Why Do I Have Recurring Back or Neck Pain and How Do I Fix It?

Back pain is a worldwide epidemic. in 2020, 619 million people suffered from back pain globally. About 80% of Americans suffer from back pain at one time or another. An estimated 16 million adults experience persistent chronic pain. It's the most common reason for doctor visits or massage, physical therapy, and chiropractic. I've been in practice for 35 years and have treated nearly 10,000 patients of which most had lower back and or neck pain. 

First off if you have recurring back pain there's a reason why it keeps coming back. If you only get it every so often there's a reason, a cause for that as well. Back pain just doesn't happen for no reason, although some patients swear they did nothing out of the ordinary. 

In my book, BACK PAIN GONE! The Complete Guide To Getting Rid Of Your Back Pain in 7 Days or Less, I explain the most common causes of back pain and how to correct and prevent it from happening over and over. You cannot prevent it 100% of the time but you can certainly decrease the severity and frequency of your back and or neck pain

A patient will come in with pain on the side of her hip and or lower spine as well. No trauma, no heavy lifting, no lifting weights at the gym or work, nothing unusual. Once I start questioning their sleep, work, hobbies, and lifestyle we start to narrow down where the cause or causes are or could be.   

Sleep postures, bed, and pillows are important to discuss because these can all contribute to headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, muscle tension, and spasms as well as pain anywhere in the spine and the neck or cervical spine pain is a very common problem.

You really have to look at the whole picture if you want the job done right. Otherwise, you get partial results and what good is that? Why settle for less than the best? You deserve the best you really do! If you don't think you deserve the best...health peace, happiness...the best in life...then you need to re-think your life...your purpose...your future. We all deserve health and happiness...and if you're in chronic or recurring pain then how can you be truly happy or healthy?  

Let's continue with causes, I will list them not in any order of importance but as they come to my mind and remember they're all important causes inactivity, poor muscle tone, overweight, sedentary, poor postures, prolonged sitting, and prolonged standing. Combine either sitting or standing for prolonged periods of time with poor posture and now you've got a double whammy and add to the picture being overweight and a sedentary life. Are you seeing the BIG PICTURE? Poor posture which strains the spine, prolonged sitting or standing which causes compression to the spine and discs, being overweight which adds more weight to the gravitational compression to the spine and discs, sedentary life which creates the perfect environment for poor circulation, low oxygen levels and lack of proper lubrication of the joints of the body, sickness and disease now have a good home to live in.

Once you know the cause or causes you can start to remove and replace the bad habits with the good ones. The muscles might need some strengthening. The spine might need alignments. The discs and joints of the spine will do well with decompression aka spinal decompression or traction and can be done through inversion also known as hanging upside down. The many miracles I kept seeing month after month year after year are the reasons I decided to write the book and share this information with the world! 

Treatments available can include self-treatments many of which are all over the internet and social media, medical or chiropractic doctors, orthopedic spine or neurosurgeons, physical therapists, pain management specialists, and massage therapists can all treat neck and back pain.

Medical doctors which include the ortho and pain management specialists use prescription drugs, steroid injections, and the surgeon whether orthopedic spine or neurosurgeon does surgery. Statistics are pretty bad with spine surgeries. Not very good outcomes so why would people choose surgery, they think it's a quick fix, they're tired of being in pain, taking pills, they even tried going to a chiropractor. The problem was they went to the wrong chiropractor. That's a whole other article, let's just say many patients have shared with me many stories about some of the chiropractic offices they have been to. Not very pretty stories. In fact, it's embarrassing that so many chiropractors don't get great results when it comes to treating disc herniations. Some of these chiropractors want you to keep coming in until your insurance runs out, some insurances used to be like 12 chiropractic visits per year, then it's over, or now you pay cash. It could also be a car accident and you were treated at the clinic recommended by the attorney and it's 3-4 months later and you're still having pain. I've seen that happen many times. So, you have got to find the right chiropractor for you!

I will also tell you this, pills are not the answer, there are no Magic Pills when you're dealing with the spine. Let's correct as many of the causing factors as quickly as possible. You cannot lose 40-50-60 lbs in a couple of days not even a couple of months but you can start to increase your metabolism by walking and making better food choices which will not only help you lose weight and feel better but also prevent life-threatening preventable diseases. 

Head posture when on the phone if not correct will eventually cause neck problems which can lead to headaches and visual problems. A patient lost his vision in his left eye for approximately one and a half minutes and he said it freaked him out so he went to the hospital and was admitted for 2 days. What did they find after all the diagnostic expensive testing revealed? Nothing. They told him they didn't know why it happened to him but that if it happened again to come back to the hospital. I said, "What for? They didn't find anything wrong with him in 2 days and did every test imaginable but they failed to look at one thing, the cervical spine. Even when they take x-rays and say there's nothing wrong or they tell you you have arthritis and prescribe the pills they call medicine.

They want you to believe that your body has a shortage of these synthetic chemical pills and you'll have to take them forever. Sometimes I look at the x-rays and see the problem the other doctor said there's nothing wrong, so I explain to the patient what's wrong. They're called misalignments or subluxations. They can interfere with the nerves and that can cause a problem with where that nerve goes, an eye, an ear, the sinuses, the shoulder, an arm or hand, a leg, or the heart. I've treated many patients with chest pains, heart palpitations, and anxiety and often wonder, would this patient end up getting a pacemaker or some other invasive risky surgery without chiropractic?

I shared a few stories and concepts with you. I hope you learned something from this article but most importantly put some of this new information to use and make your life and world a happier and healthier place!