Best Treatments for Your Lower Back by Dr. Oz

This week, I want to post an article that was presented by Dr. Oz: Treatments for Your Lower Back Pain

Defining low back pain: About 80 percent of Americans will experience back pain at some point in their life. The connection to a physical source isn't always clear, since some people show no spinal abnormalities on an X-ray yet suffer excruciating pain. Here are the treatment options:

Chiropractic treatment: Even when the pain is in the lower back, the problem tends to be with the entire spine, says Victor Meir Nazarian, a Los Angeles–based chiropractor. Chiropractors employ manipulation—adjustment of the vertebrae— to help align a patient's spine, and often prescribe regular visits. "People come in only when they're in pain," Nazarian says. "But we need to think of our spine the way we do our teeth, using preventive care to stay healthy."

Physical therapy: The lower back must flex, extend, and rotate, says physical therapist Peggy Brill, author of two books on managing pain through exercise. Yet most of us sit immobile for hours at a time. That's why physical therapists prescribe walking and other gentle exercise, such as stretching and core strengthening, following a flare-up of back pain. Usually, after 72 hours patients will begin to feel better, says Brill.

Stress relief: Stress is the source of most low back pain, according to John Sarno, MD, professor of clinical rehabilitation medicine at New York University. Though Sarno doesn't dispute that the pain is real, he believes it stems from buried emotional issues that trigger tension in the body and ultimately deprive nerves and muscles of oxygen; relief comes through understanding this link and by learning to deal with negative emotions constructively.

Surgery: "Think of this as the last resort," says Paul McCormick, MD, a professor of neurological surgery at Columbia University. Surgery may be necessary in some cases of curvature of the spine, narrowing of the cavity that surrounds spinal nerves, and nerve inflammation or disk degeneration—but these conditions are rare, McCormick says: "Ninety-nine out of one hundred patients will recover without surgery."

My Recommendation: The research is positive on chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, and stress relief—they all help ease back pain. (As Paul McCormick says, with rare exceptions, surgery is unnecessary.) The key is to get moving again as soon as possible after the pain hits, and then make sure you take steps to prevent a return. I see low back pain as a warning about overall fitness: If you're active, your hips and back are flexible, your core strength is good, and you're coping well with the emotional challenges in your life, your back probably won't bother you. Overlook one of those areas, however, and your back will let you know. And while the emotional link to back pain is controversial, there's no question that stress can play a part in muscle tension, especially in the lower back and hips, leading to trouble.

Source: Treatments for Low Back Pain by Dr. Mehmet Oz

Additional Resources

• One of the Most Overlooked Sources of Back Pain
  
• Unexpected Positive Side Effects of Chiropractic Care and Spinal Decompression
  
• What is Causing My Sciatica?
  
• Lower Back Pain Relief Products
  
• Arc4life's Spine-Worx helps maintain Postural Alignment
  

Visit Arc4life.com for your online selection of cervical support neck pillows, orthopedic pain relief products and Home traction units. Products for pain relief.


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The Right Neck Pillow For Support

First let’s describe what a neck pillow is. A Neck Pillow is a special pillow designed to give you adequate neck support when you sleep. It may come in various shapes and sizes and made out of many different types of material.


Our most successful pillow for people is our Cervical Traction Neck Pillow. This pillow is made out of a synthetic fiber. It’s not too hard like sometimes foam pillows are, not too soft like a down or feather pillow, but just right. It has a built in neck roll with slightly more fiber to hold support in the neck.

This neck roll is the key ingredient to a good neck pillow. It’s this neck roll that will maintain the proper neck curvature as well as improve it. This is important because keeping your best neck alignment ensures that the nerves in the neck are free from pressure and therefore keeps you pain free.

The traction pillow also has a built in “V” which allows for gentle neck traction and prevents you from moving around too much at night. The traction helps open up those nerve holes slightly giving additional nerve pressure release.

This pillow is also essentially 2 pillows in 1 because if you rotate it 180 degrees you have the Linear Gravity Pillow side. This side consists of only the neck roll and not the “V”.

The Linear Gravity Pillow is our 2nd most popular and comes in a small, medium, and large size whereas the Traction Pillow only comes in the medium or standard size. If you are over 6’2” we recommend the large; if under 5’1” we recommend the Linear Gravity small neck pillow.

