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To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

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Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#31

Post by patrickdavey »

katastic wrote: post #5

I've been living this horror for six years. If I could just magically stop using medicine and not being treated like a drug addict for merely taking prescribed medicine by all walks of society (from cops, to nurses, to neighbors), don't you think I'd have already fucking taken that choice? The majority of people don't want to be on pills. They want to get better. If I'm in too much pain to physically get out of bed,…

I had somewhat bad back pain for a long while (squash injury). The thing that made the most difference was a core strengthening class I did (basically Pilates and specific stretches).

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#32

Post by jaggederest »

maxxxxx wrote: post #19
jaggederest wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point is that there's no difference between psychosomatic pain and pain where there's a physical cause. The brain activity that people think of as being "just psychosomatic" is actual, physical changes that causes both direct perception of pain within the brain itself and also changes in the rest of the body that result in peripheral pain. Stress doesn't just make you imagine you have joint pain, it actuall…

I accept that your thoughts can create pain but I think there is also pain that's being caused first by a physical event. Example: someone drilling your tooth.

Yes, it's by no means a one way gate, I'm just saying that people perceive this incorrect dichotomy between "real" pain and "pain that is just from your brain". There's no such distinction, and all pain is actual physical signalling.

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#33

Post by ZeroGravitas »

I've had some minor back issues in my life. One of the most thorough, scientific approaches I found was Dr Stuart McGill' s books.

A proper academic with a deep understanding of what's going on but also able to translate that into pragmatic advice for people in pain.

Highly recommended. You can find various YouTube videos with him in then, which gave me the confidence that he was a knowledgeable geek and not some huckster. Often the videos are related to his work with high performance athletes, but his books apply to ordinary Joes or old people just as much.

If I can sum it up poorly, it's about understanding which muscles and bones work together in various movements and avoiding putting them under inappropriate strain, by slightly altering habits and building up muscles to provide support.

He is also skeptical of the benefit of surgery in most cases. He does also touch on some brain related stuff but it wasn't related to my particular pain so I don't know much about that part of his approach.

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#34

Post by ianai »

ransom1538 wrote: post #12
katastic wrote: post #5

I've been living this horror for six years. If I could just magically stop using medicine and not being treated like a drug addict for merely taking prescribed medicine by all walks of society (from cops, to nurses, to neighbors), don't you think I'd have already fucking taken that choice? The majority of people don't want to be on pills. They want to get better. If I'm in too much pain to physically get out of bed,…

Hey man after 3 years I just finally beat back pain - it is possible. In my case it was physical therapy until i understood the routine to strengthen the core and stretching. I also changed how I work: no sitting, ever. Laying or standing. I lost weight (i am 6'1 got down to 165). I took stretching serious, you should be able to touch your toes. You need to drink milk. For depression find a position to work while you…

What do you so for core conditioning and strength?

Also I'm looking for ways to put together a workstation in the horizontal position

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#35

Post by KGIII »

chrismealy wrote: post #29
bambax wrote: post #9

Not one mention of The Mindbody Prescription (if only to dismiss it)? If you're suffering from back pain, or carpal tunnel syndrome, or such ailments, read this book, it might change your life! (and if it doesn't it can't harm) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0446675156/

I read about three chapters of this and it cured my wrist pain. Never would have believed it possible if it hadn't happened to me.

I am skeptical. What about those three chapters resolved your physiological ailment?

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#36

Post by melling »

theparanoid wrote: post #10
melling wrote: post #3

The Mind Body Approach: Cures back pain, rsi... https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connectio... http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html

FWIW, it worked for my RSI with semi-crippling pain when typing.

What did that involve? How did you reduce your stress?

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#37

Post by bsenftner »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #14
katastic wrote: post #5

I've been living this horror for six years. If I could just magically stop using medicine and not being treated like a drug addict for merely taking prescribed medicine by all walks of society (from cops, to nurses, to neighbors), don't you think I'd have already fucking taken that choice? The majority of people don't want to be on pills. They want to get better. If I'm in too much pain to physically get out of bed,…

I feel you and I went through that horror too. By what I'm about to say please know that I don't mean to diminish the severity of your injuries and pain nor do I mean to suggest any lack of diligence on your part in finding the right treatment or implying that any treatment could work for you. I'm not going to bore you with my story except to say, looking back, I'm amazed I was able to endure such pain for so long. I…

I can second this opinion. I suffered 3 crushed vertebra at age 17, and was in a lot of pain for 10 years before I started seeing a unique doctor: he'd been a USA MD for 20 years when his wife died of cancer. He lost faith in western medicine from the experience of guiding his wife through her cancer treatments. So he went to China for 20 years, and became a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor there, practicing in China for 14 years before returning to the states and opening a hybrid western / eastern medical clinic. This guy was the most enlightening individual I've ever met, he was truly walking the path of a master of his domain. I don't mean arrogance, speaking with him was a never ending joy of discovery and learning about myself and my systems, how they integrate and support one another.

