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Archive for the ‘Herniated Disc’ Category
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
 Have you suffered with chronic lower back pain, sciatica, or some other form of pain for months… or even years?
Maybe it seems like you’ve already tried everything and are just about ready to give up on ever finding permanent pain relief.
Well I have good news for you: you’re not beyond help. Over the past decade we’ve helped tens of thousands of people, many in agonizing daily pain, find pain relief. People who thought there was no hope left. And today, thousands upon thousands of them remain pain free.
On the other hand, there are many others who came to us who did not find lasting relief. They continue to struggle with the same old pain year after year. Often it grows even worse.
Amazingly, in almost every case, the difference between those who found pain relief and those who did not boiled down to a willingness to follow a few simple “ground rules” for dealing with their pain. Follow these three simple rules and you will greatly improve your odds of joining those who found relief.
Rule #1: Take responsibility for ending your pain
Relief from pain is first and foremost a personal responsibility. After all, no one cares about your pain more than you do. Maybe you’re seeing a doctor, chiropractor, or any number of natural health practitioners. That’s great, but ask yourself these questions:
- Has my health care provider conducted a completed head-to-toe assessment on me or only focused on the area of pain? (Pain is often referred from other areas of the body.)
- If a diagnosis has been made, has it been completely explained to my understanding?
- Has my health care provider identified the root cause of my pain? (Not a condition, like a herniated disc, but what actually caused the condition, like a specific muscle imbalance.)
- Have I been given a step-by-step care plan that addresses both the pain symptoms and the underlying root cause of the identified condition?
If you haven’t received a satisfactory answer to all of these questions, ask! Don’t accept a brush off. It’s your body and you need to get the right responses to properly address your pain.
Rule #2: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
I can’t tell you how many times someone has purchased one of our products, tried it, and when their pain wasn’t 100% gone in the first day or week they decided to return the product for a refund. Look, we don’t want anyone paying for a product that doesn’t help them. And we gladly process refunds all the time. But let’s be honest here. Chances are the condition causing your pain didn’t happen overnight. Oftentimes it took years to get to the point where your back “suddenly” gave out or sciatica became noticeable.
We have a lot of testimonials on our website from people who have experienced amazing results in just days. But when you’re talking about correcting conditions that took months or years to get as bad as they are, you have to realize some people may take a little longer to work through the healing process.
So what am I saying? I’m saying that if you want to get back to a pain-free life, you might have to invest a little effort. And it
might be that one treatment only gets you part of the way there. So you have to be willing to try different approaches. For example, you
may only find some pain relief by using muscle balance therapy
to address muscle imbalances, but need to also work out trigger points to finally get the full pain relief you’re looking for.
Most importantly, don’t give up. Too many people never get pain relief simply because they give up on a treatment approach too soon. Give your body time to heal and don’t quit until you get the relief you’re looking for.
Rule #3: Stop doing what doesn’t work
Ok, now you’ve made the commitment to follow through to make progress in your fight against pain. You’re not going to quit on yourself. But here’s the other side of the coin: don’t blindly keep doing what doesn’t work.
Let’s say you’re going to a chiropractor. If you’ve been going for over three months and haven’t made any progress yet, it’s likely time to seek another approach. That’s my rule of thumb… if you’re not getting some measure of increased pain relief in three months, try something else.
If you have made progress but are still in pain, try combining multiple approaches. You might find inversion therapy gives you significant pain relief from a herniated disc, but trigger point therapy is needed to completely end referred pain while muscle balance therapy addresses what caused your disc to herniated in the first place. It’s all a process of finding what works for your body.
I hope this makes sense to you. We want to help as many people as we can live a pain free life, but ultimately, it’s up to you to make the necessary changes to improve your health.
Posted in Back Pain, Herniated Disc, Inversion Table, Inversion Therapy, Pain Relief, Sciatic Pain, Uncategorized, back pain at work | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
 Every summer millions of us take advantage of fairer weather and longer days to get outside more. Morning runs, weekend bike rides, and long evening strolls become more common.
If you’re one of the many who frequently get a deep pain in your buttocks, hip or down your leg after you take up summer activities like these there’s a good chance it’s coming from a little known muscle called the piriformis.
It’s the piriformis muscle deep in the posterior side of our hips, along with a few other lateral rotator muscles, which allow our bodies to keep from falling over when we walk by shifting our body weight side to side as we lift our feet.
However, many of the activities we participate in require this muscle to continually contract. As the muscle is overworked, it becomes painfully tight while stretching nearby muscles. Piriformis syndrome is a frequent contributor to lower back pain and one of the four primary causes of sciatica.
What activities lead to piriformis syndrome?
Perhaps the most common activity leading to piriformis syndrome wouldn’t really be called an “activity” at all by most of us: sitting. But just holding your body erect in a seat with your hips flexed (knees bent, feet on the floor) requires your piriformis muscle to contract to help maintain that position. And sitting on a wallet can quickly make matters even worse.
