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[RC] Laura's back pain - Bruce Weary DCHi Laura-- You ask many good questions. I will take the liberty of answering on RC so that others here might benefit. This could get long, so I apologize. Most back pain is mechanical. That means that the skeleton is basically a complicated "linkage" of several hundred joints, held together with ligaments, and moved by muscle, and controlled by the nervous system. When the skeleton takes a blow, like coming off a speeding horse, there are mechanisms in the nervous system that cause joints and their neighboring tissues to tighten, spasm, jam, and basically become immobile. This is a protective mechanism for overused or injured parts, and happens form normal daily activity, too. Unfortunately, after the "healing" of the soft tissues has occurred, the remaining "jammed joints" have no way to recover without help. Stretching and exercise are usually ineffective in this stage, as you found out, since the jammed joints can't participate. In this stage, you will have pain and problems associated with the inability to move certain parts--turning your head to check traffic, sitting or lying comfortably, and performing the many movements that each day demands. This condition will become chronic if not treated properly, and months and years down the road, there is another price to pay--increasing chronic pain and disability, as well as greater incidence of arthritis or "wear and tear" in the affected body part or spinal region. Manipulation is the treatment of choice in this stage, as no other treatment or remedy has the same effect. Your testimonial is a good example, in that you didn't really improve until you had manipulation done. It's really just a matter of knowing when to intervene with each type of treatment. There is a time for meds, a time for PT, a time for exercise, etc.,. The tricky thing is that if any of these, including manipulation, is used improperly or at the wrong time, they may be ineffective, or even cause further problems. I'm here to tell you, Time does *not* heal all things. Mother Nature, along with timely and intelligently guided treatment (usually with multiple approaches) can do some pretty amazing things, and do them routinely. The pain you are describing is not well managed with meds ( as you now know).Treating pain with meds only, is like snipping the wires to a fire alarm. The bell quits ringing, but the fire rages on. Your pain on lying down was from the skeleton not being loosened enough to accomadate the surface you were lying on. The muscles are told what to do, and do not have a mind of their own. Since the joints that the muscles serve are still in trouble, the muscles are told to continue to malfunction in an attempt to support the area. This leads to chronic soft tissue pain, trigger points, myofascial scarring, congestion, and muscle shortening, and the vicious cycle continues. It sounds like you are on the path to recovery. I wouldn't be afraid of riding. If the pain returns, it likely won't be as bad since your chiro has already done some corrective work. You probably require some more treatment, and I would recommend getting with a PT afterward for a strengthening and stabilization program, which will help you stay well longer, and absorb more daily activity without re-flaring. We recently opened a full PT facility, and it has been a joy to see how much more can be done for my patients by a PT after I have done all that I can do. It is a terrific inter-professional way of addressing patient's problem more completely. That's all for now. I can comment on Donna's issues, if there is interest. There's a lot to be learned from her experiences. Good luck. Dr Q =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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