The Cause of Disc and Back Pain
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Healthline
A UK Times article featured a physician musing that as medical students they were not taught in school to identify the cause of medical problems, but to treat symptoms (and give electric shocks to decerebrate frogs). The cause of the problem would still remain.
He mentioned how you may go to the doctor with painful tonsils, and be given a "diagnosis" of tonsillitis. He educates the reader that "Tonsillitis, for example, is not a disease but a symptom - of something else that caused the tonsils to be infected." He continued with how you may go to the doctor with pain down your leg, and be given back a "diagnosis" of sciatica, which just means "pain down the leg" but not what is causing the sciatica. A disc may be pressing on the nerve, but what is making the disc press? The sciatica and the bad disc are the symptoms. They are not the cause. Unfortunately, he stopped there, and for treatment said to go back to your activities with light rest. Nothing about what caused the disc to degenerate (break down) or protrude (herniate or slip) in the first place.
Bad sitting and bending are the main cause of disc degeneration and herniation. Rounded sitting (photo on left) compresses the space between vertebrae in front and opens the space between them in back and squeezes the disc gradually backward into that space. Bad bending (right) levers the weight of your upper body plus whatever you are lifting onto your lower back discs, whether you keep your back straight or rounded. Strengthening your back will not stop you from sitting and bending wrong. Stretches or massage that feel good for the moment will not stop you from sitting and bending in the way that rounds the spine forward, pushing and squeezing the discs until, finally, give break down and squeeze out to the back (herniate). To stop the damage, you simply stop the cause.
A bad disc is not the diagnosis. It is not the cause of the problem. It is the result of what is causing the disc go bad. You can treat the disc pain with pills, exercises, massage, and shots, but not remove the cause. When you continue the cause, the pain often comes back. You can remove the disc, but not remove the cause and so, continue harming your other discs. The post Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix explains. The post Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending shows simple healthy bending. The post Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy (and several others) shows how to easily fix unhealthy sitting.
It is easy to prevent and heal back pain when you simply stop the cause.
Photos: Many thanks to readers who posed pretending to sit and bend wrong to help others. No readers were hurt in the photographing of this post.
Labels: fix pain, injury, leg strength, leg stretch, lower back, posture, sc, sciatica, sitting, squat, upper back
8 Comments:
At Wednesday, July 04, 2007 9:05:00 AM,
Thomas Keeley said…
Jolie,
I'm a spritely 23, and have yet to have had any back pain from my, until recently, chronic slouching. I came accross your site recently and have decided to change my ways. However, I'm not sure exactly how to sit properly. When sitting in a chair, is your back completely straight up or is the a slight curve in at the bottom. Sitting up with my best efforts (after the suggested stretches etc) tends to leave me with aching muscles down either side of my spine. Is this a sign of doing it correctly and my muscles learning to cope with their new found stress, or am I over compensating somehow? (There aren't really any pictures of correct sitting, just how not to!)
Thanks for all your amazing advice, you're doing wonders for the world of health!
At Thursday, August 09, 2007 9:01:00 AM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD said…
Dear Thomas, my reply previously posted was lost in a blogger update, I was told. Here it is again:
Thomas, thank you. Good questions. When sitting, keep a slight inward curve in the lower back. The left-hand photo in this post shows not doing this - the lower back is rounded outward. Important to be able to identify.
Nothing should hurt more. The stretches should feel better, then and there. If not, check how you do them. Keep me posted.
A few posts have detailed written information on sitting:
When Did Health Become Thinking Out Of The Box?
and
Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy?
There are illustrations on the free article about sitting on my web site. The best resource would be the book Fix Your Own Pain which has a whole chapter with diagrams on sitting comfortably in a healthful way. More than I can put in a 300 word post.