Yes, many of us sit all day long throughout the year. So why the big deal about summer activities causing piriformis syndrome?
Many of our summer activities like running, bicycling, hiking, and rowing all work the piriformis muscle as we repeatedly bend our legs. In fact, they repeatedly work the same muscles over and over.
Unless we take care to properly stretch and strengthen other muscles by lateral (sideways) movements of our legs we soon create a muscle imbalance where the piriformis muscle becomes short and tight. This is what leads to both deep muscle aches and referred nerve pain from strangulation of the sciatic nerve where it passes near or through the piriformis muscle.
Even if your pain isn’t constant yet, if you’re experiencing pain in your lower back, buttocks, or down the back of your legs it’s worth considering piriformis syndrome as a possible cause. Here’s a couple quick ways to determine if your piriformis muscle is overly tight: take a quick look down at your feet right now. If they’re turned with your toes pointed outwards, your piriformis is tight. Another way is to lie down and relax your legs. Now look at your feet. Chances are the toes are turned outwards. Again, that’s a sign your piriformis is overly tight and may be leading to pain.
How to end piriformis syndrome pain
The good news is piriformis syndrome, painful as it may be, can usually be quickly reversed. Naturally you’ll want to start by giving your piriformis muscle a much needed break. This means take it easy with the running, jumping, hiking, climbing, bicycling, and rowing. Take frequent breaks when sitting so the piriformis doesn’t remain in a contracted state for prolonged periods.
Then begin targeted stretching exercises to relieve the tension in the piriformis muscle. You’ll find three easy stretches you can do without leaving your chair in the video on this page. Many people get pain relief the first time they try these stretches and most overcome their piriformis syndrome symptoms within a couple weeks through targeted stretching.
Related references
Papadopoulos EC, Khan SN. Piriformis syndrome and low back pain: a new classification and review of the literature. The Orthopedic clinics of North America. 2004 Jan;35(1):65-71. PokornĂ˝ D, et al. Topographic variations of the relationship of the sciatic nerve and the piriformis muscle and its relevance to palsy after total hip arthroplasty. Surgical and radiologic anatomy: SRA. 2006 Mar;28(1):88-91.
Posted in Back Pain, Herniated Disc, Inversion Table, Inversion Therapy, Pain Relief, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
 Upwards of 70% of your body is composed of good old H2O. Some claim as little as a 2% drop in fluids can leave you itchy, groggy, constipated, and feeling generally rotten all around.
It certainly makes sense to stay hydrated. Drinking enough water helps ensure our bladder and kidneys flush toxins out of our bodies. It helps our bodies digest food. And it can even prevent headaches, joint aches and muscle pain.
So what does this have to do with your spine? Quite a bit it turns out. Not only is over 70% of your body made up of water, but a similar ratio exists in the discs that cushion the vertebrae in your spine. It turns out dehydration is a little talked about but significant factor contributing herniated and bulging discs.
A decrease in disc water content is associated with spinal disc degeneration. As the discs break down, cracks form in the fibrous outer ring of the disc leading to fluid loss. The inner core becomes weaker as it shrinks and comes under more stress until conditions become ripe for the disc to bulge or herniated.
Exactly how much water is enough can be a matter of significant debate. The most commonly given “rule” is to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. It’s really more of a “rule of thumb” though as the amount your body really needs largely depends on your gender (males tend to require more water), weight (larger mass requires more water), activity level, and environment among other factors.
Allow me to make drinking water simple for you. If you’re thirsty, drink a glass of water. Seriously. If you’re not thirsty but are experiencing some of the symptoms of mild dehydration, try drinking a glass of water anyways. Normally if you’re drinking enough water your urine will be clear or pale yellow. Be aware that it’ll typically be darker first thing in the morning, after a meal, or when taking water soluble vitamins like riboflavin.
When your body is properly hydrated, your spinal discs are able to reabsorb fluids at night while you sleep. Many individuals with back pain have gotten fast relief by using inversion therapy tables which release pressure on the discs through gentle gravity-based traction. This allows fluid to soak back into the spongy interior of the disc so that it can heal and properly support your vertebrae.
So yes, water is the stuff of life. And the stuff that’ll help your spine stay healthy too.
Related references:
H2O: Hydration; Marketing Health Promotion, Wellness, and Risk Information for Spinal Cord Injury Survivors in the Community. Craig Hospital. Englewood, CO.
Wognum S, Huyghe JM, Baaijens FP. Influence of osmotic pressure changes on the opening of existing cracks in 2 intervertebral disc models. Spine. 2006;31:1783–8.
Zhao F, et al. Discogenic origins of spinal instability. Spine. 2005 Dec 1;30(23):2621-30.
