We got an email from John this week. Even though John has suffered from lower back pain and sciatica for 18 years, he wrote specifically to tell us some “bad news” – he has no intention of buying ANY of our products! But honestly, we couldn’t be happier. We’ll let John explain…
Hi Jesse,
I suffered from sciatica and lower back pain (herniated disc) for 18 years. I was in a desk bound job sitting in front of a computer screen all day. I ate the wrong food (at the wrong times of the day); drank too much alcohol; not enough water; didn’t get enough exercise, and I was working in a very stressful environment. So, I found your website and started to look for solutions.
The first thing I did was to take your advice. I took control of my life. I was in my late fifties and lucky enough to be able to retire early and change my entire lifestyle. I reckoned I needed to do this before I got any older if I was to stand any chance of resolving my problem.
I undertook twice weekly acupuncture sessions (including cupping) for nearly a year, which helped a lot. But that wasn’t all. I also got rid of the work related stress, ate more healthily, reduced my alcohol intake, followed your advice and did some simple stretching exercises, walked up to 8 miles a day; drank more water, and learned to relax.
During this time, my lower back pain has all but disappeared. I still enjoy reading your articles and looking at the videos because you have to maintain the discipline, but I’ve reduced the pain by around 90-95%. Yes, I still feel the odd twinge, but I no longer lose sleep because of the pain and I don’t sit around in the same position for too long. I’ve embraced this new regime into my new lifestyle without any trouble at all.
So I’ll continue to value your input from the USA, but (and this is bad news for you!), I won’t need to buy any of your products unless my back pain returns.
Hopefully it will not. But I do want to thank you for helping me — not through your products — but through your inspirational messages and for giving me the confidence to believe that I COULD improve my health by taking control of my life and my lifestyle.
Facet joints connect your vertebrae together. They provide a smooth slippery surface allowing you to bend and twist. And they limit your range of motion just enough to prevent accidental injury of your spinal cord.
When they hurt, it can seriously impact your ability to move normally. A painful cervical facet joint can immobilize your neck, cause an ache in your shoulder, and force you to turn your whole body just to look left or right. Pain from a lumbar facet joint may leave you unable to stand up straight, hunched over while you walk, and suffering a deep ache from your buttocks to the back of your thighs. Doctors call this common diagnosis facet joint syndrome.
Facet joints are a common source of back and neck pain. In fact, lumbar facet joints are implicated in nearly a third of chronic lower back pain cases and nearly half of all chronic neck pain cases when no herniated disc is present.1
But before you blame your facet joints for your back or neck pain, let’s first remember a syndrome is not the same thing as a cause. Even our family’s children’s dictionary accurately describes a syndrome as “a group of signs or symptoms that together indicate a particular disease or condition.”2
Doctors often use a facet joint block (an injection of anesthetic into the facet joint) to isolate the source of pain. Then they’ll turn around and use it to “treat” the pain too. Isn’t that a little like saying your flat tire has low air pressure, so just roll it around the corner and we’ll pump some more air into it? Excuse me, but let’s pull the nail out and patch the hole first guys!
Again, facet joint pain is a symptom of a problem. While we want to end the pain, the only way to keep it from returning is to find and correct the underlying cause. Since the root problem varies from one individual to the next there is no one single treatment that works for everyone. It will take some effort on your part to resolve the problem but isn’t a lifetime free of the cycle of pain, doctor visits and repeated facet joint injections worth it? If you’re ready to end the cycle of pain, here’s what I recommend:
Short-term pain relief (while you find and correct the root problem):
Heat therapy - while a heating pad may help, it won’t give you the deep penetrating heat that can really relieve the ache. I highly recommend a far infrared heating pad which can penetrate 2-3 inches deep for effective pain relief.
Celadrin-based pain relief cream - while many off-the shelf creams may help, Celadrin is the only pain relief cream ingredient I’ve ever seen with a 100% success rate in relieving joint pain.3
Natural anti-inflammatories - Inflammation is almost always related to painful facet joints. Use safer natural anti-inflammatories as a healthy alternative to dangerous NSAIDs.
Suggested therapies for finding and fixing the cause of your facet joint syndrome:
Muscle-Balance therapy - Restoring your body to a neutral, balanced and stable state is critical for your long-term pain relief. That’s what muscle balance therapy helps you accomplish.
Trigger-point therapy - Trigger points have been proven to be directly responsible for 75% of all pain. Eliminating your trigger points should be a priority for pain relief.
Inversion therapy -Inversion therapy helps your body reseat misaligned facet joints by relieving pressure and allowing the joints to simply “slip” back into the correct position.
Watch your diet - Avoid inflammatory foods – typically anything processed, high fat, high sugar, or including refined grains are inflammatory. Be sure to take a good multi-vitamin.
Emotional troubleshooting - When all else fails, evaluate your emotional life. Sometimes stress and emotions keep otherwise helpful treatments from working. This may just be the final step you need for relief from your facet joint syndrome related pain. Here’s a video you might find helpful.
Related references:
1 Manchikanti L, et al. An algorithmic approach for clinical management of chronic spinal pain. Pain Physician. 2009 Jul-Aug;12(4):E225-64.
2 “Syndrome.” The McGraw-Hill Children’s Dictionary. 2003.
3 Kraemer WJ, et al. Effect of a cetylated fatty acid topical cream on functional mobility and quality of life of patients with osteoarthritis. The Journal of rheumatology. 2004 Apr;31(4):767-74.
If you’re struggling to get lasting relief from back pain or sciatica, I’m willing to bet that there is one thing that is keeping you “stuck” in pain…
And once you address this little talked about factor, you’ll finally get rid of the pain and be able to keep it away.
Listen to this life changing audio right now
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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.
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.
TENS is back in the news again. TENS therapy is widely used to treat chronic lower back pain by sending electric currents to nerves from a pocket sized battery pack through electrodes attached to the skin (TENS stands for transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation).
The big news is the National Academy of Neurology no longer endorses the treatment. In their December 30th issue of Neurology discontinues their recommendation for TENS as treatment for chronic lower back pain. In fact, the study’s lead author, Dr. Dubinsky, is now on the record as saying “TENS was found to be of no benefit for people with chronic lower back pain.”
Naturally, mainstream media went wild with the story ever since with over 60 major news outlet stories written on it since. After all, we’re talking about four decades of wasted time and money for a lower back pain treatment that simply doesn’t work. Sorry boys, but you’re a little late to the party.
You see, the new study was simply a review of existing literature. We’ve known for years that TENS was no more effective at treating lower back pain than placebo. The real story ought to be how it took nearly a decade just to come out and say it doesn’t work. But we’ll save that rant for another day because if you or someone you love is suffering from chronic lower back pain you’re more interested in what DOES work.
Number one recommendation for treating chronic lower back pain is exercise. It is proven effective, free of side effects like pharmaceutical drugs, and doesn’t have to cost you a dime. The key to getting lower back pain relief from exercise is doing the right exercises. Most lower back pain is the result of muscle imbalances which can be effectively treated through stretching overly tight muscles and strengthening weak muscles through muscle balance therapy.
To get you started, here’s a quick stretch you can use right now for immediate lower back pain relief:
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
Hi Jesse,
Facet joints connect your vertebrae together. They provide a smooth slippery surface allowing you to bend and twist. And they limit your range of motion just enough to prevent accidental injury of your spinal cord.
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.
TENS is back in the news again. TENS therapy is widely used to treat 