Needless to say, he healed my pain, and more. Sadly, he retired about 7 years after I met him. I've not found anyone like him since, and I've tried.

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#38

Post by moretai »

ianai wrote: post #34
ransom1538 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey man after 3 years I just finally beat back pain - it is possible. In my case it was physical therapy until i understood the routine to strengthen the core and stretching. I also changed how I work: no sitting, ever. Laying or standing. I lost weight (i am 6'1 got down to 165). I took stretching serious, you should be able to touch your toes. You need to drink milk. For depression find a position to work while you…

What do you so for core conditioning and strength? Also I'm looking for ways to put together a workstation in the horizontal position

I'd seriously consider Yoga.

But to get started, deep breathing I feel has had an affect on my overall core strength.

At times, you'll feel like a moron. Deep, deep breathes. I'd suggest starting off for session of like 5 or 10 minutes. It doesn't matter how you do it. Just breathe deep as a practice. But if you need something to get started: something that's standard is X second in, X second hold, X second release. You probably won't be able to do 8 seconds. So start with 4 seconds, and move up.

Then there's deadlifts, squats, bench. Core functional movements. You should feel your core expanded, and activated. You should be recruiting these muscles when doing these movements.

But yoga. for real dog.

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#39

Post by moretai »

toasterlovin wrote: post #15
ransom1538 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey man after 3 years I just finally beat back pain - it is possible. In my case it was physical therapy until i understood the routine to strengthen the core and stretching. I also changed how I work: no sitting, ever. Laying or standing. I lost weight (i am 6'1 got down to 165). I took stretching serious, you should be able to touch your toes. You need to drink milk. For depression find a position to work while you…

If you're enthusiastic about milk and believe that strength is the way out of pain, I have the best recommendation for you: Starting Strength.

I'm enthusiastic about milk, but why is it so good for us?

Re: To treat back pain, look to the brain not the spine

#40

Post by WalterSear »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #14
katastic wrote: post #5

I've been living this horror for six years. If I could just magically stop using medicine and not being treated like a drug addict for merely taking prescribed medicine by all walks of society (from cops, to nurses, to neighbors), don't you think I'd have already fucking taken that choice? The majority of people don't want to be on pills. They want to get better. If I'm in too much pain to physically get out of bed,…

I feel you and I went through that horror too. By what I'm about to say please know that I don't mean to diminish the severity of your injuries and pain nor do I mean to suggest any lack of diligence on your part in finding the right treatment or implying that any treatment could work for you. I'm not going to bore you with my story except to say, looking back, I'm amazed I was able to endure such pain for so long. I…

With all due respect, "traditional Chinese Medicine" was invented by Mao because he couldn't afford to give his half billion strong agrarian proletariat actual medicine and didn't want them to notice.

>“Even though I believe we should promote Chinese medicine,” Mao told him, “I personally do not believe in it. I don’t take Chinese medicine.”

> In 1923, Lu Xun, China’s most famous man of letters, reflected critically on his father’s visits to a Chinese doctor, visits that bankrupted the family and failed to produce results. “I still remember the doctor’s discussion and prescription,” Lu wrote, “and if I compare them with my knowledge now, I slowly realize that Chinese doctors are no more than a type of swindler, either intentional or unintentional, and I sympathize with deceived sick people and their families.”

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

>...Mao’s strategy to deal with these criticisms was quite deliberate—and clever. It consisted of two strategies, both designed to mythologize TCM as being a scientifically sound and harmonious “whole medical system” and to provide “evidence” in the form of testimonials that it worked... "Textbooks were written that portrayed Chinese medicine as a theoretical and practical whole, and they were taught in newly founded academies of so-called “traditional Chinese medicine,” a term that first appeared in English, not Chinese. Needless to say, the academies were anything but traditional, striving valiantly to “scientify” the teachings of classics that often contradicted one another and themselves..." The second part of the strategy was the dissemination of spectacular anecdotes to “prove” the efficacy of TCM.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/10/25/chairman-mao-in...

https://www.google.com/search?q=traditional+chinese+medicine...

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