BackDocOnline.com

Gambling With Back Pain

Are you a gambler?

Are you trying to save money by avoiding care that will keep your back from giving you trouble?

If you have had a problem with your back in the past and you’re not keeping up with maintenance...you can expect to have a problem with it again.

When?

I can’t see around corners but experience has taught me that once you have a problem with your back it is in your best interest to regularly go for maintenance care which will prevent a reoccurrence of your problem.

Ever notice how much better you brush and floss your teeth after you spend a couple of thousand bucks on root canals and crowns?

Don’t mistake all chiropractic care as just for the pain you have...when you have it.

Regular chiropractic maintenance care isn’t for present pain - It keeps those joints in balance and mobile - so they don’t cause you pain later on.

I have a patient, (I’ll call her Geri), who, not too long ago, told me she was gong to hold off on coming back in for a while - "Money was tight", she said. I don’t argue with people when they tell me things like this. It was just 8 weeks, though, and she was back in the office with her back in spasm again, as it was when I first met her.

She and several of her friends regularly took the bus to Foxwoods for the day. Sometimes she did pretty well and others...well she had a good time anyway she said. She always told me she liked to gamble

One couldn’t help but notice how skewed her priorities were...

It took, not one or two adjustments to get her out of pain and stabilize her back this time, but 12 - (three adjustments per week for 4 weeks) to get her back to the way she was when she decided to stop her care. What did she save by skipping her maintenance care?

So, if you’re skipping care to save a few bucks - you’re gambling - Don’t be surprised if you end up spending everything you had saved by not taking care of yourself...and then-some, later on just to re-stabilize and get back on track again.

A Simple, Inexpensive Weight-Loss Plan

Do you want to lose weight but don't want to join a plan, have to show up to be weighed, sign up for membership and go on automatic reorder, buy expensive food that tastes like baby food?

Try this -

This plan will work if you put yourself on a schedule and stick to it exactly as it is shown here for you. Do not try to re-invent the wheel. This is already done for you. All you need to do is discipline yourself to follow it.

1. Decide when you are going to eat each meal and write it down so you do it the same time every day. Do not try to remember your schedule- write it down on a 3x5 card and carry it with you. Do not skip any meals.

2. Be sure to drink at least one tall glass or a bottle of water in between all meals - It’s important. it’s not for quenching your thirst.

3. Limit drinking during meals.

4 Avoid carbonated drinks.

5. Avoid carbohydrates: pasta, bread, rice, potatoes cake, donuts, candy.

6. Avoid all fruit while on this plan.

7. Before you start this plan clean the house out of all fruit, cake, cookies, candy, sodas and other sugar-laden munchies.

Breakfast: 7:00AM... the time is not critical - just pick a time and stick to it

the same

every day

Make an egg-white omelette with a small sprinkling of cheddar cheese

alternate a real / full egg omelette every other day

avoid toast of any kind; avoid home-fries, avoid bacon and sausage

have coffee with milk / half & half, etc. and / or sweetener if you choose but avoid orange juice

Lunch: 12:00 Noon...

Make a cold-cut "roll-up" using your choice of cold cut meats and cheese

Try two slices of Provolone, two slices of turkey, then two slices of ham, spread some avocado or mustard on it, then roll it up...

Try different cold-cuts on alternating days to keep it interesting.

Dinner: 5:30 PM....

Make a 7-8 oz. hamburger, grill it, broil it, melt some cheese on it

enjoy it with some ketchup or mustard or relish (no roll)

substitute a small steak one night then a pork chop another, then one night eat a small fish filet or a chicken cutlet. Keep the portion size to no more than 7-8 oz of lean meat.

Have an assortment of fresh vegetables - spinach and string-beans one night, then broccoli and asparagus another night - try different combinations - vary it to keep it interesting.

Make a small salad and use a lite dressing.

Have No bread, rolls, pasta, rice, potatoes No starch, no carbohydrates.

For drinks - drink a small glass of water, adding a wedge of lime or lemon,

avoid carbonated drinks - even diet drinks will add weight and prevent fat burning.

Avoid alcohol - it’s loaded with sugar.

You can have a small quantity of sport drinks such as Gatorade, but avoid drinking too much when eating your meals.

Snacks:

Purchase some protein bars (Medifast makes some good ones in a variety of flavors). You can order directly from Medifast or go to my web site: good-byefat.tsfl.com - (or click on the link on the side bar).

Eat one bar in the morning about 1 ½ hours after breakfast (stay on schedule with this - the timing is important)

Eat another bar 1 ½ hours after lunch. Again- the timing is important - do not skip

You can alternate high-protein shakes for the bar as well. Shakes are found on the same link noted above.

For hunger-fits: Drink a glass of water and wait ½ hour - if still hungry eat a boiled egg or have some celery or a pickle, or drink some coffee or tea

No one got over-weight over night, so be strong, be patient. Look at it as a challenge. If you stick to this and follow it as outlined above you will lose about 2- 5 lbs per week.

If you go out to dinner at a restaurant - do not vary or alter anything. Stay on schedule, order and eat according to this plan.

If you slip-up and cheat or go off the plan....tomorrow is another day...don’t beat yourself up - Just start over and keep on working on it

Share this with a friend - if you do this together you can support and coach each other.

Questions? Call Dr John at 845-297-6688 or email me at drjohn@backdoconline.com

Back Pain Caused by Medication

Many times patients will come to me reporting back pain that has no likely, obvious cause or incident to explain how it started.

Upon taking a case history it is revealed that he is taking a boatload of medicines for various other problems.

I usually go online and look up the drug he is taking or I’ll call my pharmacist to find out all of the complications and side-effects that are possible from taking it and Bing-o!

"May cause muscle pain", or "joint pain may occur", etc.... "Consult with your doctor if you have these symptoms..".

A commonly used drug is Lipitor, a statin drug commonly used to lower one’s cholesterol.

Another statin widely used is Crestor. Both have been shown to be very good at lowering the cholesterol. In many people, however, it also causes back pain. Actually, many people have reported back pain while taking Lipitor. They just didn’t connect the dots.

If your cholesterol is too high - it needs to be lowered or it will cause other problems. If your medication is causing back pain, however, maybe you want to speak to your doctor about switching to another drug.

Alternatively - Try a more natural, holistic approach to reducing the cholesterol levels without taking a drug to do it.

Often, cholesterol levels can be reduced simply by changing your diet to one that has less carbo-hydrates in it and getting more exercise. This approach has a lot more plusses to it than taking a pill that ends up making your back hurt.

Another drug to watch out for is an antibiotic called Cipro. This is used for deep-seated infections such as are found in the urinary tract and in the prostate. Cipro has been implicated in muscle and tendon pain as well as tendon tears and ruptures. I’m sure that if studies were done it would be found to be involved in spinal muscle and disc injuries as well.

This is not to say "don’t take the medication" - sometimes you don’t have a choice. Maybe, you simply must take it. But maybe you should read (and hang onto...), the little information sheet that you get with your prescription. It gives you information that might be helpful to you in understanding the effects of the drug you’re taking.

But, in any case, before you start taking a pain pill for your back pain, why not look at what else you are already taking to see if that might be causing the pain in the first place.

And, if your back is hurting and you’re Not taking a pain-producing medication then perhaps you should be examined to see if there is some part of your back that is out of alignment.

That is still, by far, the biggest reason why peoples’ backs hurt them.

The Challenges of Relieving Back Pain

There are really two challenges in fixing a bad back.

The first is concerned with deciphering the problem and deciding or diagnosing what the problem is.

This part of the problem is resolved by asking the right questions to develop a working diagnosis, knowing the right tests to do, and then knowing how to interpret the test results to either throw out or prove and confirm that diagnosis.

After 25 years of helping people resolve their back pain, one tends to get pretty good at this part...

The second challenge is to communicate adequately enough to the patient what her problem is so that she follows through with the care long enough to bring about a significant change or resolution of her condition.

From a provider’s perspective, confronted with declining insurance coverage - ( ironically, the biggest deciding factor of whether or not a patient will choose to follow through with care), as well as lost or lowered incomes and diminished interest in continuing care beyond the urgency of the initial acute phase of back pain... The truly hardest part or biggest challenge of fixing a bad back is this second one.

Unfortunately, because the economy is not what it once was, and because insurance coverage is diminished for many, we tend to expect a bad back to be fixed in a shorter time frame than previously when everyone had better coverage.

There are no short-cuts. Damaged / injured bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles, and other tissue all heal just as rapidly as the cells can be replaced.

Under the best of circumstances muscles, ligaments (discs) take 6-8 weeks to replace themselves.

This doesn't take into account the various other complicating factors such being overweight, out of shape and condition, a history of multiple injuries, familial health problems, poor postural habits, work and lifestyle issues, etc. - all of which slow down the process and sometimes, may even double healing time. 

Nature has it’s own pace. It is unconcerned with our wants, needs and schedules and it couldn’t care less about our insurance coverage.

Back Pain Leads to Poor Health, Weight Gain and Lowered Income

Long ago people studying the human brain learned that different areas of the brain have very different purposes and functions.

The front of the brain, for example, handles conscious thinking. It is one of the things that separates humans from other animals - we can think. At least we think we do and they don’t.

The base of the brain is the area that controls life support. It controls your heart beat, your breathing and many other basic life and body functions.

In the very center and lower part of the brain are areas that control alertness, emotions and how you deal with and respond to stress.

In much the same way that you cannot walk into a room where several people are all talking and be able to focus on, concentrate on and continuously follow each of the individual conversations separately, - your brain cannot focus on something that is stressing you out and effectively think of a solution or "way out" at the same time. You will try to but not really do either very effectively.

Your body responds to stress by releasing a hormone called cortisol from the adrenal glands. In small quantities - this is good. When under stress for long periods of time it can become a bad thing.

Cortisol production over extended periods will weaken your immune system and response to disease. It will also drive up your cholesterol levels as well prevent you from burning fat.

True -If you are thinking accurately, clearly ...you're can't be stressing as much and you're not producing as much cortisol - (can't do both at the same time) 

But, if you're not thinking accurately, under prolonged stress, you are at a much increased risk of:

* Becoming ill,

* Gaining weight,

* And - not being as effective as you might be at your work (because you’re not thinking and responding to your work environment as clearly as you should be), and thus - you will earn less money.

What does this all have to do with back problems?

Plenty

Back problems are, in and of themselves, extremely stressing - physically, emotionally and mentally.

Think of how stressed you become when you can’t move. You can’t lay, sit, stand, walk, work, think clearly, do your chores, play ball, have sex - live your life the way you’re accustomed to, because your back is all jacked-up...That’s STRESSING. Anybody disagree?

Remember - stress leads to cortisol production, poorer health, weight gain and diminished accurate thinking and lowered income.

Here’s a simple solution: Fix the bad back.

Once the back is feeling better, the physical stress is diminished, your health is back on track, you start losing weight, you feel better emotionally, you will be able to think more accurately & clearly and  - you start making more money.