Nosse, L.: Inverted Spinal Traction. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 59: 367-370, Aug 78.
Posted in Back Pain, Herniated Disc, Inversion Table, Inversion Therapy, Lower Back Pain, Sciatic Pain, Teeter Inversion Table, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
 Back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world. Other muscle and joint pain complaints, such as arthritis, are nearly as prevalent. A new study published earlier this month in The Lancet indicates soldiers in modern combat remain at high risk for these types of injuries.
In the study, researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine reviewed medical evacuations from Iraq and Afghanistan over the four year period of 2004 — 2007. They found nearly a third of all medical evacuations were for muscle, joint, and back pain unrelated to combat or other wounds. That’s more than double the evacuation rate for combat injuries which resulted in only 14% of evacuations over the same period.
Soldiers regularly carry heavy physical loads in combat situations which can contribute to the debilitating muscle, joint, and back pain found in the study. What makes the problem especially burdensome to the military is even after evacuation, many of the evacuated still weren’t able to find pain relief. Only about 13% of those evacuated for musculoskeletal, connective tissue, or spinal pain issues were well enough to return to duty 2 weeks after evacuation.
Besides the low healing rate of muscle, joint and back pain overall, another fact was called out by the researchers. Soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are nearly twice as likely to experience all kinds musculoskeletal complaints including back and neck pain. Once evacuated for back pain, those having a concurrent psychiatric diagnosis like PTSD also had a decreased likelihood of returning to duty by as much as 38%. This further validates other researchers’ discoveries that stress has a lot to do with back pain and recovery.
NOTE: The Healthy Back Institute is going to donate 1000 copies of it’s Lose the Back Pain program to men and women of the military suffering from various types of back, neck and sciatic pain.
Posted in Back Pain, Herniated Disc, Lower Back Pain, Neck Pain, Uncategorized, back pain at work | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
 Fixing a bulging or herniated disc means different things to different people. Usually it either means a) help me stop my back pain, or b) help me fix the herniated disc. The end result may be the same but the perspective is critical.
If you simply want to mask the back pain you could take one of the many non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, get repeated cortisone shots, or beg your doctor for another pharmaceutical drug alternative. While you might reach the perceived goal of ending back pain, you of course have not addressed the real problem.
On the other hand, if you choose to fix a herniated disc by actually treating the underlying cause as well as the symptoms you’ll have a greater likelihood of both ending the pain and preventing its recurrence. That’s where this article will focus.
First, understand that outside of cases of trauma a herniated disc does not occur overnight. It may seem like you “threw your back out” all at once, yet it was a process of weakening over time that allowed your disc to suddenly become noticeably problematic. What you may find surprising is many have a herniated disc without pain. It’s when the disc or inner material from a herniated disc press against a nerve that pain results.
What causes a herniated disc ?
Simply put, herniated discs are primarily caused by uneven pressure. Think of driving a car that’s out of alignment. The tires wear unevenly due to more pressure being present on one edge. Keep driving without fixing the problem and sooner or later you’ll experience a blowout on the worn side.
The effect on spinal discs is similar. Uneven pressure caused by muscle imbalances cause the less-pressured side of the disc to bulge or rupture, squirting the jellylike interior through the fibrous disc membrane into the spinal column. Picture stomping one end of a jelly donut – the jelly would be pushed out the other side.
There are of course other contributing factors like hydration, nutritional imbalances and excess stress and negative beliefs to name a few.
How to fix a herniated disc
Clearly the first step to fixing a herniated disc is to remove this uneven pressure. One highly effective method of removing spinal pressure you can do right at home is called spinal decompression.
By using an exercise ball or other device, negative pressure is used to pull the vertebrae towards the head instead of towards the feet. One of the most effective tools for achieving this effect is with an inversion table, which uses gravity to gently relieve disc pressure. This negative pressure has been known to allow a herniated disc to return to its normal position by itself.
Once you have relieved the initial pressure you will still need to address the underlying root cause of compression: muscle imbalances. Using a muscle balance therapy self assessment or consulting with a provider versed in this course of treatment you will identify specific muscle imbalances leading to uneven spinal pressure. Then you will use exercises targeted to strengthen weak muscles and stretches for overused and tight muscles to reverse these imbalances.
By relieving the pressure on the herniated disc and correcting the underlying muscle imbalances you will have either fixed the herniated disc or gone a long way towards improving the condition.
And don’t forget, you can’t ignore the other causes mentioned earlier. In order to get true lasting relief you have to find the combination of treatments that address all of your underlying causes.
Tags: Back Pain, Herniated Disc, Inversion Table, Muscle Balance Therapy, muscle imbalances, nsaids, spinal decompression
Posted in Back Pain, Back Pain Exercises, Herniated Disc, Muscle Balance Therapy, Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
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