Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield underwent back surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital this week to repair a herniated disc and remove a loose fragment. Many are encouraged to hear early word the back surgery was deemed successful with 4-6 weeks of rehab to begin immediately.
Starting with lower back pain, the pitcher developed weakness in his left leg which led to a season ending limp. All the classic complaints of sciatica, characterized by pain running down the back of the leg, weakness in one or both legs, and even lower back pain.
Interestingly, Tim’s progression from pain and weakness to cortisone shots to back surgery follows a pattern familiar to many back pain sufferers. The good news for those with lower back pain or sciatica — even those with a diagnosed herniated disc — is back surgery is rarely necessary to eliminate back pain. In fact, it should be considered a last resort.
Beating sciatica pain and weakness starts with understanding that sciatica is actually a symptom of a different condition. The four most common conditions leading to sciatica are:
Piriformis syndrome — the most common cause of sciatic pain, where the piriformis muscle places pressure on the sciatic nerve
Herniated disc — a bulging or herniated disc may irritate the sciatic nerve
Spinal stenosis — a narrowing of the spinal canal itself pinches the sciatic nerve
Isthmic spondylolisthesis — a slipped vertebrae may irritate the sciatic nerve during movement as it rubs abnormally against the adjacent vertebrae
Outside of cases of trauma, sciatica almost never develops overnight. While the pain may appear suddenly, the underlying condition usually takes months or years to develop.
Fortunately, most cases of back pain and sciatica pain can be relieved through targeted stretching and strengthening exercises. This non-invasive approach is almost always preferable to back surgery and cortisone shots which don’t treat the actual cause of the condition. Particularly since back surgery is the only category of surgery with a clinical name for failure: failed back surgery!
While working with the Healthy Back Institute, I have talked to thousands of back pain suffers who have undergone some form of surgery.
They are shocked to learn afterward that most spinal surgeries typically fail three to five years later.
By “fail,” I mean that you find yourself in pain once again. In fact, these operations are so unreliable, that the medical establishment coined a term for them: Failed Back Pain Surgery Syndrome (FBPSS).
It’s not your fault that you were misled or that you once again are finding yourself in pain. And while you may think your case is unique, it is not. There certainly are a thousand different circumstances leading to back surgery… but the truth is your story has ended up just like everyone else’s.
The trouble is due to a slight defect in the medical community’s approach that gets played out over and over when dealing with back pain surgery.
By Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, MFT
The Healthy Back Institute
Let me be very clear that despite what you may have been told, it is very possible to heal a herniated disc. Yes, I said heal… and without invasive surgery or years of physical therapy.
Why haven’t you heard this statement before? It’s simply because most doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists base their treatment on the diagnosis (i.e., herniated disc), rather than on correcting the cause of the diagnosis (e.g., muscle imbalances).
Once you understand that something or some things have caused your disc to herniate, slip, bulge or otherwise become dysfunctional, you will be able to address that cause and choose alternative treatment options that will 1) correct the problem, 2) diminish the pain, and 3) prevent the disc from herniating again.
If you’ve ever suffered from intense pain in the neck, shoulder or upper back
you know that it can make getting through the day extremely difficult because
there are so many things we do that require our arms and head.
I know exactly what it’s like as I’ve had my fair share of injuries, including
shoulder problems brought on by weight lifting as well as a month long stiff
neck caused by a nasty mountain bike accident.
So I know a thing or two about how to deal with and eliminate these aches
and pains. Plus, over the past 5 years, here at the Healthy Back Institute
we’ve helped thousands of people overcome neck, shoulder and upper
back pain.
Here’s what we’ve found to work the best:
1. If brought on by an accident, as quickly as possible take Arnica.
Arnica is a homeopathic remedy that works very well when taken right after
injury and they even make small viles of pellets you can keep on you. I now
keep some in my car and also in my mountain biking pack.
2. Reduce the inflammation as quickly as possible.
There are many things you can do to reduce the inflammation. You can use
ice for the first 24-48 hours. Elevate the limb or injured part of the body.
3. Eliminate muscle spasms and relieve tight, stiff muscles
Muscles in spasms can wreak havoc on your body and what many people
don’t realize is your muscles can be a in a state of “semi” spasms.. meaning
the spasm isn’t intense enough for you to notice but while mild it can still pull
your body out alignment and cause other problems.
One way to address this is trigger point therapy which can be administered
by a trained therapist and much of it you can even do yourself.
4. Ensure your mindset is programmed for recovery
Believe it or not, your mind… how you think, what you feel, etc all plays a
MAJOR role in your ability to heal and recover. And if you don’t believe it,
I challenge you to do some research and see what you discover. Start by
reading thisspecial report on the subject.
But in the meantime, just remember that you must tell yourself that you
WILL overcome this and you must believe it.
5. Identify and address your muscle imbalances
Whether your pain was caused by an accident or not, you have imbalances…
we all do and the worse they are the more likely they are to create conditions
and cause pain.
If you haven’t already identified your imbalances using our best-selling Lose The Back Pain system you really need to. You can’ expect to get lasting
relief if you don’t uncover and address the underlying cause.
