Sciatica & Back Pain Cure Center

In the Feb. 13 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, it mentioned that medical expenditure for back and neck problems grew 65% over eight years. (The spending increases for spine care are about the same as those faced by the medical system as a whole).

The total annual expenditure for the US is now almost $86 billion nationally. Of this prescription drugs are the fastest-growing component, according to the study quoted.

But the expenditure doesn’t appear to be helping people much (personally I’m not surprised because I find it hard to see how prescription drugs can help a problem that is largely related to lifestyle and mechanical functioning of the spine, but then again I’m not selling drugs . . .).

Pharmaceuticals made up 23% of total expenditures. Incredibly spending on drugs to combat back and neck pain grew 171% between 1997 and 2005, with narcotic painkillers ballooning an astounding 423%.

Question: Ask yourself how filling yourself with toxic chemicals can heal a largely mechanical body function?

If you want a

natural

sciatica treatment system that uses exercise and diet try the Better Back System

Note: Pharmaceutical companies’ direct-to-consumer advertising likely plays a role in the higher spending on drugs. Surprised?

The study examined data from 23,000 people in an annual federal survey and of these over 3,100 reported spine problems.

Back pain comes from a variety of sources, including:
- natural aging processes, injury,
- excessive or not enough physical activity
- obesity / carrying too much body weight.

Approx. 53% of the patients surveyed in 2005 had so-called “nonspecific back disorders” which includes
- spinal stenosis
- back ache and sciatica.

The next largest category was disk disorders with 16%.

A back injury can be financially devastating to people, Bean said. “There are some cases where you want to be justified in not doing something just as you want to be justified in doing something. It’s not always clear-cut. It’s not just an X-ray or scan. It’s a person with an individual life and personality that either tolerates discomfort or not. You have to take everything into account.”

Doctors suggest that patients with back pain do the following:
- stay active - be careful but don’t be afraid to exesrcise and use trainers, classes, coaches etc
- manage their weight,
- stay fit to better handle age-related changes,
- continue walking around if possible when they’re in pain,
- undertake physical conditioning - yoga, Pilates, bicycling and swimming can all be helpful.

To this list add:
- try physical therapies before drugs and surgery,
- review your habitual postures and movements and eliminate bad habits e.g. don’t slouch or slump, take regular stretch breaks, lift things properly, dont lift and twist.

Some people get a sore back if they sit on their walllet. Some find sleepin gwith a pillow between their knees is really helpful.

See a doctor if it doesn’t get better.

Sign up for our back health and exercise course

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A key approach that we recommend in the Better Back System is educating yourself and taking responsibility for your own health and the condition of your back.

Especially, don’t wait to get sick and then try and fix yourself, rather take steps in advance to look after your wellbeing.

Exercise and diet are the two foundations of this approach.

Another important aspect is to review your routine daily activities and look for habits or postures that are placing stress on your back.

If you don’t do this and start swallowing a few pills each day instead, can you explain how that is going to help your back?

Unapologetically, we are advocates of natural health practices. It’s clear to me that the general American public is under the spell of the powerful “drugs and surgery” lobby groups and their health is suffering badly as a result.

You don’t have to take my word for it, below you’ll find links to eBooks with well researched information on the dangers of mainstream “healthcare”, which by the way is such a classic “big lie”.

Sickness care is too kind also, as there’s more care about profit than for the patient in many medical practices, but it is closer to the truth.

Book 1:
Death by Medicine

Book 2:
Interview with Gary Knull best selling author of “Get Healthy Now”

The Bottom Line:
More than 750,000 Americans are killed every year by American medicine.

Surely this can’t possibly be true!? Read the books for yourself and you decide.

Stay well.

Popularity: 57% [?]

Precise diagnosis of the causes of lower back and hip pain is notoriously difficult because your spine is a large and complex organ that is full of joints, nerves and ligaments and is heavily interconnected with the surrounding muscles that support it.

For example, a doctor or back specilist may look at the back X-ray of a somebody with severe pain and see nothing unuusal apart from “routine wear and tear”. On the other hand, people who are exeriencing no back problems may have X-rays that suggest they should hardly be able to walk!

All the major nerves to your body’s extremities start by running down your spine and then branch out to these other areas. So if you have a problem with your middle or upper back you may find it affects the strength or feeling in your arms or hands.

The sciatic nerve exits the spine in your lower back and connects with your legs - thigh, calf, foot toes etc.