Visit Arc4life.com for your online selection of cervical support neck pillows, orthopedic pain relief products and Home traction units. Products for pain relief.

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Can Poor Posture Lead to a Loss of Height?

“My doctor examined me this year and it looks like I’m an inch or two shorter, how is that possible?” “I’ve had poor posture, forward head especially for some time, but over the years I’ve never noticed I lost height.”

The statement above is more common than we think. Over time, poor posture means more pressure on the discs in our spine. Those discs are between every bone of the spine and actually make up 1/3 the height of your spine. Because of this, losing a little height from each disc can make a change of your height significant.

Also misalignments are a root cause. Misalignment are either created by poor posture or actually force you into poor posture. The normal spine alignment keeps you upright and tall; someone with a scoliosis automatically loses some height just because of a curve in their spine. Not to mention, when their are misalignments or shifts the disks are not held in place as well which leads to nerve pressure and degeneration (flattening and bulging of the disc).

Prevent disc degeneration and flattening of your discs by using a good neck pillow, the posture corrector for the upper and mid back, and a back rest for the lumbar spine.


Visit Arc4life.com for your online selection of cervical support neck pillows, orthopedic pain relief products and Home traction units. Products for pain relief.

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Non Surgical Treatment Solutions for Neck Pain

Today’s blog post about neck pain treatment solutions comes from Dr. Bellinger’s monthly newsletter, In Good Hands.

There are many treatment options for those suffering from neck pain. There is conventional medical care where the family doctor will usually prescribe a muscle relaxant, anti-inflammatory, and/or pain killer to help patients through episodes of acute neck pain. However, many patients with neck pain have been through the process of treatments associated with medications and simply cannot tolerate the adverse side effects of stomach pain common with anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen (Advil, Nuprin, Mediprin, etc.), Aleve (Naproxen), or aspirin. Others don’t like the groggy, drunk-like feelings associated with pain killers or the sleepiness associated with muscle relaxants. Therefore, these patients often turn to complementary / alternative care.


As noted in the May, 2009 issue of Consumer’s Report for low back pain, chiropractic was the most sought after form of treatment, but there has been no extensive review of neck pain regarding evidence-based treatment approaches – at least not until February, 2008. An international “team” representing 9 countries screened over 31,000 titles of articles published between 1980 and 2006, reviewed more than 1200 articles and eventually reported on 552 studies in their final report. Their findings included the following:

• In the US, 54% utilized complementary (alternative) treatment approaches compared to 37% that obtained conventional medical care.
  
• Neck pain was the 2nd most common reason Americans obtained chiropractic care.
  
• Chiropractic was found to be the most frequently reported form of treatment for upper back or neck pain (ahead of massage therapy, relaxation therapy, acupuncture).
  
• Those who obtained complementary AND conventional medical care were much more likely to perceive the complementary/alternative therapy as being helpful (61% vs. 6.4% for neck conditions and 39.1% vs. 19% for headaches).
  
• Women more commonly obtained care than men for neck/shoulder pain (29% vs. 18% men) over a 4-6 year time frame.
  
• Manual therapy (mobilization, manipulation, stretching) was associated with greater pain reduction in the short-term among patients with acute whiplash when compared with usual medical care, soft collars, passive modalities, or general advice.
  
• For non-whiplash neck pain (without arm radiating pain), manipulation or mobilization, exercise, low level laser therapy (LLLT), and “…perhaps acupuncture…” were reported as more effective than no treatment, sham, or other alternative interventions.
  
• For both whiplash and non-traumatic neck pain, supervised exercise with or without manual therapy was favored over usual medical care or no care.
  

As you can see there are alternative treatments for neck pain. If you suffer from neck pain or upper back pain, seek chiropractic treatment. This includes a wide array of neck pain solutions: manipulation, mobilization, exercise training, and activity modifying advice, as these approaches have been found to be more effective than usual medical care! Why waste time with a “wait and watch” with or without drug intervention approach when the evidence favors chiropractic related interventions.


