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Medical Doctors and Chronic Back Pain

This is a true story. It will either really tick you off or make you feel a great deal of hope, maybe both.

For ten months Andrea O’Donnell was in constant pain. At home she could barely keep up with basic house work. Grocery shopping was unbearable. The laundry was piling up and she couldn’t get herself moving in the morning to get her 3 kids off to school. At work she couldn’t concentrate on what she was doing because the pain was so distracting. Pain shooting from her right hip to her groin, to her right thigh, and down to her calf totally consumed her. In bed at night there was no position that she could tolerate for very long. Any movement started it throbbing all over again. "There was no peace in my life", says O’Donnell, 41, an IT tech in Wappingers Falls, NY. "My pain owned me - It dominated my life". "I used to work out at Gold’s Gym 5 days per week and take the kids out camping, skiing, boating, playing ball on weekends. We did everything - We had a great life until this happened".

A snow-mobile accident in March, 2008 had caused her to be thrown off of the machine and into a tree, injuring her pelvic / sacro-iliac joints. The result was deep penetrating, dull, nagging pain in the hip, groin and leg with weakness, numbness and tingling in her right foot. Some days she said she couldn’t feel her right foot and would trip over it when walking. Some days it wasn’t as bad as others but it was always there if she turned or just moved the wrong way.

Just like millions of others who have chronic back pain, over the following ten months she had been to a whole list of specialists ranging from orthopedists to neurologists, pain clinics, acupuncturists, to physical therapists but nothing seemed to help her. How could this be possible in this day and age? She got ultrasound, traction, icepacks, hotpacks, muscle stim, Tens units. She was taking so many different drugs and medications, that she was like a zombie and didn’t know if she was coming or going half the time. When she got home at night she was almost unable to take care of her kids needs.

And, like so many others in the same situation, she thought was going to have to live with this for ever. Her doctors seem to have tried everything to no avail, but her doctors did not understand the nature of sacro-iliac joint problems. Instead of going after the underlying cause of the problem they  treated the pain. Pain is not the problem - It’s merely a signal that there is a problem...somewhere. It’s the check-engine light in your dash-board. When that light goes on it does not mean "turn off the light"- It means look for the problem causing the light to go on...and fix that. Taking a drug to stop the pain is ignoring the problem. It’s like putting a piece of duck tape over the check-engine light so you can’t see it. Maybe that’s why they’re called idiot lights...

When she came to our office (ten months after her accident) I examined her and had some x-rays made of her lower back- something I was very surprised that none of her other doctors had done. The x-rays showed that her sacro-iliac joints were out of alignment. Her sacrum (wedge-shaped bone in the middle of the pelvis), was twisted out of alignment. This caused the entire structure of the pelvis to be jammed or stuck so that none of the individual bones could move properly. This was something that no amount of drugs, ultrasound, hot packs, acupuncture or traction, etc. would ever fix in a lifetime.

Cover up or hide like the tape over the check-engine light, yes, maybe for a while... but never fix it.

You may as well stare at a door and expect it to open for you.

Sometimes I see people who come in with so much pain that they are actually in tears. Many are at the "end of their rope". Andrea sure was. So, it’s really something when someone gets off the adjusting table, hugs me and bursts into tears of joy and relief as Andrea did after the first adjustment I gave her. Imagine that - one adjustment after 10 months of agony and she was feeling better! It kinda gives me a chill in my own spine to think of that. It actually took several weeks for her problem to fully quiet down and let her start to live a normal life again, but since her very first adjustment she was improving daily. She started back to the gym after two weeks of care and was actually able to start thinking of a future again.

How many other Andreas are out there taking drugs, (putting duck tape over their check-engine idiot light), instead of finding out what is actually wrong that is causing all of their pain?

And they call chiropractors "quacks"...?

Drugging people so they don’t feel what is going on is the biggest lie in medical care you could tell.

Email this to someone you know who carries her own stash of Advil in her pocketbook.

How Much or Often Should You Go to the Chiropractor?

How often should you go?

I tend to let my doctor determine what and how much care I need for a particular problem. After he has done a thorough evaluation of your problem, he is probably the best one to ask how much care you will need.

