Back pain?

[Ruprect]

This is my first post and I want to make it informative. For me to start, I just want to impart my thoughts with regards to back pain. There are many causes for back pain, some known to you and some you might never have thought about.

Often we think that, as soon as we feel anything wrong in our back, we must have “done something to it” just beforehand. But that is not the case. Most of us know the feeling of sudden, unexplainable back pain, where you wonder where it comes from. Fact is that you might have had an accident, a fall, a trauma to your back a few days, weeks, months or even years ago and your body is doing a great job in trying to avoid you from feeling the pain. But if the body doesn’t heal and the compensation work is getting too hard, that’s when you start feeling pain from an incident you might not even remember anymore. So there really is no such thing as back pain without any reason. There is always a reason and it is just a matter of remembering what you might have done that could have caused that pain in the first place. This also is very important information for your practitioner as he can get a better understanding of what might have happened in your structural body depending on the type of trauma you have experienced.

Of course there are so many more causes for back pain but those that I mentioned above are easy to work out and often easy to eliminate without having to go through lengthy treatments or even surgery.

Let me hear something from you guys!

Thanks=)

 

[Helpless]

Back pain?

Hello t006

Welcome to the forum!

I think that most, if not all bodyworkers encounter clients with backpain in their practice often. It's always good to get others opinions and insights and hear results - what worked, what didn't and why - even though this often varies from person to person.

 

[Dream M]

Back pain?

Welcome to MassagePlanetL!

You know this is an EXCELLENT thread!

My background includes a few disciplines, so I thought maybe I could help here

As many ppl here know, I'm a DC (chiropractic doc) with a large background in clinical/functional neurology as well as a new-ish field called Functional Medicine (definitely worth a Google! ) I'm also an LMT with a background in trigger point and neuromuscular therapy. So I tend to have my foot in a couple of boxes at once LOL.

Usually what I see is this: a neurological imbalance (not life-and-death, but certainly impacts multiple aspects of life) creates a musculoskeletal imbalance involving both bone joints AND soft tissues. The neuro issues are usually caused by something metabolic/Functional Medicine-related and/or stress (they all go hand-in-hand). So the muscle issue is usually a manifestation of something deeper.

I'll break it down further - it's incredibly important to address and correct ALL of these - doing just a part of it results in only partial/short-term relief!

Functional Medicine territory - these things often CAUSE the underlying neuro issues:
* Many classes of drugs
* Smoking - yes increases back pain, believe it or not!
* Nutrient deficiencies - Vitamin B, Magnesium (both EXTREMELY common), Calcium (surprisingly MUCH LESS common)
* Gluten sensitivity - ramps up pain sensitivity overall - 1 out of EVERY 3 people is currently reacting to gluten
* Aspartame consumption - totally messes with the neuromuscular system
* Chronic stress

As a result, the neuro issues start popping up:
* Decreased cerebellar firing (which creates spinal muscle weakness - if those muscles go weak, they tend to overstretch and hurt - cerebellum controls spinal muscle posture)
* Imbalance between left and right cortical hemispheres of the brain - the cortex modulates muscle tone on the opposite side of the body - dysfunction here creates muscle tightness
* Overactive upper brain stem starts chronically firing off stress responses
* Other receptors in the CNS that sense pain become more active, making it more likely for people to perceive pain

Since nervous system controls tonicity and firing of soft tissues, the muscles start acting up, producing the following:
* Psoas hypertonicity - by far
* Trigger point referral
* Fascial restriction
* Dehydration of soft tissues

Since muscles attach to bones, they start pulling bones out of alignment:
* Anterior sacrum - by far
* Misaligned lumbar vertebrae
* Misaligned pelvis
* Degenerative disc/joint disease (2 separate things)

These all become vicious cycles. Once the bones are misaligned, joints start wearing and tearing. Or the mechanoreceptors in those joints fire imbalanced information back up to the CNS, which then further knocks the CNS off balance. The body perceives this all as stress, which further aggravates all the Functional Medicine factors. It's a cycle that keeps going until all aspects are dealt with.

So, what works? Hehe lots of cool things! It's good to address all of these TOGETHER, because they all play on each other and an unfixed problem will undo any progress you've made in other areas.
* LMT - psoas release, go in slowly, work up and down the whole muscle. NMT education helps greatly here.
* DC - realign the pelvis and anterior sacrum - fast stretching using drop tables and the like.
* DC neuro - brain-balancing, using gentle, non-invasive neuro-stimulating techniques geared toward alleviating the dysfunction by bringing the nervous system into balance
* Func Med (DC/MD/DO/and in some states, ND) - identify pharmacological side effects, nutrient deficiencies, cellular metabolic errors, etc through lab testing and correct them using nutritional supplements. ELIMINATE common food allergens (don't bother testing for these - too many false negatives) like gluten, dairy, soy, egg, etc.
* Stop smoking! (Heh - if I did, I know it can be done!)
* Drink water!
* And, take preventive measures - eat well, cut out sugar-free products, do yoga, stay active (without overtraining), watch your food ingredient labels and GET MASSAGE REGULARLY

Hope that helps!

I'd love to hear other perspectives! I know mine is prolly a strange one LOL.

Hello t006

Welcome to the forum!

I think that most, if not all bodyworkers encounter clients with backpain in their practice often. It's always good to get others opinions and insights and hear results - what worked, what didn't and why - even though this often varies from person to person.

 

[LillyAnna]

Back pain?

That's a lengthy one but really informative..Thanks for taking time sharing your thoughts with me..really appreciated..

 

[CB#32]

Back pain?

I am intrigued by the notion of simply removing the lower back, as much as needed for the pain to stop. I've envisioned a method that is a bit crude, but 100% effective at eliminating back pain in a single session. t027

It's likely to also have a 100% mortality rate, but you can't make omelets without breaking a few eggs. Best of all, I could teach the whole method in 1 day and award certification upon completion of a single treatment. Don't think that makes it easy. Most MTs won't have the fortitude required to go through with it.

I haven't worked up the nerve to verify its potential by testing it on a client yet, so don't start bombarding me with PMs about when/where/how much for classes.

 

[bluff mike]

Back pain?

Jason, your likely 100% mortality rate sounds fascinating. 100% anything is something to aim for, after all if it's not going to be a 100% guaranteed result, it's not worth doing. Consistency is all important! A cookie cutter routine provides reliable results every time! I hope you are prepared to share the when/where/how much for classes on here so you don't get bothered by all those nasty PMs.

PS don't bother to test it on clients before starting the classes, you need to have more faith in your abilities!