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.

Related posts:

1. Is Aspartame the Source of Your Joint Pain?
2. Top 5 Causes of Back, Neck and Sciatic Pain
3. Piriformis Syndrome: Are Summer Activities Causing You Pain?

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.

Related posts:

1. Spinal Stenosis and Fusion Surgery
2. Back Pain Treatment Options
3. Natural Treatments for Sciatica

This is an excellent book and one of the best on the subject of trigger points. Comprehensive with great illustrations and we consider it a MUST have resource. You can order it from amazon or other online book sellers and you can also often times find it in your local book store.

Be sure to take advantage of our additional videos and articles about trigger points and trigger point therapy.

Related posts:

1. Why Trigger Point Therapy works so Well…
2. Myofascial Trigger Points
3. 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back – Book Review

Although studied since the 1930s, it was President John F. Kennedy’s personal physician, Dr. Janet Travell, who brought widespread attention to trigger points. Using her knowledge of them she was able to successfully treat the future President’s crippling myofascial pain.

How trigger points cause pain
Muscles can only move as millions of microscopic “pumps” in the muscle fiber called sarcomeres contract and interlock (to tighten) or release (to relax). Injury or overworking a muscle area can cause a group of sarcomeres to become over stimulated and unable to release – causing a small knot in that portion of the muscle tissue.

When sarcomeres become stuck in this contracted position, they no longer pump blood through the capillaries in the surrounding area. This results in oxygen starvation and a buildup of waste products. Pain signals are generated from the trigger point to signal an issue… but the pain is often felt far from the actual trigger point. This referred pain is a hallmark of trigger points.

How to stop pain from trigger points
Eliminating trigger points is a matter of first understanding how they refer pain so the original source can be identified. Then, by applying deep sustained pressure to the knotted area the body is able to undergo soft tissue release.

As the trigger point relaxes blood flow is restored allowing re-oxygenation of the area and removal of wastes. This also causes a neurological release, reducing pain signals to the brain.

Massage therapy vs. self therapy for trigger points
Modern day massage therapists use techniques learned from Dr. Travell’s trigger point research. But there are problems with massage therapy in treating trigger points.

Straight from the mouth of a massage therapist, massage can be an expensive temporary fix for trigger points. Even then you may have to wait for days or weeks to get in. And there is no guarantee you’ll even feel better afterwards since aggressive deep tissue massage creates micro-tears in muscles causing some patients even more pain.

Fortunately with a little education most people can successfully treat their own trigger points. Dr. Travell and her long time colleage Dr. David Simons published an excellent medical text on trigger points called Myofascial Pain & Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual. Other trigger point self treatment systems put the concepts of trigger point therapy into layman’s terms and provide simple devices to achieve the deep massage needed to relieve trigger point tension, finally making pain relief accessible for just about anybody.

Related posts:

1. Get a Deep-Tissue Massage every day of the week in the comfort of your own home
2. Why Trigger Point Therapy works so Well…
3. The Case Against Massage Therapy for Back Pain…

So I wanted to make sure that you know what the most common causes are and how to address them… because it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever hear about any of this from your doctor… Ok, here it goes…

Top 5 Causes of Back, Neck and Sciatic Pain

1. Excess Stress / Negative Beliefs

Yes, this is #1 on the list and while many people doubt or question it, excess stress and negative beliefs are what keep most people in pain.

For example, many people get some relief from physical treatments, but can never seem to get complete or lasting relief… and that’s because the the mind is keeping the body from healing completely.

Don’t underestimate the power of the mind… you can learn more about how stress, emotions and beliefs cause pain here

2. Muscle Imbalances

Imbalances in our muscles create what we call dysfunctions… basically, the muscles pull your body out of alignment (not just your spine) and your body is forced to function like this and eventually it breaks down.

Muscle imbalances are the biggest “physical” cause of back related conditions and pain (and many other ailments also like foot pain, knee pain, hip pain, etc)

The good news is, identifying and correcting (it’s really more about improving) your muscle imbalances is pretty easy… you just have to know which imbalances you have and the right combination of corrective exercises and stretches…

This is exactly what we help you to do in our Lose the Back Pain System… Tens of thousands of people have used this simple system to eliminate their pain… and many of these people had struggled for years or decades before trying our system.

