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Mind Your Anatomy

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:34:20 +0000

Photo Courtesy:
(c)Public Domain via Wikipedia Commons

One thing I like about exercise systems such as yoga and Pilates is that they train you to become more aware of your anatomy. In my opinion, this makes the work more precise. It's also my opinion that if you do exercises while maintaining accurate anatomical awareness, you stand a better chance of managing, reducing or eliminating neck and back pain.

The low back, in particular, is influenced by the way you place your an important structure called your pelvis. If the pelvis is in a balanced and/or level position, you may be able to work the muscles of your core in a balanced way, too. My experience is, this can only be good for a back.

So how do you know when your pelvis is in the right place?

If you're sitting, be sure to identify and level out your ishial tuberosities.

For other positions, the following articles may provide insight:

New Years Revisited - Smoking and Back Pain

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:49:03 +0000

Photo Courtesy:
Patrick

A happy belated New Year to you. If you are a smoker, I'm sure the health risks of smoking - lung, heart and other degenerative diseases - are not news to you. But are you aware that back pain is also one of the risks? It is. My two new articles will give you the facts:

Smoking and Back Pain Articles

Health Risks of Smoking
(Exactly) How Smoking Changes Your Spinal Structures

Problems With Spinal Fusion Surgery

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:41:26 +0000

Spinal fusion is perhaps the most common surgery for a number of back ailments (scoliosis, degenerative disc disease and others), and has been for a very long time. Just the same, it does come with risks.

One risk is pseudoarthrosis, which develops if the fusion fails (called non-union of fusion). Pseudoarthrosis can be very painful, and may require another surgery.

Another risk is adjacent segment degeneration. Adjacent segment degeneration, called ASD for short, may occur as a result of routine pressure put on the spinal joints located above and/or below the place where your fusion is done. In and of itself, ASD may not affect your daily well being too much, but should new symptoms develop, say pain or nerve related symptoms, your doctor may diagnose you with adjacent segment disease.

ASD and adjacent segment disease concern doctors and researchers so much that new approaches to spine repair are being developed. Motion sparing spine surgery (think total disc replacement) is one such approach.

Related:

Are you at risk for ASD or adjacent segment disease?
ASD Prevalence - Is ASD Common or Rare?

Support Your Neck with A Good Ergonomic Office Chair

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:47:20 +0000

Photo Courtesy:
Patrick

A while back a reader asked me why she gets so much neck pain after a day at her office. My first thought was about support for her lower body, believe it or not. The chair (bench, stool or even exercise ball) you sit on provides the foundation for not only your lumbar spine, but your mid-back, upper back, shoulders and neck, as well.

Think of your neck and back as units that stack on top of one another. When you sit, the bottom of your pelvis - your sitting bones, ideally - connect to the seat of your chair. The weight of your body transfers down to those sitting bones and into the chair.

The height, depth and seat tilt of your chair will likely affect the curve in your low back, which affects the positioning of your mid and upper back and so on. Each unit balances on top of the one beneath it. So you need a level, supportive foundation to keep the rest of your body in good alignment. That's where a well thought out investment in an ergonomic chair comes in.

Beyond that, if you have a similar concern as this reader, you might consider adjusting your workstation so that it fits you as an individual, as well as learning about best ways to incorporate exercise, work breaks and even company management into your ergonomic improvement plans.

Thyroid Surgery May Bring On Unexpected Neck Pain

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:06:58 +0000

If you're planning thyroid surgery, you may experience neck pain and stiffness after the procedure.

I asked Dr. Eric Wisotzky, Associate Director of Cancer Rehabilitation at the National Rehabilitation Hospital what causes it and what you can do to alleviate it. Here's what he said:

Dr. Wisotzky says that several factors can cause neck pain and stiffness after thyroid surgery. The first, he says, is the position of your neck during the surgery. "The neck is often fully extended during thyroid surgery." He informs me that the pain may be due to compression of a nerve in your head, called the greater occipital nerve.

The second factor is neck positioning after surgery, according to Wisotzky. "You may have a tendency to keep your neck in one position after surgery, which can make it feel stiff." Wisotzky suggests moving your neck and shoulders as soon as you're cleared by your surgeon to do so.

The surgical incision can cause the pain, too, Wisotzky says. He adds that "severe post-operative nausea and vomiting may also contribute."

