The following is what I have personally found to be the best and most cost effective means of managing my chronic back pain on an ongoing basis without the need for visits to any practitioners or using any drugs. Remember, drugs and many other so called back pain relief products and devices only relieve pain temporarily and/or only mask the pain without addressing the actual cause of the pain which most often is due to inflammation of the spinal discs and surrounding tissue caused by compression. Managing chronic back pain takes effort from you and there is no magic pill and no such thing as a permanent cure. The following is what I have found through extensive trial and error and many thousands of dollars spent. I have found it does not have to cost a lot on an ongoing basis as long as you do them all and not just choose the ones you want. Each has a reason and each is as important as the next to get off and stay off the roller coaster of back pain.
Use the LumbarTrac Spinal Fitness Machine every 2 to 3 days or as needed, most likely for the rest of your life. It is the only self operated back pain relief product that has enough force to stretch the very strong fibrous multifidi, the muscle that holds your spine together. By actually stretching the multifidi you are creating space between the vertebrae to enable the discs to reduce in inflammation thereby reducing the pain.
Do daily stretches, morning and night, designed to stretch and elongate the muscles that cause back pain due to muscle contraction as oppose to disc compression. These muscles include the glutes, piriformis, quadratus lumborum, and erector spinae. These are very pleasurable stretches once you get used to them. You can find many beneficial stretching video’s at spine-health.com
Do core strengthening exercises as outlined by Dr. Eric Goodman and Peter Park in their book Foundation. They also have YouTube videos. These core strengthening exercises will strengthen the muscles surrounding your spine to help you stand straight and tall without having to think about it. Once you strengthen these muscles it will feel like you are always wearing a supportive back brace, but it will be your own muscle.
Learn and regularly practice yoga at least 3 times per week at your local yoga studio. This will bring elasticity back to all of your muscles while strengthening your core to help support your spine as you decompress it with LumbarTrac. An ancillary benefit will be that you will meet other health minded people that will raise your spirits and restart the natural chemical factory in your brain that taking drugs most likely stopped, leading to depression. These feel good chemicals are serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins and are much more beneficial than what comes in a pill bottle.
Give your body the proper nutrition it needs as outlined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman in his many books and DVD’s. Proper nutrition will reduce inflammation in your body that leads to pain. Do not underestimate how what you eat can cause pain in your body. Inflammation is the leading cause of pain and death. Proper nutrition will change your life and reverse most elective disease.
There are no short cuts to chronic pain management. Do not rely on pills, braces, tens units, and cheap home devices that are mildly effective and end up in a closet or break soon after the warranty period expires. Do the above and live a normal life.
