Back Pain and Barefoot Running

I was running on the treadmill at the YMCA the other day, and I couldn’t help but be distracted by the “slam, slam, slam” noise of the guy running two machines down.

By contrast, I hardly made any noise at all.  I run in Vibram Five Finger Shoes which simulate barefoot running.  The guy down the way was running in shoes.  We were both running at the same pace, but he was just pounding away.

All that pounding has to go somewhere.  It goes into the joints of the feet, knees, hips and back.  The common thinking is that the cushions in the shoes absorb the shock.  And it does to a certain extent.  The problem is this:  Because the shoes provide cushioning, your foot can’t feel the ground.  So you end up having to pound at the ground in order for your foot to feel what is going on, and maintain your balance.

In a barefoot situation, you run lighter.  Your feet feel what is going on and you don’t pound.  You land lightly and push the pavement (or treadmill in my case), behind you.  It is a very gentile movement and your muscles absorb any shock.

The first thing I noticed when I started to run barefoot, is that my form totally changed.  I stood taller and I didn’t bounce.  The effect lasted after I ran.  My posture was taller and easier to maintain.

I now wear, flat thin soled, flexible shoes everywhere I go.  I feel better and stand taller than I ever have.

For more information on back pain, foot pain and other health topics, check out all the reports and blogs on www.painfree-greatposture.com.

Chiropractic-Fast Relief For Back Pain

Chiropractors have been treating back pain for over 100 years.  The profession has been growing and helping millions of patients.

If you are looking for a chiropractor, you should know that they aren’t all alike.  Chiropractors vary in their technique depending on where they went to school, what they studied, the conditions they like to treat, or their own physical characteristics.  Some use their hands to align spines, some use instruments.

The bottom line is this:  Chiropractic should give you relief from your back pain.  If you aren’t feeling better, you might not be seeing the right chiropractor.

After your treatment, you should feel relief of pain, improved movement and better posture.  If you don’t, the treatment is not right for you, plain and simple.

You probably won’t get better in one treatment.  It usually takes a course of treatments for you to get long lasting relief.  But you should feel improvement after each visit.

Here are some examples of what your body should look like after it is re-aligned.  All these before and after pictures, are of people standing relaxed on the same day.  Notice how they stand straighter.  They are doing this without effort!

For more information on how we treat back pain, log on to:  www.newbackpainreliefinfo.com

Physical Therapy for Back Pain- Debunking the Top Ten Myths

Many people seek out physical therapy for their spine care.  Some of the care is good, some of it not so good, some of it is down right detrimental.  Here are some ideas physical therapists use when treating you, that will get you into trouble.  I call these the top ten myths.

10. Muscles stabilize joints- muscles only stabilize joints when they are in a pathological state.  In the spine, if a vertebra is misaligned because of a sprain, the muscles surrounding the area tighten up.  The tight muscles stabilize the joint until it heals.  If it heals properly, the muscles will relax.  If someone does procedures to loosen the joint before it heals, the bones will tend to move further out of alignment.  In the spine, the bones can contact nerve tissue and cause bad, bad problems.

9. Posture is held in place by muscles- your body is held upright by muscles when bones are misaligned in a way the body cannot self correct.  When bones are not misaligned the body remains upright without muscular effort.  Strengthening muscles to try and correct posture only makes the body tighter.

8. Weak muscles cause bad posture- weak muscles don’t help posture, but they aren’t always the cause.  Strengthening muscles around the spine is only a tiny part of what is necessary to correct posture.

7. Strong muscles cause good posture- If this were true, body builders and swimmers would have great posture.  95% of them don’t.

6. Back pain comes from weak muscles-  Weak muscles don’t help, but it is a tiny part of the puzzle.  The research on back pain points to discs, ligaments and nerves as the primary tissues involved in back pain.  Treating the muscles does not treat the cause.

5. Exercise helps pain- Exercise only helps when the exercises are given at the right time and in the right way.  Exercising during the acute (early) phase of an injury only aggravates it.

4. Stretching is good for you- This one blows people away.  Google search “stretching and athletic performance “  Try and find an research article that says stretching enhances athletic performance. You can’t. They all say it doesn’t help. In fact, most say it is detrimental to athletic performance.  But, here’s the kicker, all of them say, you should do it any way !  Yikes. Stretching may give temporary relief to a tight muscle, but the question you should ask yourself is “why is that muscle tight ?”  If you fix the reason the muscle is tight, the muscle loosens up on its own.

3. Bending forward to stretch your back muscles- Bending forward does stretch the muscles along side the spine.  It may feel temporarily better, but the tightness will come right back.  The question is “why are those muscles tight ?”  If those muscles are tight because they are protecting the L5 vertebra from sliding forward and coming into contact with nerve tissue, stretching is going to be harmful.  In fact, I have seen many, many cases of sciatica aggravated by forward bending exercises given to patients in PT.