Right now you can try the system for $30 OFF… that’s a huge savings and because we have an online version, you can get started right away. In order to get the discount, you must enter the following coupon code when ordering: LTBP30

This coupon is good for both the DVD version or the ONLINE version… and when you order the DVD version, you also get instant access to the online version as well… But this coupon is only good for the next 3 days.

Picture this… you wake up tomorrow morning feeling rested, you get out of bed feeling less stiff and with no pain… You go about your day feeling great and doing all the things you haven’t been able to do for weeks, months or years…

Yes, it IS possible… and I promise that if you use the system you too will see significant improvements… better sleep… improved flexibility… increased strength… increased energy… less or no pain… and the list goes on and on.

Click here now to try the Lose The Back Pain System for $30 OFF

Ok, now for the 3 other causes…

3. Spinal Compression / Torsion

Another major physical cause of back related conditions and pain is, spinal compression and torsion. The muscle imbalances pull your spine out of alignment and create excess curvature and this places increased pressure on the discs…

Then you add to it some torsion (twisting of the spine) and it gets even worse. The combination of the uneven and excessive compression and the torsion wreak havoc on the discs… causing them to bulge or herniate.

Again there is some good news… not only can discs heal, but you can undo or reduce the excessive compression and torsion by addressing your muscle imbalances and by decompressing the spine… This can be done with devices like an inversion table, the Nubax or it can be performed by a physical therapist or chiropractor.

You can learn more about spinal decompression here

4. Trigger Points

Often responsible for much of the undiagnosed pain people experience, trigger points are a major factor when it comes to back, neck and sciatic pain…

Trigger points are complex and there are many things that contribute to their development… and to make it worse, they often cause pain in other parts of the body. For example, a trigger point in the gluteal can cause pain in the lower leg.

The good news is, they are also easy to locate and treat yourself. You can learn more about trigger points here

5. Nutritional Imbalances

Yes, what you eat can help you heal or it can keep you in pain. Not only are there specific foods that create inflammation, but imbalances in minerals and nutrients are a major factor…

For example, you can have too much calcium and not enough magnesium and this can create calcification (stenosis, bone spurs, etc)… Keep in mind this is just one example… there are many others.

So here’s a quick list of foods to avoid:

- Sugar
- Wheat
- Dairy
- Artificial flavors / colors

And here are some foods/nutrients to eat more of:

- Omega-3 Fatty Acids (fish or supplement)
- Spices (Ginger, Tumeric)
- Antioxidants (vitamin C, selenium, quercetin)
- Vitamin D

You can learn more about how nutrition and diet affects pain here

Well, I hope you found this helpful. Be sure to follow the links and learn more about these 5 major causes.

And last, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask… we’re here for ya

Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, MFT
Co-founder, Healthy Back Institute

Related posts:

1. Facet Joint Syndrome: Source of Your Back or Neck Pain?
2. 5 Simple Ways To ELIMINATE Neck, Shoulder and Upper Back Pain
3. The 5 Most Effective Treatments for Back Pain, Neck Pain and Sciatica

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:

• Reduce pain with a rub on pain relief cream
• Lower inflammation with a natural anti-inflammatory
• Improve circulation and release toxins with far infrared heat
• Decompress the spine with inversion therapy

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:

• Identify and eliminate muscle imbalances
• Relax muscle knots and eliminate trigger points
• Eliminate inflammation-causing foods like wheat, dairy, sugar, and fried foods from your diet
• Change your mental attitude towards 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.

Related posts:

1. Herniated Disc Alternative Treatments
2. Mixed Pain Syndrome Is It the Cause of Your Continued Suffering?
3. The 5 Most Effective Treatments for Back Pain, Neck Pain and Sciatica

The most common school of thought on treating herniated discs focuses on treating pain. Anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections, hot packs, ultrasound, and therapeutic exercises fall in this category.

