Far too many people struggle with back pain for years… even decades. If you’re one of them then you need to know about one of the most common reasons people can’t seem to beat their back pain: mixed pain syndrome.
In a nutshell, mixed pain syndrome describes how pain arises from multiple causes at the same time. Just because you have a herniated disc doesn’t mean it is the sole source of your back pain or even a source of pain at all.
There are two primary causes of pain: nerve compression and soft tissue pain. Nerve compression may be caused by conditions like a herniated disc or spinal stenosis causing direct pressure on a nerve. Soft tissue pain can occur from inflammation, scar tissue, trigger points, muscular micro-tears, or even decreased local cellular oxygen levels.
So what happens when you have a herniated disc pressing on a spinal nerve root, multiple trigger points in that area of the back, and local inflammation at the same time? Then you have a mixed pain syndrome condition that will take multiple approaches to eliminate your pain! Treat just one and you will end up frustrated and still in pain. This is why those suffering from back pain are encouraged to experiment with different types of treatments, often simultaneously, to get lasting back pain relief faster.
Need a starting point for treating mixed pain syndrome back pain? Begin by treating your back pain with safe alternatives to anti-inflammatory drugs:
Once painful spasms have been reduced and at least limited mobility has been restored, begin identifying underlying patterns and causes of your pain and eliminate them to prevent future back pain:
Remember, every person is different. There is no “one size fits all” approach to getting back pain relief, so what works for one person may not be as effective for another. Experiment until you find what works best for you.
When people say back pain affects everyone, that really is the truth!
Not only did I struggle with middle back pain (and a bunch of other ailments like shoulder problems, knee pain, tendonitis) years ago before becoming an “expert” …
but my wife has also had several bouts of back pain over the years brought on initially due to a c-section birth. Well, a few days ago she had a flare up… no significant physical incident to bring it on like sneezing or picking up a heavy item, etc…
Instead, I feel that it was a combination of stress/worry about several current life situations that she/we are dealing with right now as well as some physical factors such as changes to her exercise program… she recently added running back into her program.
Anyway, not to bore you with her story, but I thought you might really benefit from the suggestions I gave her and the actions she has taken…
So, the first thing she did was rub in a few squirts of Rub on Relief … she has been applying it 2-3 times per day.
Then she jumped (not really, more like crawled) into our bed with both our large and medium size Far Infrared Heating Pads … and she has been lying on these just about every chance she gets (which isn’t much with 6 kids still at home, though I of course have stepped up to do as much as I can).
She has also been taking hot jacuzzi baths with sea salts (with magnesium) once a day… taking Heal-n-Soothe 1-2 times per day (3 capsules at a time though I’m trying to get her to up the dose – I take 6-8 at a time) to reduce the inflammation and pain.
In addition she is drinking a lot of water… increased her magnesium and vitamin D intakes (liquid supplements)… and also experimenting with various homeopathic and herbal muscle relaxants like kali carb, chamomile, valerian and others.
And last, since it seems that one of the biggest underlying causes is stress, worry, negative energy, etc, she is also spending as much time as possible relaxing… reading… laughing.
As you likely know, there are of course many other things that can be done, but this is where she’s starting and this is likely all she’ll need as she’s getting close to “back to normal”.
Anyway, I hope you found this informative and maybe it has given you a few things that you have not yet tried. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how she’s feeling
The creaky knees and achy back of old age are a well-known stereotype. Of course, it’s based in truth. As we age, muscles shorten and lose some elasticity. The soft tissues that hold joints together stiffen. Bones lose density.
Conventional medicine typically offers cover-up treatments for these naturally occurring changes. But these treatments do nothing to restore lost function.
They may relieve symptoms-and just as likely, they may not. But they don’t get at the root causes of the problems. They don’t offer cures.
Fortunately, natural medicine has many answers to the problem of painful muscles and joints that conventional medicine doesn’t offer. Here are two of the best.
Dozens of Health Problems Are Caused By
This One Simple “Thing”…by Dr. Mark V. Wiley
Consider, for a moment, this list of 10 ailments.
Tempero-mandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction
“Knots” in the back of the neck
“Rocks” in the shoulders
“Sore” chest muscles
General irritability
Poor sleep
Chronic “achy” feeling all over
Numbness or tingling in the arms and/or hands
Trigeminal neuralgia (facial pain)
Did you know that all of them could be caused by (or stem from) the same underlying condition? Can you guess what it is?
The answer is Forward Head Posture (FHP). That’s right, all 10 problems are associated with the same underlying cause.
Forward Head Posture is one of the most common postural problems in our so-called “modern” society. In actuality, it is the modern lifestyle that is responsible for it-as we’ll see in a minute. In essence, FHP is the result of either repetitive forward head movement, or the carrying or holding of the head in a position where the ears are forward of the shoulder plum-line.
