Mechanical Lower Back Pain

Mechanical Lower Back Pain

There are three types of lower back pain; sprain/stains, mechanical, and compressive. 85% of Americans will suffer some form of mechanical lower back pain sometime in their lifetimes. It is by far the most common and the most disabling.

Mechanical back problems often have multiple problems of the muscles, ligaments, discs, and facet joints. It is also most common in ages 25-60. A lot of studies believe that the problem is cumulative trauma mostly from work related problems. I don’t buy that, I believe it is more likely related to deconditioning of the body as we age. Most Americans sit all day which is the worst position for your back and puts more stress on the lower back area then most other activities. The more will sit the more our core muscles weaken which is supposed to support and hold the spine. I think this is exactly what happened to me when I hurt my back. I have no history of trauma and all I did was take a nap on the couch and roll off. Well everyone knows that rolling off a couch should not cause severe back pain, but it did. The question for me is why it did. My conclusion over the years I allowed myself to get out of shape and my muscles that support the spine (core muscles) had also become weak. This had happened over many years and probably many decades. When I twisted to get off of the couch these muscles did not support the spine and it moved pinching a nerve.

With mechanical types of injuries it is my opinion that physical medicine (such as chiropractic) is much more effective than treating it with pharmacological medicine and research has continually shown this to be true. So you can take all the medications that you want, but until you address some of these underlying mechanical and strength and weakness problems the pain will most like return.

Whiplash

Whiplash what is it and how to treat It

With all of the construction on Key Ave I thought discussing “whiplash" would be a good topic. Whiplash is a term that was coined in around 1928 which describes the injuries an individual gets to his neck and back following a motor vehicle accident. Up until the advent of the automobile “whiplash” was not a very common occurrence. The easiest way to describe whiplash is a sprain or strain to the neck. It can cause a variety of symptoms such as neck pain, neck stiffness, headaches, arm/shoulder pain, back pain and numbness and tingling into the extremities. It can take 24 hours to several days for these symptoms to show up. Many times people believe that injury is related to automobile damage; the more damage the more injury. This is not always the case. Many times severe injuries can occur with little to no vehicle damage. One of the reasons that this can occur is if the accident caused rapid acceleration (moving very quickly) that can cause more damage to the structures of the neck. Generally getting hit from behind by another vehicle on wet pavement causes more damage to the neck than dry pavement due to acceleration. Getting hit on snow or ice will cause more damage than being hit on wet pavement. I read somewhere that being hit by a Volkswagen on ice is about the same as being hit by a city bus on dry pavement. Here is link to an animation of a whiplash injury

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Bv_gtPu-8&feature=related

So what do you do if you have pain associated with a “whiplash”? One the most highly regarded studies to date was the Quebec Task Force on Guidelines for the Management of Whiplash-Associated disorders. They really did not do any new research they just reviewed all the current research and their findings. They found the most effective treatment to be manipulation and mobilization and range of motion exercises. Medications can be used but should be limited to no more than 3 weeks. A cervical collar should not be worn for longer than 72 hours. So if you are unfortunate enough to have a “whiplash” disorder give our office a call and we will get you back on your feet ASAP, and most automobile insurance companies will pay 100% of the medical costs.

Pain

As a person who has dedicated his life to helping others attain better health it can be frustrating, and heartwrentching as you see patients suffer needlessly. Too many times I see people letting go of a life they were meant to live, I mean to truely live. A life interrupted. A muted version of what life has in store.

I believe that God made us to enjoy and live life to the fullest not to just putter around in first or second gear, but to go through all the gears in life like a fine tuned sports car. Make sure that you don't make pain become a normal part of you life.

What can be done, how about diet and exercise? We keep hearing about how this helps blood pressure, cholestrol, arthritis, etc. Corporations can't bottle it and sell it for a profit so it gets put on the back burner. It is the easiest and least expensive way to become a healthier you.

National Healthcare

Once again National Healthcare is in the forefront of topics on the news. I have not heard many good arguments from Republicans about why we should not have a national health system. They talk about preserving the right to choose your doctor. Today most health plans already have some control over who you can see from a PPO to the HMO's. They talk about quality care, well care is rationed right now. Go to any emergency room and tell them that you don't have insurance and see what kind of quality treatment that you will get. They talk about the government taking over healthcare and the doctors/hospitals will get cuts in reimbursment and taxes will go up. This is just what is happening with insurance companies right now they cut doctors reimbursments and raise premiums. They talk about the government prescribing treatments. Well that is occurring with private health insurance right now, in fact one of the worst examples is the Texas Workers Compensation System. The most recent rules were adopted by Republicans, and the system is the most bureaucratic, heavily paperworked system I have seen, all run through private insurance.