2. Heat, diathermy and ultrasound help back pain.  The scientific literature on back pain is pretty clear.  Inflammation of the ligaments and discs are the primary cause of back pain.  Why on Earth PT’s use therapies on back pain patients that increase heat (inflammation), I have no idea.  Yet I see it done on PT patients every day and the results aren’t pretty.  Heating modalities are a quick way to make someone incapacitated by extreme pain.  Always use ice.

1. Chiropractic doesn’t help.  The research is filling up with articles showing the effectiveness and safety of chiropractic spinal manipulation.  It helps when other therapies fail.  Physical therapists that say chiropractic is ineffective or dangerous are uninformed.  Usually these statements are made to try and convince the patient to stay in PT instead of going to a chiropractor.  Sad but true.  I hear it all the time.

For more information on how I treat back pain, log on to: www.newbackpainreliefinfo.com

Pain Relief During Pregnancy

If you are pregnant and suffering from back pain, neck pain, headaches, migraines, sciatica or other pain, you are limited in what can be done.  You can not take drugs because they can adversely affect your child.

However, you can get a tremendous amount of relief pain with the ABC style of anterior spinal manipulation.  This type of chiropractic is gentle to have done and provides immediate relief of pain.  You also will notice how much easier it is to get up out of a chair and walk.  The body functions better and the results happen immediately, not sometime later.

To find out how it is done, watch this video:

Then call Jennifer or Pat and set up an appointment for a free consultation where you can find out how this new type of treatment can help.  Call 262-251-8306.

Acid Reflux and Posture

A study published this month showed a relationship between postural balance and reflux gastroesophagitis.  ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21971878  )

The study involved a fifteen year old girl with a severe spinal deformity that pushed her shoulders forward and to the side.  She had symptoms of positional imbalance, intermittent respiratory infections, gastrointestinal discomfort, trouble swallowing and heartburn for several years.

She had her spinal deformity surgically corrected and her symptoms went away.

This is an interesting report because in raises a number of questions.  Can other types of misalignment in the spine cause gastrointestinal problems?  Do these problems have to be severe before you get symptoms? If you want to avoid drugs and surgery, can chiropractic fix these problems?

Based on my clinical experience, the answer to the above questions is yes!

To find out more about how I treat posture problems, log on to: www.painfree-greatposture.com

Chiropractic vs. Physical Therapy for Back Injuries

Patients with back injuries often don’t know who to see to get treatment.  Often, they will go to a physical therapist over a chiropractor because their medical doctor will recommend PT.  But, is that really in your best interest ?

A study compiling data from Worker’s Compensation cases in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Texas and Wisconsin involving 894 cases filing claims in 2006 revealed lower disability recurrence for patients under chiropractic care compared to patients treated by physical therapists and medical doctors.  In fact, patients under physical therapy treatment were twice as likely to have recurrent disability as a patient under chiropractic care.

Chiropractic was also cheaper than physical therapy by $122 per week.

Physical therapy has its place.  For post operative rehabilitation, severe trauma, neurological disorders, and the like, physical therapy can be tremendously beneficial.  But for most back injuries, physical therapy is not the best choice of treatment.  In fact, the authors acknowledged that part of chiropractic’s benefit is that it keeps patients from using other treatments that slow recovery.

Chiropractic is the best option for back injuries and has been confirmed in numerous studies.  For more information on how I treat back injuries log on to www.newbackpainreliefinfo.com.

Back Pain During Pregnancy

Low back pain can make a woman’s pregnancy absolutely miserable.  It makes it hard to get out of a chair, walk or move around.  Not to mention how much harder it makes labor and delivery.

The extra weight of the baby can cause posture problems, especially if your posture wasn’t too good before you were pregnant.  These posture problems create more strain on the muscles of the low back creating muscle spasms and pain.

The hormones of pregnancy soften up the ligaments that hold the bones of the spine in place.  So, as pregnancy progresses, the bones of the spine can slide out of place and pinch nerves.  This can create, back pain, sciatica, neck pain and even headaches.

If you are pregnant, options are limited.  You can’t take medication due to possible side effects that can hurt your baby.

Chiropractic is a great option because it is safe and effective.  Some pregnant women are afraid to see a chiropractor because they think they might get hurt.  Or worse, it somehow might hurt the baby.

According to research, chiropractic is safer than aspirin.  And during pregnancy, it’s a God-send.  You can get immediate relief of pain and you will move around and stand better than ever.

My wife is very thankful to be adjusted during pregnancy.  She was checked and treated any time she needed it with both my kids.  And, she gets treated now for our third.

I created a little video that shows the type of procedures I use.  You can see that they are very gentle and easy on the body.  The results are immediate, as you will see.  Check it out at:  http://www.vimeo.com/28359805

For a free consultation for your pregnancy related back pain, neck pain or headaches, call Jennifer or Pat at 262-251-8306.

How To Sleep When You Have Back Pain

How you sleep is probably one of the main contributors to back pain.  During sleep, back muscles relax and rejuvenate.  The discs between the bones of the spine regenerate and refill with fluid.  And, any tissues that were damaged during the day, will repair at night.

