Don’t Let Chronic Back Pain Burn out your Brain

You keep your engine well-oiled and tuned up… and day after day it efficiently propels your car along from Point A to Point B. Never a complaint.

Until one day the clutch snaps. Something has gone wrong in the transmission and suddenly you’re forced to use first gear to get around until you can get it fixed. In the meanwhile, your engine strains along at super-high RPMs.

You’d better get that problem fixed soon or you risk burning out your engine just driving around town.

Chronic pain does the same thing to your brain.

We know that pain is the body’s way of telling the brain, “Something is wrong. Fix it now.” But when that pain continues unchecked, your brain goes into overload.

According to researchers at the Feinberg School of Medicine, a comparison of those with chronic back pain and pain-free subjects showed on functional MRIs that even very simple tasks cause those neurons to fire up… but only the pain-free subject’s neurons deactivated back to their normal state afterwards.

As those neurons continue to fire, they work themselves to the point of exhaustion – and die. Another study showed that chronic back pain shrinks the gray matter of your brain as much as 11%. That’s the equivalent of 10-20 years of aging!

Now before you run and grab a Tylenol to stop the pain and save your brain, you may want to hear about a brand new study out of Spain. Researchers there just found that higher levels of acetaminophen is neurotoxic in rats. Extrapolated out to people, they believe it may kill our brain cells too – even within the upper end of the normal dosage schedule.

Besides, ignoring the problem by masking it with drugs isn’t going to help you any more than sticking an index card in front of the gauge on your dashboard will protect your car’s engine from a broken clutch. You’ve either got to address the problem or face a complete breakdown at some point.

That’s why if you have a problem with your clutch you’ll take your car to a mechanic. And if you’re fighting chronic back pain, you’ll find the solution by calling the Vancouver Spinal Decompression Center for a complimentery consultation at 604-984-4601.

Holiday-Proof Your Body: Part 1

Many common seasonal activities can cause injuries, here are some tips to help you stay healthy during the holiday season.

Holiday Challenge #1: Lower Back Pain

The lower back is a problem area for many people as they age.  Many of us have weak core muscles and a lack of flexibility in our hips.  Combine this with a time of year where you’re carrying heavy objects (like shopping bags or turkeys) and you could have a recipe for an injury.

Causes:
• Shopping/carrying packages
• Poor lifting techniques
• Lack of hip flexibility
• Weak core muscles

Solutions:
1) Learn to lift! 

One of the main causes of low back injuries is bending over something and lifting it with your back.  Ideally you should be lifting from your hips, using the strength of the biggest muscle in the body, the glutes, to do the heavy lifting.  The hip hinge is a great way to do this.  You can use a dowel or broomstick to check your form. Stand with feet wider than hip-width apart, feet parallel.  Hold a stick behind your back (one hand behind the head, one in the curve of your back) keeping the stick against the back of your head, your upper back and your butt - hinge forward with your upper body still and return to the start.  Do 10 reps for 2 sets. 

2) Strengthen your core!

This advice may surprise you, but no more crunches!  Your abdominals are part of core muscles that are meant to stabilize your body and keep your spine straight. Crunches involve the exact opposite movement, whereby you flex your spine and “crunch” at your back’s weakest point.  This puts more strain on your lower back and your posture suffers.  Instead, scientists now believe that we should be doing plank type movements to strengthen the core. To do a plank, go into a push-up position resting on your forearms.  Squeeze your glutes, tighten your core and hold, working up to 60 seconds.  I recommend repeating this 3-5 times.