Community Corner
Dublin Woman Successfully Avoids Back Surgery (without Pills)
Doctors told her she needed back surgery, but she said no! How Deb (age 61) overcame her "degenerative disc disease".
“I’ve had back pain for as long as I can remember, but in the past few months it’s gotten to a point where I can’t even stand for longer than 5 minutes. Just trying to cook a meal for my family leaves me bent over in tears…” Deb, 61 Dublin, CA
Can you relate?
Chronic back pain is one of the most debilitating conditions one can experience. It can sap you of your energy, take away your mobility, and the feeling of being in constant, unrelenting pain can no doubt cause depression, and a feeling of hopelessness.
Find out what's happening in Livermorefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
As our society becomes more sedentary, and with people spending more time sitting and not moving than ever before, the amount of people who suffer with chronic back pain continues to rise at an alarming rate.
What’s worse is the fact that the medical industry continues to push harmful interventions such as pills, injections, or even unnecessary surgeries which will often times either just “mask” the problem, or in some cases, just make the problem WAY worse…
Find out what's happening in Livermorefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The truth is, the human body has an amazing ability to heal and recover, and there are many natural options out there to heal this condition.
The problem being, there are simply “too many” options out there from chiropractic, physical therapy, back braces, inversion tables, or creams/oils, that it can feel overwhelming at times to know which treatments are even safe, and which ones are truly effective.
My goal with this article is to help you see chronic back pain from a different approach, one that will help you see that back pain from “degenerating discs” IS something that can actually get better completely naturally.
A client of mine by the name of Deb saw me a few months ago. She’d suffered from chronic back pain for well over 15 years, but it was something she just always “dealt with”. Until the condition worsened to a point where she could barely stand, or walk for longer than 5 minutes before having to sit down, or lay down and rest.
“Doctors told me I have degenerating discs in my back and the only thing they can do for me is surgery, or be on painkillers for the rest of my life…”
While its true, no matter what anyone tells you, you cannot “reverse” what’s already degenerated.
But the good news is, several recent scientific studies are now confirming truths that I’ve been telling my patients for years, that despite chronic back pain, and degenerating discs, that not all hope is lost!
The truth is, according to these studies that examined thousands of people who either suffer from back pain, or do not suffer from back pain, researchers have discovered one critical fact…
That there are millions of people who walk around every single day above the age of 50 who have, upon x-ray or MRI imaging, findings of degenerating discs and arthritis in their back, yet have no symptoms.
And also, there are significantly more people in their 20’s and 30’s who suffer from back pain, yet show NO signs of degenerating discs in their back, yet suffer from back pain and stiffness similar to those in their 50’s and 60’s.
So if arthritis isn’t causing back pain, then what is?
It has something to do with “soft tissue inflammation”.
What do I mean by soft tissue inflammation?
You see, the back is made up of MUCH MORE than just your “bones” and “vertebrae”. It also consists of several other soft tissues which include:
- Tendons and ligaments
- Muscles and nerves
- Connective tissues (also known as “fascia”)
And when these tissues become overly stressed and inflamed, they can also be one of the primary sources of pain, and stiffness.
But the most important thing you need to know about “soft tissue inflammation” is that it CAN BE COMPLETELY reversed!
You just need to create the right “conditions and environment” to allow your body to heal those tissues naturally.
The thing about inflammation is that it is a naturally process that occurs within our body as a sign that it is trying to “heal” itself.
In this process, the body, in response to overstress, creates an “inflammatory process”. This will trigger scar tissue to build up along the tissues of your back, which can cause that feeling of stiffness and immobility.
This is similar to how our bodies heal from a cut on our skin. First it bleeds, then it forms a scab. If I don’t interefere with the healing process, then my skin will heal 100% naturally to the state it was before it got injured.
And in the case of someone like Deb, because the nature of her job, and stress levels at home, she found herself to be in a position of “chronic inflammation”, which also caused a chronic build-up of ‘scar tissue” along her spine.
“If my problem is just inflammation, then shouldn’t I just take anti-inflammatories or take a supplement like tumeric?”