But it is your decision in the end and this would depend on several factors -

First - How much do you want / expect to get out of your care?

If you want to get into shape - really build up your body would you go to the gym 1 time per week?

If you weighed 275 lbs. and wanted to finally do something about it and try to prevent yourself from needing a hip replacement or worse - having a heart attack ....would you skip lunch on Wednesdays and call that your diet?

How often do you need to floss your teeth?

How often do you change the oil in your car?

How often should you go? Well -

* How long have you had the problem? How much will it take to fix your problem and stabilize it so it doesn’t come back...?

That is what you want, right?

Maybe it will take more frequent visits to the chiropractor at first to make a difference....or less frequent visits but longer to resolve your problem than if you had fixed it in the beginning.

* How much does it bother you?

If it doesn’t bother you a whole lot then go once per week or every other week...

If it bothers you a lot, then go more often -

More is better / more is faster results / more is lasting results

Again - It's up to you - 

* What kind of shape are you in? De-conditioned people get better but much slower than their counterparts who are in shape.

* Are you over-weight? Over-weight people get better slower than height-weight proportional people

* Do you smoke? Smokers get better slower than non-smokers do.

* What other problems do you have that might cause a slower resolution of your problem?

Previous injuries? Arthritis ?

* What do you want to be able to do when you are "better"?

Do you want to feel just a little bit better? -

Go less often

* Do you want to feel rejuvenated / young again and flexible like you did when you were 30?

                                 Go more often

So, these are some of the things to consider and questions to ask when trying to decide how much care you need or how often you should see your chiropractor.

Some people let their insurance coverage dictate how much care they need.

I'm sorry, but that's just plain idiotic

 If their plan covers 8 visits... that’s how much care they need?

Really - that's the criteria? Just check their coverage? And they say chiropractic isn't scientific? They never taught that method in school for determining how much care a patient would need to fix a particular problem...

 I’m not sure I want my insurance telling me how much care I will need. I think their decisions are skewed by what pleases their stock holders rather than what would fix my bad back..

Then again...Do I WANT that wide screen TV more then I NEED to fix my sometimes aching back? Hmm

As a parting thought - I and most other chiropractors I know get adjusted once per week. I don’t have a problem with my back.

But I intend to keep it that way

7 Tips to Avoid Back Pain

We often tend to look to the Doc to fix our problems but 50% of the things that will help your back are things you can do yourself -

1 Sleep on your back. A majority of lower back problems begin with problems in the pelvis / sacro-iliac joints. Your pelvis joints are not stable and not intended to bear weight when laying on your side or a semi-crawl position. They will sprain and weaken over time if you continue to lay on your side every night.

2. When sitting down - sit up straight, not rigidly...but avoid slouching with your shoulders hunched forward.

3. Avoid soft, mushy and un-supporting furniture. It may be "comfy" looking but it’s not doing you any favors.

4. When bending down to lift something - Do not bend your back. Never bend and twist your back at the same time. Turn your feet so that you face what you wish to pick up, then bend your knees and hips as in squatting down, keeping the lower part of your back flat.

If you don’t bend your back - you can’t hurt it

5. Avoid prolonged postures. Even good posture, if prolonged, can start to cause problems over time. Humans used to be true hunter-gatherers, not computer operators chained to a key-board. We’re meant to move, not be statutes. Our bones may not rust in the true sense of the word, but when forced to be too stationary for too long it sure looks (and feels...), like they've rusted.

6. Make yourself do multiple, different repetitive motion type exercises like walking and rowing one day and going on the eliptical and then the bike another day. Another day just do the old callisthenics they made us do in gym class back in the day. It would certainly be better if you were good at them and that you enjoyed doing them - but that is Not a requirement. It is important that you "show up" and do something everyday. Doing different exercises and activities keeps it interesting (well - maybe a little bit...) and it forces you to work different muscles and parts of your body.

7. Email this to a friend - become each other’s "spotter" - Maybe with reciprocated gentle reminders (friendly nagging...?) You can catch and correct each other doing things that might hurt your backs.