Proper postural alignment finds ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, and ears all falling along the same vertical line. The relatively heavy head must directly rest on the neck and shoulders, like a golf ball on a tee. Yet, FHP finds the head sticking out, forward of the shoulders, with the ears in line with the chest or front of the deltoids.
Pro football players in the NFL have a physically damaging job. They earn high-salaries by tearing up their bodies week after week on the field.
The athletic trainers are the folks who care for them and are charged with the responsibility of keeping these engines of the billion-dollar football industry working.
No group of people is more familiar with what works and what doesn’t work to treat nagging aches, pains and sprains than these trainers.
Just ask Ronnie Barnes, President of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society…
“It’s a big job, because football is a collision sport,” he says. “There are lots of injuries to the musculoskeletal system. Lots of illnesses.”
“Athletes should not be treated any differently than regular patients, except that in sports, there is a real sense of urgency for answers. Because once a player gets injured, in about six days, there’s another game day.”
So what does Ronnie Barnes use to treat the aches and pains of his players? The same formula available to you in Rub-On-Relief. IN fact, he says it’s “the most effective ointment we have used to combat pain, sprains, strains, arthritis, stiffness, tendonitis and impact contusions.
“We are able to substitute NSAIDs, aspirin, ibuprofen and Naproxen without the risk of possible side-effects to the players.”
I just read a good article in Men’s Health magazine, which I typically don’t read but I had some time while waiting for a haircut. Anyway, the article was titled “8 Drugs Even Your Doctor Won’t Take”.
I’ve been urging people to avoid taking prescription or over the counter drugs at all costs because the risks are so high… and there are so many safer alternatives, many of which have proven to be just as effective (even more effective in some cases).
To save you the time and effort, here’s their list of drugs to avoid:
It seems the people over at Men’s Health can’t count because the list only has 7 – not 8
Anyway, the reason I wanted to talk about this is because so many people we talk to are still taking Celebrex… even though the FDA has warned about how dangerous it can be. And if the FDA says it’s dangerous, you know it has got to be really bad because it takes a lot of deaths before they’ll cut into the drug companies profits.
So what can you do to safely deal with the pain? Here are 8 (yes actually things that you should consider:
1. Topical pain relief cream
A great way to get fast, almost instant relief from the symptom (pain) but you still have to deal with the underlying issues.
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We make a great product called Rub on Relief that has been clinically proven in 4 different studies to not only be effective, but over 80% of the people in the study said it delivered better pain relief than many brand name prescription and over the counter medicines.
A very powerful anit-inflammatory yet very few people are aware of it here in the US. It’s been used for about 50 years now in Europe and Asia to treat everything from asthma, arthritis, allergies, cancer, herpes/shingles, hepatitis, muscle soreness, multiple sclerosis and many others.
This ancient treatment can work wonders and while it may not work for everyone, one thing we have discovered is the application of the treatments can vary widely from physician to physician… and some people report no benefit when receiving treatment from one doctor but then report great results when receiving treatment from another.
We’ve all got em and they can cause serious muscle spasms, chronic pain and stiffness and exacerbate muscle imbalances.
The good news is you can identify and treat most, if not all of them on your own at home (or at work)…. and with just a few minutes you can see dramatic improvement. If you haven’t already started using trigger point therapy you definitely need to give a try and you can learn more about it here.
5. Muscle balance therapy
Probably the most important because when you identify and address your imbalances you eliminate much, if not all of the underlying cause of the pain.
And while it does take some time to improve your imbalances, many people do find that just one or two corrective exercises or stretches gives them instant relief – but the key here is knowing which exact ones you need to do.
There are many “mind-body” therapies available and they all seem to work for some people so if there’s any that you haven’t tried, you should definitely look into them. You can find a basic overview of mind body therapies here.
This is something I’ve been studying a lot as of late and am very excited about. It falls into the above “mind-body” category but is something I wanted to write briefly about today.
Since I wouldn’t be able to give you a good explanation in such a short space here I encourage you to get and read the book “The Touch of Healing” by Mary Burmeister. You can find it on Amazon or here.
I’ll be writing more about my experience with energy healing very soon.
8. Far Infrared heat
Used for over 3000 years now, Far Infrared heat has been used to treat all sorts of health conditions and has proven very effective at treating muscle and joint related conditions.
And these are just some of the MANY things you can do instead of risk your health on dangerous drugs.
Remember, the more things you try the sooner you’ll find the combination that works best for you… and the sooner you try them the sooner you get your life back.
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
Far too many people struggle with back pain for years… even decades. If you’re one of them then you need to know about one of the most common reasons people can’t seem to beat their back pain: mixed pain syndrome.
The creaky knees and achy back of old age are a well-known stereotype. Of course, it’s based in truth. As we age, muscles shorten and lose some elasticity. The soft tissues that hold joints together stiffen. Bones lose density.
things that you should consider:
