By Harris Meyer, DC
In the article below, Gina Shaw from WebMD lists a variety of health care approaches to address back pain other than drugs and surgery. She lists physical therapy, chiropractic, and acupuncture among others. I am an expert on back health but not specifically on acupuncture or physical therapy so I will refrain from commenting on them…she however did not refrain in areas where her expertise are questionable.
Among the thousands of patients I have seen and the millions that have been seen by chiropractors around the planet, our natural care has yielded remarkable results for both acute and chronic back pain. The biggest problem with this article however is that the author is propogating our "sick care" system mentality. Most of us live by the rules of reaction when it comes to our well being. That is, when something hurts or appears "wrong" with us, we seek medical help or chiropractic help or something similar. So what's wrong with that? Well, you only give yourself an opportunity to deal with the irritating symptoms. In most cases, you or your health care provider are not focused on truly getting rid of the cause of the problem. It's no surprise that because the underlying reasons for the symptoms haven't been taken care of, those symptoms eventually return but the cause has usually worsened.
A statement like the one below about "treating for a month or two" leads people to believe there is science that validates that much care for a given problem. Let me tell you that no two problems are alike. People, circumstances, compliance, etc. are different in every single case. A 16 year old with a new back injury will require much less care than a 45 year old overweight person who has had a problem for some length of time but those are just a couple of factors. If we want to have good health, including a back that feels great, you must look at your lifestyle and understand that you probably will continue to do things that have some negative stress or strain on you and your body. If you accept that truth, it will make sense that regular check ups are necessary to detect those stresses and address them before they cause the symptoms that lead you to get sucked into the "sick care" system. Instead, practicing "health care" or what we might call "wellness care" as I just descibed above, will produce much better results for you.It will save hours, weeks and months of work trying to restore your health and will save money as well.
Hey, it's Earth Day. What a perfect time to think about how you can better care for the planet and think about yourself in the same way!
Except from the article
Alternative Approaches to Low Back Pain
Got back pain? Alternative therapies might help.
by Gina Shaw at WebMD 4/22/10
Chiropractic/Spinal Manipulation
Doctors of chiropractic use their hands, and sometimes other tools, to manipulate the joints of the body -- particularly the spine -- to help relieve pain.
Studies have shown that chiropractics can be effective in relieving acute (sudden) and chronic back pain, although there's more evidence to support its use in acute back pain.
"Chiropractic is generally considered to be as good as physical therapy, and as good as patient education, in relieving back pain," Moon says. "And, like physical therapists, chiropractors can be very good educators about back health."
Just as with physical therapy, chiropractic care for back pain should involve learning exercises to do at home to strengthen your back, and treatments shouldn't go on forever.
"They should be teaching the patient how to take care of themselves," Moon says. "I won't write an open-ended prescription for chiropractic; generally, I think it should be done for a month or two before re-evaluating how the patient is doing."
Harris Meyer, D.C.
Body Focus Health Center
580 Market St., Mezzanine Level
San Francisco, CA 94104
415-956-3226 / 956-3313 (F)
www.bodyfocushealth.com
http://doctormeyer.isagenix.com
This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or the taking of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronically transmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this message immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment