Effictive Alternitive Treatments
 

Hi, I am researching treatments for spinal problems. Please post your imput here. Here are some things that I have found effective in treating my problems in order from most effective to least effective;

1)Acupuncture
-No negitive side effects only reliefe

2)Tui-na treatments
-Very efective at correcting problems simmilar to chiropractic care

3)Traction
-It helped me but I was using a table which hung me by my feet and caused a knee problem (If you get one get one that hangs you from your knees with gutial support or a body bridge like I reciently ordered).

4)Chiropractic adjustments
-Though effective at first it has actually made my condition worse but has merrit.

5)Massage
-This acually could go with tui-na but I feel they are too different to go together. I feel the most effective form is Thai massage, next comes deep tissue, then Shiatsu, while sweedish is ok for relaxation before a chiropractic adjustment.

6)Other little things that help me:
-Herbs(nerer used but researching), ligiments (Traumeel, also used in little white pills), ice, heat(especially icing then using heat), glucosamine, MSM, chondroitin, streching (consistently every single day), and being aware of me posture to include how I get out of bed and having things in my back pocket when I sit down.

Ok now lets help each other and post whatever helps you:)

,Mike

Hello Mike,

I've tried nearly everything and the best I've tried (which is kind of miraculous if the therapist got the right teaching) is myotherapy.

Nathalie

Herniated Neck Disk
 

I suggest considering acupuncture along with physical therapy. It helped my herniated neck disk. At the risk of sounding like a spammer, consider two pillows I invented, the SquidFace and ComfyRest pillows, that alleviate my neck disk problem when the pain reappears. Lying on my back or facedown it corrects the herniation and alleviates the pain. It helps people with back pain also. It is strange but it works wonders. Bob

Here is another cool treatment
 

Orthipedic adjustments, that's right not many orthipedic doctors do it but since I have one as an instructor he is doing it for my back three times a week and it is helping.

THIS IS NOT LIKE A CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT!

The back is given a swedish type of massage to warm it up then the vertibra are slowly pushed into aligment.

Correction that is OSTEOPATHIC adjustments. I sometimes I get the two mixed up but my professor corrected me the other day. He also said the only type of DO's who will do the full treatment are DO's who don't really care about the money because this treatment takes a lot of time.

TREATMENT
This is a just about a one hour treatment thirty minutes on the prat of the massage therapist than 15-30 on the part of the DO. The DO should have a massage therapist do the fist part which is basically a sweadish massage for him then he will come in and take over the massage only now he is also pushing the vertibrea back into allignment. You need to get this three times a week or better if you are in pain. Also SOME massage therapist know how to do this and call is myfacial release. Cation if you go with a massage therapis make sure they leared this from a DO or they can actually make you worse.

I know I am very lucky to have a DO doing this for me.

May God bless you all and I pray with all my heart that whoever is reading this uses it to avoid the knife and live a happy life.

,Mike

Correction that is OSTEOPATHIC adjustments. I sometimes I get the two mixed up but my professor corrected me the other day. He also said the only type of DO's who will do the full treatment are DO's who don't really care about the money because this treatment takes a lot of time.

TREATMENT
This is a just about a one hour treatment thirty minutes on the prat of the massage therapist than 15-30 on the part of the DO. The DO should have a massage therapist do the fist part which is basically a sweadish massage for him then he will come in and take over the massage only now he is also pushing the vertibrea back into allignment. You need to get this three times a week or better if you are in pain. Also SOME massage therapist know how to do this and call is myfacial release. Cation if you go with a massage therapis make sure they leared this from a DO or they can actually make you worse.

I know I am very lucky to have a DO doing this for me.

May God bless you all and I pray with all my heart that whoever is reading this uses it to avoid the knife and live a happy life.

,Mike

much of my pain is disapearing
 

My back pain is subsiding though my neck is still in shambles.

Recently bought a traction device that hangs me from my waste rather than my feet. I use it for a total of 20-25 minutes a day.

,Mike

BTW if anyone else knows some cool trick to relieve the pain and fix the problem post them here.

I am now able to sleep a full night!
 

I have been improving every day little by little. I recently bought a new mattress and box spring. That was a great move and the new yoga DVD I bought I really like, at the end I fall asleep it's called back care yoga if anyone is interested. The pain in my mid-upper back has went down significantly. Though I am still at 7 treatments a week.

,Mike

Yoga
 

For years now people have recomended me to do yoga, I even went and tried it a few times but as a good athlete like I was I never took yoga seriousily I mean I always spent at least one hour a day just streching and doing joint mobility drills. But boy oh boy I finally started doing yoga and I have found it to be much more helpful than the streching I was doing on my own. I case some of yall don't know there are different kinds of yoga the kind I am doing is refered to here in the west as power yoga and it is really helping me. Though this type of yoga may be too strenious for people who are in the first phases of recovery for me it is great and there are other kinds that may be right for you. Trust me give yoga a try (heck they have videos so no one even has to see you doing it) and thank me later;-)
,Mike

BTW Nathalie I learned that myotherapy is a massage therapists way of doing the ostioopathic adjustments that I am getting now. I also find it to be very effective. It is also refered to as myofacial release (spelling).
,Mike

Prolotherapy
 

I found this very interesting do a search ad check it out.