Additional Reading Resources

• Treatment for Neck Pain? FDA issues warning about pain killers: Tylenol, Percocet, & Vicoden
  
• The Top 10 Reasons for Neck Pain and How to Correct Them
  
• Why Posture Is the Window To your Health
  
• The Neck Pain and TMJ Connection
  
• Multiple Car Accidents Can Cause Major Changes in the Neck
  

Visit Arc4life.com for your online selection of cervical support neck pillows, orthopedic pain relief products and Home traction units. Products for pain relief.

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Arc4life’s Spine-Worx Posture system helps maintain spinal alignment!

Your pillows have helped my neck but I still get some mid and lower back pain, what can I do?

A lot of the time fixing the neck will help the mid and lower back. Our spine all works together; our bodies are one big kinetic chain because. You know – our leg bone connects to our hip bone, our hip bone connects to our… I forget the actual rhyme but basically we are connected from our head to our toes.

It helps to correct the whole spine for faster recovery from pain. Correcting neck posture will often times help fix mid and lower back posture too. But it works in the reverse as well; correct the mid or low back alignment and it will help fix neck alignment issues.

For example, someone with sway back posture or a hyperlordosis (extra curve, individual looks like he or she lead with their belly) in the lumbar spine may develop forward head posture to compensate. Then the anterior head carriage cause the upper and mid back to hunch up.

The spine-worx posture align device is a great tool to help correct the low back and mid back issues that can lead to additional spine misalignments such as forward head. These misalignments are what cause neck and back pain by putting stress on our nerves.

Having optimal posture cannot be overstated- It allows your body to have the proper mobility, function and not to mention that it is healthy for your nervous system. In addition to getting regular chiropractic adjustments, doing exercise and using common sense during physical activity is important to maintain good posture. Arc 4 Life Is proud to introduce another posture tool that you can to realign your spine into its most natural position. Designed by a chiropractor, the Spine Worx Posture Align uses your body's own weight to apply controlled pressure to the spinal bones:

The Spine Worx Posture Align is only for the mid back and lower back area. The postural device works by gently aligning the bones in your midback or lower back into their natural positions. This helps to relieve back pain and improve your range of motion. With this back support system, you simply lie on Spine-Worx™ (see diagram below) your spine is pressed firmly against the length of its two unique padded and contoured rails, injection-molded to fit the natural shape of the thoracic and lumbar spine. Use just for one level or multiple levels.

The vertebrae in the spine are gradually and gently encouraged to realign into their natural positions, which helps to relieve mid back pain and lower back , while improving overall mobility.

Having Optimal Posture is the key to having good health. The Spine Worx Posture Align can help you do that.

Additional Reading Resources

• The Posture Worx Posture Align
  
• The Normal Cervical Curve in the Neck
  
• Why Posture Is the Window to your Health
  
• Why is Slouching so Bad for you
  
• The Dreaded Hunchback: How to Correct the Upper Back Area that pops out and looks funny
  

Visit Arc 4 Life for your online selection of cervical support neck pillows, orthopedic pain relief products, lower back supports and cushions.



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Stop Progression of Disc Protrusions, Bulges, and Disc Degeneration...

The Cervical Traction Pillow Relieves Pressure in the neck, reduces pain, improves posture, and slows the process of degeneration of the discs in the neck.

By putting the neck back into alignment and taking pressure off the nerves, the neck can work like it should. This means the muscles, neck spinal bones, ligaments, tendons, nerves, and discs.

Visit Arc 4 Life.com for your online selection of all types of cervical support neck pillows, orthopedic pain relief products and Home traction units. Products for pain relief.


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Poor Neck Posture Puts Pressure On Your Discs

Forward Head Posture is on of the most common misalignments out there, but there are other common neck abnormalities like head tilt and a neck that is shifted laterally. THEY ALL PUT EXTRA PRESSURE ON THE DISCS!

This spine is built in a way that it can withstand various forces on it such as gravity pushing down, turning, jumping, twisting, etc…

Any shift in the spine, whether it’s forward head or another misaligned posture, puts increased pressure on the spine and discs makingyour chance of getting neck pain or problems greater.

Use one of our neck pillows to align your neck preventing pain, poor neck posture, and disc degeneration. Our most popular pillow is the Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow. Read what others have said about the Traction Pillow.


Visit Arc4life.com for neck pain solutions: get better sleep and better posture with our products.


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