How to Improve Back Pain

For decades we have been helping patients improve their back function, reduce and end back pain symptoms, and help avoid unwanted back surgery.  This includes acute back pain – upper, middle, low back pain — as well as sciatica.  It also includes chronic back pain — also in the same regions.  This is employing acupuncture, electroacupuncture, therapeutic massage, stretching, instruction in posture, McKenzie exercises, herbs, nutrition, and the past 5 years Neurologic Relief Center technique. Of course, the choices were made after a comprehensive history taking, evaluation, and analysis.  Short-cutting this process is not a wise thing to do, is unprofessional, and in the long run is not helpful for the patient.  Some “community acupuncture clinics,” some medical doctor offices* and others practitioners with less training and superficial understanding of the problems will do a very cursory exam, if at all.  And frankly speaking, looking at the tongue and feeling the wrist pulse, while helpful in some ways, is WHOLLY INSUFFICIENT to determine what is going on, but that is what you will get at a low-cost clinic.   *Medical doctors will at least eventually refer you to a specialist if the are internal medicine or family practitioners.

“Watch Your Back!”

A recent book about back pain, “Watch Your Back!: How the Pain Industry Has Cost Us More and Given Us Less” by Richard A. Deyo, MD suggests that there are 4 main ways that we heal back pain.  We do not agree that these are the only ways, but agree that these are important aspects of the process.  On the other hand, one of many lecture segments about back pain that we have presented is on youtube  HERE. The 4 ways of healing back pain according to Dr. Deyo are: 1) Time heals all.  There is a time frame, a natural healing cycle, that healing (by the body’s own healing powers) takes place in.  Just have to let time take it’s time. Usually 4 weeks. 2) Regression to the mean.  Over time the person gets better. 3) Placebo effect.  People are given both an active method and a real method.  Even the placebo, physical treatment, is better than the control (no intervention).  COMMENT: This points out the fact that the placebo effect is powerful.  Some researchers may claim that the placebo effect should not be used, but even editorials in the Journal of the American Medical Association have on and off lauded the benefits of using the placebo effect as much as possible if it will help the patient. 4) The doctor’s warm, attention, sympathy, and caring have a strong influence on recovery. Dr. Deyo elaborates on these as well as analyzes various studies on treatment methods used to treat back pain, including acupuncture, massage, physical therapy, pain medications and surgery.  Neurologic Relief Center (NRC) technique is not discussed. The NRC is still gathering data to put together further studies on efficacy.  Numerous anecdotal cases are shown in this blogs articles and on youtube from around the world.  Cases 1. Case 2, Case 3, Case 4