Lean your upper body back against the chair back, instead of pressing the lower back. Many chair backs are rounded so that you sit rounded in a bad way if you conform to the chair back. Major examples are in train, movie, and airline seats, but even in expensive ergonomic chairs. Pad the space in the lower back area with a small soft sweater or pillow. I will post details in future posts. There are many important topics to cover in this blog. Posts to come will cover healthy muscle use in sitting - with illustrations of what to do. Thanks for keeping the good suggestions coming.
At Sunday, February 10, 2008 5:08:00 PM,
johnpm said…
Hello Dr. Bookspan, I posted this before, but it did not post so I am trying again.
I had two quick questions. I have noticed that your techniques are similar in some regard to Robin Mckenzie. He recommends a push-up type extension exercise in addition to the postural correction, what do you think of this? How about cervical traction for neck hernaitions? Secondly, I am 33 and have herniated disc in my neck as well as my back with siaticia (left shoulder and left front thigh) and I have been trying the exercises and posture correction for some time now (9 months) and have been very dilagent, but it seems thats the pain is worse in one extremity vs the other but rarely ever both. Have you heard of this and should this get better over time (I think it has improved some since starting, but still very bothersome up to a 4-5 out of 10 pain) I really do appreciate your input.
Thanks
John
At Monday, February 11, 2008 11:47:00 AM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Hello johnpm, The reason it may not be getting better is that doing a few exercises or McKenzie pushup extensions does not stop the cause, so cannot fix the problem. If you continue to do the things that push the disc out, it cannot heal, and the pain and problem continues.
My methods are different in that I urge people to think, and not just "do" a few exercises or corrections, or traction, or adjustments, or massage, or acupuncture, or shots, or any other treatment but to stop the cause of the herniation in the first place during all your daily movement. Then it can heal.
Use all the links in the post:
-See the mechanism of how a disc protrudes in Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix.
-Have you stopped bad exercises, examples in Are You Making Your Exercise Unhealthy?
-Have you changed all bad bending to good, explained in Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending.
-Have you fixed a forward head, explained in Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain.
-Click the label "upper back" under this post for more posts on upper back and neck.
Start with those. It should make a difference the same day. If not, check how you are doing them.
At Monday, March 24, 2008 6:00:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hello jolie,
Just a couple more questions. How do you suggest someone look down (to look at a chart etc at work)without pushing the disc out more (or aggrevating symptoms)? Also the trap strech to the side that is painful seems to aggrevate my symptoms, do you suggest an alternative exercise. Thanks again
John Morcos
At Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10:00:00 AM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Hello John, don't worry. To look down comfortably - tip chin down in relaxed straight position instead of jutting the head and neck forward. That is healthy positioning for everyone - injured or not. No need to lean or hang the head or beck forward, or round the upper back to look down.
If the trap stretch hurts, you are probably doing it wrong. It is supposed to feel good and beneficial, even if there is stenosis or other issue along with the disc. Check if you pinch the neck to the side instead of getting a soft relaxing stretch along your side. Check if you are forcing or straining, holding your breath, leaning forward, rounding your shoulders, and so on. Are you doing it with your back and back of head against a wall so that you can tell if you are straight or bending forward? Important to remember is why you are doing it. Along with the pectoral stretch , the purpose is to make straight positioning feel natural so that you can stop the unhealthy forward head positioning that compresses the discs. Then you use the new straight positioning for daily life. The stretch itself does not fix a disc or other injury. If you stretch, then go back to injurious positioning, it is no mystery when pain persists. By applying the concepts (instead of "doing" a bunch of stretches and exercises) pain should reduce right away and the injured area can heal quickly.
In your comment to a different post, you mentioned you had trouble leaving a comment. The blogger software is slow sometimes. One thing to try is to click "publish" once then leave it alone and wait. Also, I am not the moderator, and it takes time, sometimes a few days, for the posts and my replies to go through.
At Thursday, April 10, 2008 1:11:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Hello again John,
I prepared a post for you and other readers asking about neck health at the desk. Click Tax Preparation Health.
At Thursday, April 10, 2008 5:14:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Thanks Jolie
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