While pain relief is important, the weakness of this approach is it fails to address the underlying cause of the herniated disc: why did it herniate in the first place? Ignoring the cause leads to repeated doctor visits for pain treatment. As pain worsens over time, surgery becomes a presented option.

A better approach is to understand the reason for the herniation and correct the problem. Not just mask the symptoms with pain killers.

Why a disc herniates

Outside of trauma, herniated discs do not happen overnight. They occur from long term uneven pressure on the disc due to postural dysfunctions caused by muscle imbalances.

Think of a jelly donut. If someone places a lot of pressure on one side and less on the other, the jelly is likely to bulge out the opposite side from the pressure. With enough pressure, the jelly will break through the donut. On the other hand, if the same amount of pressure was placed evenly across the entire donut the jelly might compress but would likely stay intact inside the donut.

Similarly, when muscle imbalances create improper hip and spine posture, the spinal discs between the vertebrae are unnaturally forced to sustain more weight and stress on one side than the other. Eventually, the disc wears down leading to a bulging, herniated or even a ruptured disc.

Non-surgical alternative treatments for herniated discs

There are at least five significant actions one can take right at home to help treat and reduce back pain from a herniated disc. Each is a superior alternative treatment to spinal surgery in most cases.

Reduce inflammation by increasing fluid intake (preferably by drinking clean water), improving eating habits, and reducing excess fibrin with proteolytic enzymes when possible.

Stop pain spasms, improve blood flow and increase range of motion with heat and cold therapy. The most effective and safe form of heat therapy is Far Infrared Heat (FIR).

Decompress the disc using inversion therapy. Excellent inversion tables can be purchased for this purpose for just a few hundred dollars.

Eliminate referred pain caused by trigger points which are a form of tiny muscular contraction knots.

Correct postural dysfunctions through stretching and exercise targeting specific muscle imbalances to eliminate the underlying root cause of your disc herniation.

Related posts:

1. How to Fix a Herniated Disc
2. Heal a Herniated Disc…? You Bet You Can!
3. Heal a Herniated Disc…? You Bet You Can!

From the Desk of:
Steve Hefferon

I have a confession to make as a massage therapist.

If you’ve ever gotten a massage to treat muscle-pain in your neck & back, legs & hips or some other part of your body… you probably didn’t need to spend the money.

Because there are FOUR MAJOR FLAWS with massage therapy you should know about.

Massage Therapy Flaw #1: Massage is not a one-time fix for muscle pain. You feel great when you get one and for awhile afterwards.

But a week or two goes by and your muscles start to hurt again. For lasting relief you’ll need to go back often, and at $80-$150 a pop massage therapy gets very expensive over time.

Massage Therapy Flaw #2: Because it’s so expensive you put off going for months at a time. Some people almost never get the treatments they need for no other reason than they can’t afford them.

It’s a shame. You shouldn’t have to be Donald Trump to get relief from painful muscles.

Massage Therapy Flaw #3: You’re not getting instant treatment. You have to schedule a session, wait around with painful muscles for days or weeks.

It would be so much better if you could get a deep-tissue massage whenever you want it.

Massage Therapy Flaw #4: You can walk away feeling worse than before the massage. Some people hate getting deep-tissue massages because they feel so bad afterward.

Why? Because aggressive massage creates micro-tears in the muscles, often activating dormant trigger points, causing pain.

You’re going to love this.

There is a way to get a “personal masseuse” to give you gentle, deep massages every day of the year – and you don’t have to spend $30,000 to keep him on staff.

I’m talking about a home massage-therapy system you can use right away to melt away the tiny knots in your muscles.

For about 40-cents a day you can get a daily deep-tissue massage to relive life’s aches and pains – with NONE of the drawbacks of traditional massage therapy…

You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars all year long to get relief… You don’t need to put off getting your massage because it costs so much… You don’t have to wait a month in between massages …

You don’t need to suffer through aggressive massages because you’ll have all the time in the world to get a gentle massage …

Here at The Healthy Back Institute we’ve talked a lot about how trigger points – the tiny knots that form in your muscles – are the source of so many types of pain …

Discovered by President John F. Kennedy’s doctor, trigger points in muscles are increasingly becoming recognized as the cause of up 75% of muscle and tissue pain. Seventy-five percent!

