lucille N.D., R.N. -
“I've used Sam on more than one occasion to help me with back pain issues. As a full time web designer I often spent too many hours sitting behind the pc which led to chronic back pain. I started working with Sam a few years ago and his knowledge and insight helped me to alleviate my back pain issues and even improve my posture. Whenever I start to have back pain issues I just re-implement the tools and techniques he showed to me and in no time my back pain goes away. He really is the back pain specialist!”
-Jimmy Powell
Owner, Stellar Media Group -
“Sam is an excellent mind/body fitness coach & trainer. When it comes to eliminating complex back problems, Sam's your man. He is passionate about his work and dedicated to healing his clients. I highly recommend his services.”
-Michelle Armstrong
Author, "Manage Your Mind, Master Your Life" -
“In my experience it is rare to find a health practitioner who consistently cures the underlying issues, and successfully drives to total wellness. Sam has become our trusted family 'health support system' because he is one of those rare people. He has successfully helped my mother in law, sister, wife, daughter, and myself cure what western medicine has been unable to. We highly recommend Sam ... plus he's a cool guy !”
-Tim Parsey
Microsoft Partner, Dir UX -
“I was so impressed when working with Sam, from his detailed and thorough evaluation, to the great workouts and home exercises prescribed. I've referred a number of people to Sam and in the past we've used his DVD for gifts to patients for home care. I strongly recommend Sam's services and hope to be working with him personally at some time in the near future.
-Dr. Matt Costantino
HealthSource Chiropractic and Progressive Rehab