Most people say they want to get rid of their pain, but they really don’t.
For some reason, they just really aren’t ready… otherwise they would have done it already or at least be actively working on it… relentless in their determination to get their life back.
Many of these people claim that if they only knew “how to” solve the problem they would. Yet there is more than enough of the how to… it’s everywhere…in books, videos, audios, doctors, etc… our entire website is full of some of the best how to there is when it comes to back pain… yet most people still don’t get relief… but not because the how to didn’t work, they don’t get relief because they are lacking the “want to”… a real desire to do what it takes to eliminate the problem.
I urge you to listen to this audio from Steve Chandler about the difference between the “How to” and the “Want to”… it’s this that can keep you stuck in pain or can set you free.
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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.
Spinal stenosis is the formal name for a narrowing of the spinal canal. While spinal stenosis can develop in the thoracic, or mid-back, it most commonly occurs in either the lumbar (lower back) or cervical (neck and upper back) regions of the spine.
As narrowing places pressure on the spinal cord and other nerves, mild to excruciating pain or even numbness in various areas of your neck, shoulders, back, arms, legs and buttocks results. Severe cases may even interfere with normal bladder and bowel functions.
Diagnosed primarily in older adults, many dismiss early signs of spinal stenosis as regular aches and pains of growing older. The good news is progression of spinal stenosis can often be slowed or even reversed.
What causes spinal stenosis
Spinal stenosis is most commonly attributed to osteoarthritis-related bone damage, but a number of other conditions may constrict the spinal canal including a herniated disc, scar tissue build up, inflammation or even a tumor. In fairly rare cases spinal stenosis can be caused genetically in which case it is already present at birth as opposed to acquired later in life.
Like most health conditions, spinal stenosis is best dealt with through prevention rather than corrective actions after diagnosis. Fortunately many of the preventative steps you can take can also help reduce symptoms of the condition and even relieve the constriction itself depending on the cause.
How to naturally treat — or prevent — spinal stenosis
If you already are experiencing pain from spinal stenosis, you will need to experiment to find what you can tolerate and what treatments work best for you. Surgery may become a a required option for some, but should rarely be necessary if you first use these symptomatic and condition helping natural therapies:
Heat therapy, or ice and heat together, can break the pain-spasm cycle. Saunas, hot tubs, or far infrared heat also help improve circulation to bring more healing oxygen and nutrients to injured areas of the spine.
Proteolytic enzyme therapy offers a safer solution to the problem of inflammation than offered by over the counter NSAIDs like ibuprofen or prescription medicines. Inflammation is almost always present with pain, and may be the actual cause of your spinal stenosis.
Trigger point therapy provides a mechanism to self-treat tiny yet painful muscle knots almost always present along with spinal stenosis.
Muscle balance therapy gets to the source of many spinal conditions which are postural dysfunctions caused by muscle imbalances.
One of Dr. Sarno’s most comprehensive books on the subject of the mind and how it can create all sorts of pain. Watch this quick video review to see what we think about it…
If you’ve read this book, please post your comments.
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Back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world. Other muscle and joint pain complaints, such as 
Spinal stenosis is the formal name for a 