These dime-sized landmines in your tissues cause your muscles to tighten and shorten. And because they tighten your muscles they start to change the way your body moves.

They limit the movement in one muscle causing it to weaken over time.

Have you ever tried to rub a sore, painful muscle and no matter what you did you couldn’t quite “get” to the painful spot?

Those are trigger points!

It’s called “referred pain” and it’s when the real cause of the pain is a point in the muscle but you FEEL the pain several inches away – so you can never quite find the perfect spot to massage.

In them you’ll get an atlas of your body’s trigger-points so you can find the (often surprising) points to relieve pain you may have had for years – including …

• Trigger-points causing mid-back pain
• Trigger-points causing low-back pain
• Trigger-points causing upper-back pain
• Trigger points causing hip and leg pain
• Trigger points causing neck pain
• Trigger-points causing shoulder pain
• And more!

Developed by a board-certified neurological chiropractor, this advanced self-treatment system gives you a massage therapist on call.

Easy to use, it completely relaxes your muscles by using your body weight to apply deep, gentle pressure to trigger-points in your muscles.

Plus, your Trigger Point Self-Treatment System is really like having a small army of therapists to help you because you get special treatment techniques to fully deactivate your trigger points …

Gentle Deep-Tissue Massage: If you’re body is sensitive you can use the Variable therapeutic compression technique to get relief without overworking your muscles …

Do-it-Yourself Myofascial Release: Experience amazing relief when you loosen and relax the spider-web of connective tissue running through your muscles …

Fibromyalgia? The Position Release Technique is perfect for you, if regular massage has ever hurt you, this methods is perfect …

Stretch Your Spine: You can even do spinal-traction and decompression with this system to relieve the effects of gravity on your spinal -system …

And that’s just for starters!

I know not every solution is for everyone. Something that works miracles for one person doesn’t always help someone else.

That’s why we’re offering this fool-proof guarantee:

Try it out for a year and if at any time you’re not absolutely delighted with the relief you get by having an in-house self-massage system, just return it for a FULL AND COMPLETE REFUND.

Call us now toll-free at 1-800-216-4908 or order your system using our secure online shopping cart.

It’s simple. We’re out to help you, not soak you and we figure if we let you try it for a year you’ll LOVE the way it makes you feel.

You’ll get a 90-Minute video explaining how to find all the trigger points causing you pain…

You’ll get treatment instructions so you know exactly how to get rid of your pain-causing trigger points…

You’ll get a Trigger-Point Guide Book detailing:

• Step-by-step pictures of how to treat different types of pain…
• A compete trigger-point guide showing over 27 major areas trigger points appear on your body…
• How to find treatment points and what to do with them …
• A pictorial treatment guide so you can SEE how to treat your painful muscles (this is the key)…
• Special therapeutic techniques you can use to get the most out of the system…
• The Trigger-Point Treatment Platform with 16 massage “digits” to fit all the nooks and crannies of your muscles to get rid of all types of pain…

Plus, you get a FULL YEAR to try the system out and be 100% confident that you absolutely love using it, or you can your MONEY-BACK.

Since there’s no risk to you, why not give it a shot? Why not get a massage every day? You deserve it! Plus you are going to just love how quickly you’ll be able to silence those nagging aches and pains!

Sincerely,
Steve Hefferon, CMT, PTA

P.S. Don’t take my word for it, ask the folks who’ve already used it…

“This system is incredible! I can move, run, and exercise again. It is fantastic to know that I can do something positive to get rid of my pain. I threw out all of my pills. Now I just pop on the system and dig out those trigger points.”

~Cindy T. Macon, GA

“My life is so much easier to handle without being in constant pain. The system has given me the freedom I was looking for. Everyone needs to try one!”

~Sam M. New York NY

“Because of a whiplash injury, I had years of chronic upper back and neck pain, but not anymore! Thanks to this unique fantastic little device.”

~Susan H. Pittsburgh, PA

Click here to claim your copy of the Trigger Point Self-Treatment System today!