What you need to know is, simply taking drugs, or supplements to “reduce inflammation” could actually be suppressing your body’s ability to heal the area.
This is similar to the example of developing a cut on your skin, but blocking your body’s ability to bleed, or ‘scab over’ the cut.
But just like if you keep “picking at your scab”, taking anti-inflammatories will not stop the chronic stressors that are potentially causing your symptoms.
When what you should be doing is identifying what the CAUSE of the inflammation is, and fixing THAT problem instead.
What do I mean by the “root cause of inflammation?”
The problem with most “conventional” approaches is that they may not take into account the fact that everything within your body is “connected”. And often times people focus on treatments directed only ON your back.
Back stretches, chiropractic adjustments, or even massages and injections are likely only causing MORE stress on your back, which will only make the problem worse long term.
And in order to properly address these conditions, what you need to do instead is to take a “big picture” approach thoroughly analyze the potential problems and imbalances that are CAUSING your inflammation.
From there, with the proper treatment approach of treating your “whole body” with a goal of removing harmful stressors OFF your back, your body has a chance to heal on its own.
For Deb, we identified 3 specific “root causes” of her pain upon her initial exam:
- Tight hips: 25 years of sitting at a desk working as a secretary caused the muscles in the front of her hip, and her hip capsules to stiffen and tighten. This caused certain “muscle imbalances” which created tension on her back when she’d try to stand.
- Poor posture: Deb’s posture had suffered over the years because of all the desk work. Tightness along the muscles in her upper body caused her lower body to “compensate” which created more stress and inflammation to build up over time.
- “stiff back muscles”: Deb had been told she needed to “strengthen” her back, but those exercises always made her pain worse. Instead, we figured out her painful back muscles were actually working “too hard” because other surrounding muscles (such as her core) were not working properly.
Using this “full body, “whole-listic” appoach to care, and using the proper techniques and exercises to focus on fixing these specific “root problems”, Deb was able to feel relief from her back within just a few weeks.
And after just after 2 months of treatments, Deb went from being almost “crippled” and on a surgeons table, all the way to being able to:
- Stand for over one whole hour without having to sit down and take a break
- Able to walk her dog every morning without constantly worrying about her back going out and being bedridden for the whole rest of the day
- Was able to start exercising again
- And most importantly, was able to successfully avoid back surgery, even though her doctors told her nothing else could be done.
“I’m starting to feel like my old self again. Just the other day I was talking to an old friend I saw at the market, and we were talking for at least 20 minutes. What I didn’t realize until after we parted ways was that I didn’t even think about my back pain once during the whole conversation. And that was simply amazing.”
Are you living with, or worried about someone living with chronic back pain?
If so, and you are looking for a potential solution to your problem, we are now accepting applications for potential clients at our clinic Balance and Body Restoration.
In order to see if we can help you, and also determine if we are a good fit for each other, we are offering a free 30-minute consultation within our “discovery visit”.
This is NOT some cheap “sales pitch”, instead, it is a honest 30-minute conversation about your health, and for us to determine if we can help you. From there, you can decide for yourself if you would like to proceed.
Please note, we are very selective in who we work with, and are fully aware that not every person who suffers from back pain can be helped.
So if you are someone who is just looking for a “quick fix” or “overnight solution” then you need not apply.
But if you ARE someone who is health conscious, are willing to take an active role in your recovery, and want nothing more than to get back to living a “normal” active lifestyle, then it is absolutely likely we will be able to help
Sincerely,
Dr. Kevin Mao
Physical Therapist
Founder of Balance and Body Restoration Physical Therapy and Massage
P.S. If you are not quite ready to rush into a consult, and would instead like more information, click here to download our free back pain tips report “7 Little Known Secrets That Won’t Just Get RID of your Pain, but FIX IT for Good”
Click here to download your free back pain tips report
While I cannot guarantee you will find a magic pill, or silver bullet, what you will receive are some immediate, actionable tips that you can take to start reducing your back symptoms, and finding the “root causes” of your pain.
This post is an advertorial piece contributed by a Patch Community Partner, a local sponsor. The views expressed in this post are the author's own.
For more about Community Partner, click here.
