If you think overcoming your chronic neck or back pain is just about just about pain relief, then I’ve got news for you: that advice is completely inadequate and will cause you more suffering in the long run.

In today’s post, I’m going to show you the TRUTH about what’s important if you want to dramatically reduce or eliminate your chronic pain. 

Not only will I reveal the 4 most common chronic pain myths on the planet, but I’ll show you everything you need to know about dealing with your pain that can help you get on the right track.  

Chronic Neck and Back Pain Myth #1: The Focus on the Pain is outdated and ineffective

Many years ago in medicine when there were no other alternatives, simply shutting off pain with medication or injections was the thing to do.

 At least we all thought it worked, and to some extent it did. That’s why this approach to prescribing a patient out of pain became so popular.

However, recent research shows demonstratively that this medication approach isn’t as effective as it was once thought to be. 

In fact the more recent research shows this can be dangerous and counterproductive. 

The main reason? 

Pain might be a complete disruptor in your life and you want it gone, but it isn’t the problem. The vast majority of the time it’s the effect. When all you do is shut off the pain signal the underlying cause of the problem continues to worsen.

 There are other reasons too. Common medications have been shown to worsen the underlying arthritis.

Which means that to dramatically reduce your pain and return to more activities, you can’t just turn the pain signal off.

What to do instead

You need to address the underlying imbalances that are causing the pain. In fact, sometimes just bringing greater balance to the joints can have an almost immediate impact on your pain.  

So if you’re looking to greatly improve your chronic neck or back pain here’s the approach I recommend trying out.

Most neck and back pain comes from nerve irritation due to pelvic and spinal joints that have lost proper alignment and motion. This is exactly what corrective chiropractors are trained to do. Make sure to find a chiropractor specializing in correction. 

Chronic Neck and Back Pain Myth #2: Anti-inflammatory Medications are NOT correcting anything

Trying to address your chronic pain with NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatories) is not only ineffective long term but it actually worsening the underlying condition. 

As I noted above, research has shown that NSAIDs actually accelerate cartilage damage. Much of chronic neck and back pain is related to degenerative arthritis. Taking NSAIDs further accelerates joint damage. And then you are left with joints much worse off than before and more pain. 

And if that’s not enough, here are 3 other reasons anti-inflammatories won’t work:

• Reason #1: Inflammation is more the result of the problem than the cause.
• Reason #2: Long term use of NSAIDs increase the risk of peptic ulcer disease, kidney failure, stroke and heart attacks.
• Reason #3: Plus, you won’t be able to figure out what is driving the pain if you are busy covering it up.

What to do instead 

Restoring joint motion and alignment will help reduce pain more completely than NSAIDs. Combine this with a practice of maintaining spinal joint motion and you will experience a much more natural reduction in pain.

The best part is, this helps slow down the degeneration and arthritis rather than speed it up.

Chronic Neck and Back Pain Myth #3: Nothing Can Be Done about Spinal Arthritis

One of the most persistent myths about chronic neck and back pain is the idea that if you have spinal arthritis (osteoarthritis) that nothing can be done, it is permanent, and so is your pain. 

So not true! Yes, the arthritis is likely permanent but that doesn’t mean nothing can be done. Just not the way medicine approaches it with anti-inflammatories.  

Spinal Arthritis causes pain because of imbalances in the function of the joints. All the medication does is reduce the pain from the imbalance. Corrective Chiropractic care  is effective at restoring greater balance and function and can have a tremendous impact on your pain. 

Most of the arthritis we are talking about is caused by imbalances. Like tires on a vehicle with a front end out of alignment and the wheels not balanced, the joints wear out. While we can’t put “tread” back on your joints we can restore a lot of the balance and take stress off the joints.

You can’t stretch your way out of joint misalignment and medication won’t do a thing. Along with corrective chiropractic care I teach patients something called joint flossing and coupled motion exercises. Together with chiropractic these help restore and maintain better joint motion.

What to do instead: 

We’ve established that medication for chronic neck and back pain cannot solve the problem since it does not address the underlying cause.

For example:

A client of mine came in with a longstanding problem of hip pain. She’d been to a couple of MDs who told her it was hip arthritis. She was offered an injection. Instead she came to me.

I found an imbalance in her hip but more importantly and imbalance in her lower lumbar spine and pelvis. Restoring balance to the lumbar spine and pelvis and hip have resolved 95% of her pain and she is back at activities she hadn’t done in years. 

Chronic Neck and Back Pain Myth #4: There’s NO Danger in Covering Up the Pain

The truth? Taking pain and anti inflammatory medications won’t cut it for more reasons than the dangers of the drugs.  

Even though you may be using medications judiciously there is still another risk. Without restoring better motion and balance you are setting yourself up for more joint damage which causes more pain and creates even more significant limitations.

To really get the results you want, you should be trying to correct the underlying imbalances as best you can. Restoring joint alignment and motion is #1. Maintaining that motion is key. And, activating the posterior chain muscles is also important. 

What to do instead

If you live in Nevada County, CA and would like to explore the Life Chiropractic of Grass Valley Corrective Rebalancing Program you can schedule your initial Consult and Exam here: Schedule Here

A simple step you can take today is to go online and schedule now. After the exam we can discuss if you qualify for the program and what that looks like.

Wrapping it Up

There you have it: 4 Chronic Neck and Back Pain myths. 

Now, over to you. Which of these myths did you find most surprising?