If your back suffers injury or degeneration it can affect the spine’s structure and/or alignment of the vertebrae (bones in your spine). This can result in pressure being placed on nerves as they exit the spine via gaps in the vertebrae.

This is what happens with sciatica - pressure is placed upon the sciatic nerve which results in pain and/or tingling and/or loss of function in your legs.

In terms of lower back and hip pain, the lower back is an area that is frequently affected by injury, aging, degeneration or wear and tear because it is an area of high stress. Lifting, bending, twisting, sitting or driving for long periods all affect your lower back in particular.

Note:
Commonly, “L4″ and “L5″ are 2 vertebrae in your lower back that are frequently impacted by wear and tear or injury and a cause of lower back and hip pain.

Once your back suffers an injury, or loss of function through aging and/or wear and tear (for example one or more disks may become thinner or distorted in shape), then 2 things are liable to happen:

1. The surrounding muscles are likely to spasm or “freeze” in an attempt to protect the spine from the threat of (further) injury.

2. This wear and tear can cause the spine’s alignment and vertebral spacing to change, thus leading to pressure being placed on nerves in and around the spine.

Both effects are likely to cause pain in the lower back and hip areas.

The Solution:
Here are ways we suggest you can treat back pain:

1. Get your spine back in alignment (as best you can allowing for injury and aging).
The options here include:
(a) active treatment from various therapists and specialists (physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors etc)
(b) doing items 2-4 below and waiting for healing to occur naturally
(c) doing a mix of (a) and (b) - this is my preference
(d) back surgery (be very careful with this)

2. Review your habits with the objective of eliminating bad movements and poor posture.

3. Improve your diet - eat healthy food and/or take a natural wholefood supplement

4.3. Strengthen the muscles that surround and support the spine. This treatment of sciatica back injuries is the focus of the the Better Back System.

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Treatments that help you perceive, understand and manage your body’s underlying muscle and movement patterns are always interesting to me - mainly because they often get excellent results in reducing back pain and alleviatin sciatica..

Whilst researching recently, I came across the Clinical Somatics technique, which is a practice that appears to bridge a number of other techniques such as Yoga, Pilates and meditation.

What caught my attention was their concept that your body and muscles become unwittingly fixed in their movements, which is an idea I subscibe to. These movements become habitual and place stress on related areas leading to pain and stiffness.

Certainly when this pain and stiffness affects the muscles in or around the back it forms a viscious circle of stiffness and restricted movement which places further stress on the back.

The exercises recommended in the Better Back System are designed to break this cycle.

The Origins of Clinical Somatics
Clinical Somatic Education is derived from the work of Dr. Thomas Hanna who was a professor of philosophy, a theologian, a writer, and a creative thinker.

His work in all of these areas hinged around the concept of freedom. During his travels, he noticed that people in industrialized nations had significantly more postural distortion than other countries, with more restriction of movement and more complaints of chronic pain or limited range of motion.

Tom found it even more astounding that people believed that as they aged, their bodies would inevitably become more stiff and less capable over time.

Following research in Medical school classes on the neurophysiology of development and control, Tom went on to develop what would eventually become Clinical Somatic Education.

Clinical Somatics clients (patients) learn slow, conscious movements assisted by specific feedback and guidance from the practitioner to create lasting, rapid improvement in flexibility and pain reduction.

The mark of effectiveness of the technique is evidenced by the number of clients who succeed in reaching their own goals of health without constant sessions with a Clinical Somatic Educator. Most clients need less than ten sessions before they have attained a higher level of functioning than ever before.

How is Clinical Somatics different from other treatment systems?

What they say is that the Somatics client is included as an active participant in the process of healing at every step. The technique also recognizes the client as someone capable of infinite growth and learning. Sessions and the movements are designed to impart as much information as possible, while allowing for each person to have their own process, learn and experience.

How does Clinical Somatics work?

They say:

“By using Clinical Somatic techniques, you will learn how to find the muscles you are keeping tight, and, in the words of Dr. Hanna, “If you can sense it, you can feel it. And if you can feel it, you can change it.” Clinical Somatic uses the muscles as a gateway into the Central Nervous System-the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

By combining a practitioner’s feedback with slow movements to increase your own awareness and control, Clinical Somatics lets you take back control of your body and your life.”

New ideas for sciatica exercises are posted regularly at sciaticacenter.com.

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