If you have back pain, chronic back pain that you've had for months or years.
Your back needs continual adjustments or pain-killers medications you are not treating the cause of your pain, you are just treating the compensations or the symptoms.
Pain stays for a reason.
After treatment you may have pain holiday for a few hours or days.
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But your pain returns.
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You haven’t found the reason for your pain.
Some Reasons for Your Back Pain
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You have overused a muscle but it will heal in days or weeks
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Stress - at work, home or pushed the envelop once too often
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One or both parents had back pain
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Emotional experiences or past pain trauma
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Fear about the future & living with an injury
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Post surgery chronic pain
Doctors or chiropractors may have told you that you have disc degeneration or a bulging disc and you have to take medication or to have regular adjustments.
However this may not be causing you pain, as we all have some level of disc degeneration, but no pain!
Medical viewpoint is different to ours - check research below
Don't blame back pain on normal aging of the spine
In many countries MRI's of the spine are no longer recommended unless 'red flags' such as fractures, infection or tumours are suspected.
Research has shown that most of the changes in the spine are age related as shown in the table below. These rarely are the reason for ongoing pain.
The table below show the meta-analysis research results done in 2015, a total of 3300 people who had no symptoms of pain.
That means they do not have any back pain, but the research showed they have degeneration and bulging discs, even younger people.
Systematic Literature Review of Imaging Features of Spinal Degeneration in Asymptomatic Populations: W. Brinjikji et al AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2015 Apr; 36(4): 811-816. Limits of table has too few research studies for reliability, hence ruled off.
Research Conclusions
Imaging evidence of degenerative spine disease is common in asymptomatic individuals and increases with age. These findings suggest that many imaging-based degenerative features may be part of normal aging and unassociated with low back pain, especially when incidentally seen. These imaging findings must be interpreted in the context of the patient’s clinical condition.
What does the latest back pain research say?
Why this matters
Consider the circled section, healthy people in their 30’s, the table shows an average of 52% of them will have some disc degeneration.
Degeneration on it’s own may not cause back pain.
As we actually live our body experiences changes, but just because we have an X-ray of MRI that shows our back isn’t in perfect condition it may NOT be the reason for ongoing chronic back pain.
Boulder Back Study using
Pain Reprocessing therapy
66% of those treated with PRT pain-free or nearly pain free and remained in a follow up one year later.
Patients were taught to recognise pain signals from the brain as safe and able to re-wire neural circuits.
Instead of thinking that they had any physical tissue damage.
The latest research into back pain, such as Peter O'Sullivan in Australia, show that much of the accepted ideas are wrong.
What we now know is:
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Back muscles are already strong - don't need to build core muscles.
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We need a relaxed back - not to hold it constantly fixed and straight.
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Other lifestyle reasons and thoughts affect our back pain.
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Chronic or ongoing back pain is caused by the brain creating pain messages
You need a practitioner who understands the new neuroplastic pain treatments
An important aspect of some people's back pain is to check for neuroplastic symptoms before having back surgery. There are a growing number of practitioners and doctors who can help you make a decision about back surgery.
Sometimes surgery doesn't always stop chronic back pain because the pain is cased by the brain and nervous system rather than physical damage.
A Case Study of Failed Back Surgery
As Sally, one of my clients, found out after 8 years of unremitting pain, not helped by any corrections or pills, finally had a back operation only to find after 3 months her pain was worse. Now her diagnosis of FBSS – yes it’s true, it’s medically defined – she experienced Failed Back Surgery Syndrome! Read her story
Information on chronic lower back pain
Low back pain is the leading worldwide cause of years lost to disability and its burden is growing alongside the increasing and ageing population. (Prof R. Buchbinder, PhD Lancet, June 09 2018)
So I guess if you are reading this page the above includes you.
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Is it just a few days of pain?
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Years of searching for answers to regaining your full lifestyle?
In New Zealand and Australia we may have access to accurate information sources, health-care approaches that provide appropriate support for self-management of uncomplicated low back pain, and to specialised effective interventions, such as multidisciplinary rehabilitation, for complex persistent low back pain.
In Christchurch we have the Pain Management Centre at Burwood, often the last resort to get answers, but can be difficult to get an appointment.
They are not fully integrating the new medicine ideas
of neuroplastic treatment for chronic pain.
Is Chronic Pain being treated correctly?
Up-to-date information - pain management should not be more medications.
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It is now known that taking pills for your chronic pain is rarely the total answer.
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Often drugs need to be increased as they lose their effectiveness, increasing the number of side effects.
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Increased use of ineffective potentially unsafe treatments, we are now coming to realise, has wasted limited health-care resources and harmed patients.
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The epidemic of addiction and rising mortality resulting from increased opioid prescribing in the USA over the past 20 years is a dramatic example of the disastrous effects of damaging medical intervention.
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Opioids are also used in Australia and New Zealand, understandably so as patients just need the pain to go away. But generally to not such a dangerous extent, which is fortunate for us.
Some terminology you may have seen or read on your reports:
Iatrogenic Causes of Pain - Disabling low back pain is partly iatrogenic – medical term for the pain is caused by medical intervention, drugs or comments of medical professionals.
Idopathic Causes of Pain - Doctors or specialists have no idea why you are in constant pain, but often find reasons that may not be the full story of why your pain persists.
Have you had enough of Chronic Back Pain?
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Back pain can make us grumpy so we have lost ourselves, changed how we interact with friends, family and workmates.
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Are you tired of finishing work and feeling exhausted?
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Concerned about whether you can actually keep doing your job, or continue to support yourself and your family?
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Is chronic pain impacting on your career and affecting your finances and your future life?