And before you try to say “my condition was caused by ______” let me remind
you that regardless of what you may have been diagnosed with and what you
have been told, or what you believe caused it, I can promise you that muscle
imbalances ARE a factor…
In fact, I’m willing to bet that they are a BIGGER factor than you may think and
that once you start to address them you WILL start to see improvements…
And often times people see improvements in so many other areas in addition
to the “condition or pain” that got them started in the first place.
Well, I wish you the best and hope that you will take action and continue to
learn and experiment.
If you ever have questions please post them in our discussion forum.
Talk to you again soon…
Jesse
P.S. Who do you know who could benefit from these emails and all of the other
free resources on our website? Please forward this email to anyone you know
who might benefit.
It’s a question I get dozens, if not hundreds of times each and every day:
I’ve tried everything but am still in extreme pain, what can I do?
Well, I’ve got good and bad news for you…
First, let’s start with the GOOD news.
The good news is I’ve not met or talked to a person yet who has tried every treatment known to man… so while you may have tried lots of different things, I’m willing to bet there are treatments (and treatment combinations) that you have NOT yet tried.
But even more important is the fact that the more things you’ve tried the closer you likely are to finding the one thing (or more likely, combination of things) that will work for you and finally give you your life back.
People view failure as a bad thing when instead you need to look at it as an experiment… and know that the faster you try things the sooner you achieve success.
But now for the BAD news…
The bad news (or more appropriately, sad news) is, most people don’t view themselves as powerful and successful beings and they give up. So let me ask you this extremely important question…
Are you going to win the war against your pain or is it going to beat the life out of you?
Seems like a silly question I know… but far too many people lose this battle and end up living the rest of their life miserable and in pain…
And what really drives me nuts is it does NOT have to be like this! There are so many things you can do that WILL improve things for you yet every day I get emails from people who have already given up. I can usually tell after reading just the first sentence or two.
Well, I want to share a story with you that I know you will find truly inspiring… read this:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Vira B
Date: Apr 20, 2008 12:08 AM
Subject: Re: did you get my email?
To: Jesse <jesse@losethebackpain.com>
Dear Jesse:
There appears to be some confusion at your end. I bought the program and admit that it was the best $110.00 bucks I had spent in my life. My pain was so incredible that I found myself lying on the floor curled up in a ball wishing I could die and get it over with.
Years of physio. (all wrong) chiro, massage, cranio, and the list goes on with thousands of dollors flying out of my pocket, with no end in sight I really had given up on life.   Yes, yes, I even had surgery. But God just didn’t want me yet as I was directed to your website.
I bought your program, tried it and in just one day, (yes, one day) my pain stopped.  I told my physiotherapists, they should learn something and buy your program.
I told my Doctor about it and suggested that she send her patients to your websight. She agreed to check it out for herself. I tell everyone about you two and what a common sense program you have that works.
I have to thank for your business smarts and for taking the time and energy to put your fabulous program together. It’s because of you that I have a chance at life again. Many many thanks.
Best regards
Vira B
Calgary, AB
———————
Thanks so much Vira for sharing your story. And it’s YOU who won this battle, not me… all I did was supply you with information that you needed but didn’t have and I’m happy just to be a small part of your success.
While not everyone gets such incredible and immediate results, I’m glad you did. And I want to point out that the main reason you are feeling better now is because you never gave up…
You kept searching and trying things until you found the solution and that’s THE key to success in all aspects of life whether it’s overcoming chronic pain, losing weight or having a successful relationship.
Another thing I want to say is, while I’m glad you told your therapists don’t be surprised if they poo-poo the system and try to dismiss your success as a “coincidence”… it happens all the time and it’s because most people, especially doctors and the like, tend to think they know it all… and accepting the results that you and tens of thousands of others have using our system would mean they’d have to admit that they don’t know it all.
It doesn’t matter how dramatic the results were… it doesn’t matter that you had surgery and tried physical therapy, massage, chiropractic and all the other treatments but none of it worked. Some people just can’t seem to admit that they don’t know it all.
I learned a long time ago that I don’t know it all… far, far from it. In fact, every day I am amazed by how much I’m learning all the time. I hope that you to keep an open mind and are always attentive and learning.
I urge you to devour all of the information on our website… there’s literally hundreds of pages of information on conditions, treatments, products and more.
Also, over the years one of the things we’ve discovered here at the Healthy Back Institute is that the mind plays a very BIG role in back pain and all sorts of diseases and conditions. I’ll be sending you some articles and information on this in the future as it is THE missing link for a lot of people.
Well, that’s all for today. Talk to you again soon…
Jesse
P.S. Have you listened to the “Back Pain Treatments Reviewed” teleseminar recording yet? If not, you can listen to it now here . On it we review many treatments in detail and talk about the pros, cons and why certain treatments will work for one person but not the next… even when they may have the same condition.
The Healthy Back Institute - 333 Main St. Suite #201 Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Phone: 800-216-4908 Fax: 866-843-4319
The Healthy Back Institute is a Get Healthy and Fit Company
Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield underwent back surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital this week to repair a herniated disc and remove a loose fragment. Many are encouraged to hear early word the back surgery was deemed successful with 4-6 weeks of rehab to begin immediately.
While working with the Healthy Back Institute, I have talked to thousands of back pain suffers who have undergone some form of surgery.
Let me be very clear that despite what you may have been told, it is very possible to heal a herniated disc. Yes, I said heal… and without invasive surgery or years of physical therapy.
