Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Oh My
Aching
Back!
Eight out of 10 people will
experience back pain in their
lives. Here is some important
information on why it happens
and what you can do about it!
BY LINDA HEPLER, BSN, RN
MAY 2015
HOW FUNCTIONAL
MOVEMENT
SCREENING CAN
HELP WITH BACK PAIN
WWW.MAXSPORTSANDFITNESS.COM
17
What To Do?
MS&F
HOT OR COLD?
MAY 2015
Youve done everything your doc recommended: the tests, physical therapy, exercises
and pain medications and still, after six months, youre experiencing back pain. Should
you consider back surgery?
Not necessarily, according to David Hanscom, MD, a Seattle-based orthopedic spine
surgeon. Spine surgery should only be considered for specifc structural problems, and
most back pain is not related to a structural problem, he said
Instead, explained Dr. Hanscom, author of Back in Control, A spine surgeons roadmap
out of chronic pain, the pain is often either a result of injured soft tissue (muscles or
ligaments) supporting the spine, or, in the case of many chronic back pain sufferers, a
permanent neurological problem Mind Body Syndrome that has evolved from the
pain itself.
To explain how pain can actually cause more pain, Dr. Hanscom likens it to learning
to ride a bike or learning a new athletic skill. When the brain is hammered with the
same pain impulses day after day, week after week, it becomes more and more effcient
in processing them, he said.
In other words, continuous pain impulses from your back eventually causes pain
circuits to become imbedded in the nervous system, to the point that even if the pain itself
has abated over time, you experience it as the same or even greater because your
nervous system has memorized the pain circuit. An example of this, said Dr. Hanscom, is
phantom limb pain, a condition in which a person whose limb that has been amputated
continues to feel the pain even after the damaged or diseased limb that was causing
discomfort has been removed. Its a reminder, he explained, that the brain is an extremely
complex and sophisticated computer which is programmable.
And its not only the pain that your brain programs, said Dr. Hanscom. It also programs
negative thoughts related to pain, which intensifes pain. Finally the situation is made
worse by the side effects of pain and negative thoughts: anxiety, sleep issues and anger.
The answer, according to Dr. Hanscom, is a defned organized comprehensive
care program that revolves around education about the problem, management of sleep
and stress, short-term medications, physical conditioning and actively working on a
healthier life outlook. Through tackling all of these things at once, you can calm down a
turbocharged nervous system, reprogram your brain and make a full recovery.
Hanscoms program is a result of both having experienced debilitating back pain himself,
along with years of working with patients having pain. It continues to evolve over time,
said Dr. Hanscom, who has presented numerous seminars and workshops on the defned
organized comprehensive care program. To learn more, log on to Back-in-Control.com.