None of the above will happen if you sleep in a contorted or unsupported position.

When you were a young child, you could sleep just about any way you wanted.  Your bones weren’t fully developed, your discs were more pliable, and your muscles rejuvenated quicker.

But as you age, tissues that once were soft, start to stiffen up.  You can’t just sleep any old way anymore.   If you do, you will feel it in the morning.

So, here’s what you need to do.

-Avoid Stomach Sleeping-when you sleep on your stomach, you turn your head to the side to breathe.  This puts pressure on the neck and will cause neck pain and headaches.

-Sleep on your side or your back.  When on your back, use a very small pillow or no pillow at all.  When on your side, the pillow height should be high enough that you feel your head is slightly propped up, but not too high that you feel pressure in your neck.  When your pillow height is correct, you won’t need to put a pillow between the knees.

-Always use a firm surface.  Soft mattresses do not support the spine properly and put your body in a contorted position.  There is no need to use any “gadget” mattresses.  A firm mattress with the right pillow height works every time.

If you are having back pain, someone should be working with you on how you are sleeping.  Unfortunately, most medical doctors, chiropractors and therapists do not focus on it and people suffer un-necessarily from pain.

If I ran the world, it would be malpractice to not teach a back pain patient how to sleep.

I once worked with a husband and wife who both had the same back surgery.  No one ever told them that their 20 year old mattress, that was noticeably sagging for the last 5 years, was the cause of their pain.  All the pain suffering and surgery could have been avoided with conservative treatment and a new mattress.

To find out how I treat back pain log on to: www.newbackpainreliefinfo.com

Does Weather Make Pain Worse?

Any doctor who has treated people in chronic pain will hear the patients say that they feel more pain when the weather is bad.  Especially cool humid weather.

Is this all in the patient’s head or is there some scientific cause for it ?

Well a study done in the journal, Spine, in 2004, studied 26,862 patients from 23 different health centers in the National Spine Network.  They concluded that changes in barometric pressure caused people to have lower scores on general health surveys.  (SF-36).  This meant that people rated their general health, physical function, bodily pain, mental health, social function, fatigue and emotional health, lower when the barometric pressure changed.

A study in the Journal of Rheumatology in 1985 showed that falling barometric pressure indicative of a coming storm, increased arthritic symptoms in patients.

Another study noted that 76 to 83% of patients could predict rain by their arthritic symptoms.  (Ann Rheum Dis 1990;49:158-9)

Patients with higher self-reported pain were more weather sensitive.  (Pain 1999;81:173-7)

So there is a definite link to weather and chronic pain.  Research findings suggest that abnormal nerve impulses generated at injured areas could cause increased pain and that these impulses are sensitive to and aggravated by weather.

But the pain is not directly caused by the weather.  An injured or arthritic area is the cause of the pain.  The weather changes merely aggravate the problems.  It is important to get injuries and arthritis treated properly so your pain levels go down and you aren’t as sensitive to weather changes.

For more information on how I treat chronic pain, log on to www.stopyourfibronow.com or www.newbackpainreliefinfo.com.

Back to School Shoes- What do you look for?

Everyone is starting their back to school shopping.  Most kids will need new shoes.  But what kind of shoes are best ?

The best shoes for human health are flat, wide and flexible.

It is totally un-necessary and often detrimental to have shoes with arch supports in them.  Arch supports encourage heel striking, which increases the amount of stress put on the joints.  Arch supports cause a postural problem called forward head posture, where the head juts out in front of the shoulders causing back pain, neck pain and headaches.  A recent study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine reviewed all the research on arch supports and concluded that there is no evidence that arch supports treat or prevent injury.  So stay away from arch supports and other gadgets in shoes.

1. When you choose a shoe, look inside the shoe and make sure it is level from side to side.  No lump in the arch.
2. Make sure the area of the shoe where the toes lay, is wide so it doesn’t constrict the toes.  If the shoe is too pointy, it will cause balance problems.
3. Make sure the very back of the heel is the highest point on the shoe.  If the arch area or any other part of the shoe is higher than the back of the heel, it will cause the shoulders to slump forward when standing.
4.  Walk or jog a little in the shoes and make sure you don’t feel off balance, limp or walk funny.
5. Stand in the shoes take a few deep breaths, relax and let your body go limp.  If your body falls forward more in the shoes, the shoes are causing posture problems and will make you more prone to injury.  They may be right for someone else, but not for you.
6. If you wobble when you stand in a shoe, get rid of it.  It is a sign that your body is struggling to stay upright, and you will be more prone to injury.
7. Do not buy shoes with the boat shaped “rocker bottoms”.  Several lawsuits have been filed against the makers of these types of shoes due to hip fractures and other disorders.

If you are having any type of musculo-skeletal pain, your shoes will play a part in the condition and will need to be corrected for the condition to heal.

For more information on how I treat foot pain, log on to:  www.stopyourfootpain.com

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