How long does neck pain after thyroid surgery usually last? What can you expect as time goes on?

"Typically, neck pain after thyroid surgery only lasts a few days, but there are cases where it lasts for weeks, months, or even years," Wisotzky says.

And your diagnosis may have something to do with it. "Patients with thyroid cancer seem to have longer periods of post-operative pain than those with benign thyroid diseases."

Dr. Wisotzky suggests addressing the pain as soon as you can. "Early pain control after surgery is important because without it you may be increasing the risk of chronic pain." Dr. Wisotzky says going to a physical therapist to get a neck exercise program is a good idea, as is seeing a physiatrist. And to move out of stiffness, he suggests 3 simple exercises to be done for 10 repititions, 3 times per day:

1) Move the neck in the following planes of motion: look down, look to the left, look to the right, tilt the neck to the right, and tilt the neck to the left.

2) Rotate both shoulders forward in a circular motion.

3) Slowly raise the arms overhead and slowly lower them back down.

_Source:

_{Wisotzky, E., MD.Â Associate Director of Oncology Rehabilitation, National Rehabilitation Hospital. Email Interview.Â Jan 2012.}

Ways to Reduce Your Back Wellness Costs

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:42:15 +0000

Photo Courtesy:
Pricegrabber

Reducing the cost of back wellness is relative, in my opinion. Generally speaking, common sense is often an excellent gauge for picking out things to do to manage your neck or back pain. And this may mean the solutions you'll come up with are free or at least low cost.

Of course, exercise is the least expensive. After you consult a physical therapist or other in-the-know professional, you give up your time, but that's about it.

There are a number of other free or nearly free common sense options for low cost back care, as well. Learning how to do common activities with good body mechanics comes to mind. For example:

And for daily back wellness for which you're willing to pay a bit more (but will still likely save you money over the long haul), you might try a massage machine.

Lighten the Load You Put On Your Back

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:25:34 +0000

Photo Courtesy:
Pricegrabber

If you live a frenetic life, juggling job, kids, schools, social and more, you may regularly find yourself lugging around lots of different things, large, small, heavy and light. Has it started to bother your back? I know it has for me (except when I'm careful about my limits). Well now there's a solution - the PacSafe Stashsafe Hip Pack 100.

Nominate Your Favorite Back Pain or Neck Pain Blog

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:38:41 +0000

Nominations are now being taken for the 2012 About.com Reader Choice Awards. And this year you can nominate your favorite spine related blog! It's easy - just fill out this form. Voting begins mid-February. Rewards include a nifty badge the winner can put on their site, and of course, bragging rights. Best of luck!

Back Pain Wake Up Call

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:33:41 +0000

Something's changing in the spine treatment world. I think it's a wake up call.

Last week, I blogged about new research showing strong evidence in favor of chiropractic adjustments and exercise to help relieve neck pain. It seems getting a neck adjustment is a better way to relieve pain in the short and long term than taking pain meds. And the same study found that doing your back exercises is on par with getting an adjustment, as far as pain relief goes. For many people, the response to these findings is "I could have told you that."

But there's more.

For people who feel they are caught in a medical system that is constantly treating and billing but rarely delivering pain relief, your feelings are confirmed.

Research shows that while the use and costs of a number of common back treatments (medications, spinal fusions and others) has been rising steeply in the last decade or so, the patients receiving the treatment have just as much pain afterwards as they did before they went to the doctor. In other words, the costs of back pain treatment in this country is not justified by improvement in quality of life for people on the receiving end of those treatments.

If you want to know more about this or if you're a numbers buff and you're interested in learning, for example, how much back treatments average per person in the US, check out my new article Back Pain Statistics.

Narcotic Opioid Pain Medication May Be Mixed Up With Your Over The Counter FDA Warns

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:23:17 +0000

Photo Courtesy:
Jane Sawyer

If you take over the counter medications such as Excedrin or Bufferin, you should know about the recent mix-up at the Novartis plant in Nebraska. (Novartis is the manufacturer responsible. They make pain drugs for Endo Pharmaceuticals.)

It seems that some of the company's heavy-duty pain meds such as Opana and varieties of Percocet (these are narcotic pain relievers that may lead to addiction) may have gotten mixed up in the over the counter products also manufactured at the plant. The FDA has issued a warning about this, along with some tips for protecting yourself.