Are you experiencing a challenge with chronic or recurrent neck or back pain? And, have you primarily resorted to pain medication, anti-inflammatories, ice or heat?
That’s one reason why you have these issues? And, the reason why medicine largely fails in its treatment of neck and back pain. Yes, there’s always surgery for both neck and back pain but that comes with its risks.
They even have a name for the poor surgical outcomes, Failed Back Surgery Syndrome. At least surgery is attempting to solve a mechanical problem with a mechanical solution. Outside of the risk of complications the big problem is the solution often involves the loss of mechanical motion rather than the restoration of motion.
Abraham Maslow famously said “If all you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail”.
How does this apply to pain and mechanical problems?
What are hammers of medicine? Medication, injections, and surgery.
Those are not the tools you need to fix a mechanical problem. The vast majority of neck and back pain problems are mechanical in nature. They are caused by mechanical issues like:
- Degenerative joint disease
- Joint dysfunction
- Joint imbalances
- Loss of joint motion
FACT: Mechanical Problems cannot be corrected with a Pharmaceutical Solution
The commonly prescribed NSAIDs have significant risks associated with them, including 30% of hospital admissions for adverse drug reactions, heart attack, stroke, and kidney damage.
Perhaps when we have a biomechanical problem we should at very least include a biomechanical solution even if we use a pharmaceutical. There’s an exceptional chance of reducing or even eliminating the use of the medication.
How Do Mechanical Problems Cause Stress and Pain?
Mostly, we’re talking about the spine, pelvis, and hips although much of this holds true for all joints. This holds especially true for those joints that support us as we sit, stand, and move.
The function of joints is clearly to provide for movement. If a joint loses some or all of its motion, that movement must be taken up by other joints. And, the longer this goes on the more compensations take place.
When joints lose some of their motion changes start to take place in those joints. The tissues around the joint start to shorten and thicken, further restricting joint motion. As joints lose mobility pain starts to emerge because stimulation of the nerves in the joints suppresses pain.
Those joints also start to experience accelerated breakdown leading to arthritis that is called degenerative joint disease or osteoarthritis.
In addition to the stress on the joints that lose mobility, there is added stress put on the joints above, below, to the right and left of those joints. These joints have to bear the stress of their neighbors not moving.
More often than not what I find is the pain is coming from these overworked joints. Yes, the restricted joints are tender when touched or stressed, but the overworked joints are the ones that are painful.
So, what is the solution?
Hopefully, you agree that even if you resort to pain medication for symptom control the solution is not a drug. No drug is going to improve joint function.
3 Critical Keys to Fixing Mechanical Problems
How do these mechanical problems cause stress? They are stress or the consequence of stress. Some injury, repetitive movement, or posture – in other words “stress” – resulted in this mechanical imbalance.
Once the imbalance is established it often becomes a self-perpetuating cycle of restriction → compensation → pain and on and on.
The mechanical problem causes issues with both the restricted joints as well as other joints that have to compensate for the loss of motion. This causes muscles to tighten and go into spasm. But, muscle relaxers won’t solve this problem.
The nerves that exit the spine are put under tension and get irritated. In the upper neck this can cause headaches, balance problems and sinus issues. In the mid and lower neck it often results in neck and shoulder pain and can cause numbness, tingling and weakness into the arms. In the lower back nerve irritation causes back pain and pain and numbness radiating into the hips and legs.
Fixing mechanical problems requires a mechanical solution!
Critical Key #1: Restore Balance – your pelvis is the foundation of your spine and upper body. If it is not level then every step you take is putting excess stress on your hips below, and the spine above. Even if all the joints above are moving well, if the pelvis is unlevel it will put added stress on those joints. This is a huge contributing factor to the development of hip arthritis.
Critical Key #2: Restore Joint Function – as stated throughout this article joints exist to provide for movement. When joints lose proper movement it creates a series of progressive compensations that over time causes some joints to tighten, some joints to move too much, muscles to tighten and spasm, and nerves to become inflamed. Restoring as much joint mobility as possible is key to resolving the stress and pain caused by joint mechanical problems.
Critical Key #3: Activate the Muscles of Movement & Posture – anytime joints lose their proper motion it causes the muscles that control those joints to lose their proper function. In the majority of cases by the time you experience pain the process has been developing for a long time and the muscles have lost some of their ability to function in a coordinated fashion. This is more about waking up and engaging these muscles than it is about strengthening them.
When it comes to any problem it is essential to identify the cause of the problem and apply a solution that is appropriate to the nature of the problem. Too often in our healthcare system people experience problems of a mechanical nature but since the doctor doesn’t really understand these problems, they apply a pharmaceutical solution.
Not only does this not work but it causes its own set of problems that we like to call side effects. There are no real side effects. They are simply effects that we don’t want and all too often these effects are far worse than the problem for which they are prescribed.
Time to apply a solution that matches the problem!
Make sure to subscribe to my social media pages where I regularly post tips, insights and valuable information.
Facebook: Life Chiropractic Facebook
YouTube: Life Chiropractic YouTube
Instagram: Life Chiropractic Instagram
Blog: https://lifewithinchiropractic.com/blog/
Schedule your first visit here: Life Chiropractic