The only good argument against national healthcare is the cost. Americans have been unwilling to deal with the cost of healthcare for a long time. I believe that the reason is that the choices that we will have to make are very difficult. It will be easy to eliminate chiropractic coverage or dental or podiatric coverage but that is just playing around the edges of the cost. Chiropractic healthcare accounts for 0.5% of the total Medicare expenditures. The question becomes that if chiropractic care is eliminated where do patients go for back and neck pain? And is it more costly than chiropractic? But real cost drivers in the American Healthcare System are treatment of the very young (neonatal) and the treatment of the very old. We have yet to have the discussion on when is too much medical care for an individual. Until we have that discussion costs will continue to rise and healthcare spending will continue to sky rocket.

I pick on the Republicans on this issue, and I use to be one. I am an independent now because in my opinion the Republicans are too much in the pocket of insurance companies. And as you can probably tell I don't care very much for insurance companies and how they do business.

Preventative Health

I have been reading a lot about how we can improve our health with preventative measures. Eating right, exercising, and stopping smoking. I agree with all of this except the Government talked about this for Medicare patients. I believe, while it will help, it is too late to begin preventative medicine when you become 65 years old. I believe that it should start much earlier. I have found out that people in their 30-40 who need to make these changes, are not interested in making these changes. The older patients of mine have health issues where they are developing serious health problems, yet in many cases it is too late to make needed changes. Do you know that in the U.S. most people will exercise not to become healthier but to look better. Health is not a real priority.

So how do we become healthier people? There are three things everyone can do very easily to improve their health. I think the first thing we can do is turn off the TV or computer for awhile. These both have a way of “numbing “the mind. How many times have you been on a computer and never realized how much time you were there? I look at it as being brainless entertainment, we do not have to think or do anything while the TV or computer entertains us. We can also get off our butts and walk for about 20 minutes each evening after it cools off. Getting the heart pumping a little faster will give you more energy and help to burn more calories. After a month of walking I can guarantee that you will be feeling better. Make sure you have good supportive shoes. And last try drinking more water instead of cokes, tea, or coffee. You will actually fill up on water and there are zero calories.

Now these ideas are nothing new, they are not flashy, I could not do an infomercial on TV and expect to make lots of money on these recommendations. But these are good, easy, inexpensive recommendations that will help you become a healthy you. I challenge you to try it.

I was asked to comment on what I thought about Nationalized Health Care in the United States. Well my thought is that it is coming whether we like it or not. When? I do not know but it is moving in that direction. I believe that once big business gets behind a Nationalized Healthcare system it will become a reality. Big business wants to know if they can save money by buying into some type of a government plan or their current health insurance plan. The insurance companies on the other hand are still making a good chunk of money in the health insurance arena and they will fight hard to keep those profits. I hate what we currently have it is so inefficient and cumbersome that I am amazed that it has not come crashing down upon us already. It is just a terrible system. You never hear of insurance companies going belly up because they are still making gobs of money. They raise premiums and lower doctors fees and make a killing. I think it is close to like being in the mafia. Medicare on the other hand is a pain to deal with but we know what we are dealing with so it is not as bad as private insurance. I cringe when I think of the government taking over healthcare but our options’ are very limited right now. Also you hear of very few senior citizens complaining that they have Medicare. Sometimes I think the insurance companies realize that we are going to be socialized medicine and they are trying to squeeze every penny out of the system that they can before the government takes over. The current system is a complete mess. Today my practice is mostly a cash practice since the major insurance company in the area has chosen not to cover cost effective chiropractic care (there is alot of politics involved in these decisions). They would rather pay $30,000 for a lower back disc surgery than inexpensive chiropractic care. Maybe that is why we are in the shape we are in right now?

Chiropractic Care for the Military

I had the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. in the early 1990's to see chiropractic begin its journey for inclusion in the military health care system. There is a history of chiropractors serving there country in non-official manners in the military as far back as WWII. During the first Gulf War I knew a Chiropractor who was a Major in the Air Force reserves. His military duties were as a trauma nurse and when soldiers found out that he was a Chiropractor in civilian life they swamped him for requests for chiropractic care. He was so busy he had to move out of his officers tent because treated patients there was interfering with the other officers sleep. He had a chiropractic table built and was set up in the Moral-Welfare tent. This doctor made the soldiers sign in name, rank, and serial number. He keep this list and he was seeing 20-40 people after duty hours. The military health care system could no longer ignore that Chiropractic was an important part of the system during war time. We currently have civilian Chiropractors stationed at military bases around the country and now chiropractic care is available to VA beneficiaries. Our last hurdle with the military health care system is to get chiropractic care available for the dependents and retires. This can be accomplished by having your local Congressperson co-sponsor H.R. 484 here is a link to email your member of Congress about this important issue.



http://vocusgr.vocus.com/grconvert1/WebPublish/Controller.aspx?SiteName=AMCHRO&Definition=ContactLegislators&IssueID=4285



I think it is time for our Government to do the right thing and help these families and retires out.