,Mike

I'm another who gains relief from acupuncture along with physiotherapy. I also believe in keeping as fit "as possible".

I fully realise that maintaining fitness is an individual ability, but it helps to know your own body. Learn what it is that you can and can't do....recognise your limits.

I've felt so much better by keeping at aquatherapy and have been attending an aqua class (gentle for oldies) for a few years now. Anything less than regular twice weekly is not worth the effort....results come from persistance. The water is protection for joints, movements in water are fluid with less jarring. I also do a half hour walk every day....my dog makes sure of this.

Yes Swimming is great.

I seem to be making good steady progress in my recovery. I also wanted to mention that I stopped using ice each day and have seen no change as to when I would ice daily for 10 minutes.

Also my wife is now doing 5 minute mini massages on me twice a day after I do yoga where she applies a little pressure to the spinus processes of the twisted vertibra to help them slowly untwist themselves and ease my pain and it is working very well.

,Mike

As of late I have found that for pain that radiates from your neck to your shoulders electric stimulation on the acupuncture nedles is more effective than acupuncture with no electric stimulation.

,Mike

Hay guys and gals
 

I just got back from one of the most rewarding trips of my life in chicago. I had the pleasure to meet and be treated by some of the best doctors in the united states in regards to connective tissue disorders of the spine. So I thought I would tell yall a little about it.

This specific from of medicine is refered to as Naprapathy. Long story short the guy who invented it saw the ovious flaws which Chiropractic had and fixed them. A treatment lasts 20 minutes to 1 hour and costs $80 to $100. It is very effective.

The problem is these Doctors are only licenced in IL and NM so unless you live in those states or Europe it will be very hard for you to find one.

Good luck
,Mike

Afew new tips
 

Hay guys just thought I'd post a few little tips:

A ligament called woodlock I have found to work very well for me.

Vitamin C is important when you have spinal problems but it should come from rose hips rather then the generic stuff to be most effective.

Using cold water in your shower then hot then cold again helps with pain and circulation.

Getting your body into an alkaline state is important for healing and you can do this by eating more sour foods like lemons and apple cider vinegar.

,Mike

Quick tip for yall getting acupuncture
 

I have noticed when I get cupping on my back leaving the cups for 30 to 45 seconds seems to work better then leaving them for a number of minutes. Moving cupping on and around the spine also is great.

,Mike

Podiatrists
 

I was talking to a few people this evening who were discusing the relationship between back problems and foot problems. I thought it was very interesting. I'm going to get my feet checked out at the VA as soon as I can.

,Mike

Yoga therapy
 

I have been reading about yoga therapy and it has really cought my eye. It is like physical therapy except it is all done with yoga rather than machines and those exercises which lack a good flow to them. Very cool.

As a side note my condition is improving very well. Right now I am getting about a 1% improvment each day. Also I started alternating the temperature of the water in my shower from cold to hot then finish on cold. I have found this helpful.

,Mike

Neurocranial restructuring
 

I found this interesting but it seems to me that cranial sacral therapy is safer.

Also I just bought 2 posture videos so I'll report back as to how they workout in the coming weeks.

Also I have noticed a reduction in pain and gas since I cut dairy out of my diet.

Yoga has really been helping me a lot. I cut my sessions down to give or take a 2 hour session in the morning and 30 minutes at night. In the first 30 minutes of the morning session I do only very light joint rotations and such and in the evening session I do rotations and static streching.

Also my wife has still been working on my back twice a day after I do yoga. If anyone is intrested I will go into some of the techniques she uses to help straighten my vertibral aligment.

God Bless you all and may your spine heal well

,Mike

Some recent things I lerned
 

Supp yall hope everyone is feeling happy and healthy!

So I wanted to record a few new things that I have learned over the last week. First;

Myotherapy and Myofacial-release are two different therapies, eariler in the thread I stated that they were the same. Though they are very very similiar they are different as Myotherapy uses heavy steady preasure to releave trigger points myofacial will use heavy steady preasure but mix them into more fluid movments.

Also I have found that getting 10 to 20 minutes of sun on my back each day seems to help me and science seems to say this is correct. Do a little research on it and you'll see what I'm talking about.
I do joint rotations out on my porch every morning with my back facing the sun. For those of you up north a heat lamp may be a good alternative.

This week I had a lot of business to handle so I slept poorly and I could feel it in the condition of my spine. It really reenforces the importance of a good nights sleep in facilating the bodies healing responce.

Overall this week my condition got a little worse do to the poor sleep I have been getting but I am better then I was a month or 2ago.

Good luck and God bless.

,Mike

Back from another medical healing adventure
 

Supp yall I hope yall had a great holiday season.

I just returned from a trip to a fantastic place where I recieved yoga therapy and a one hour chiropractic treatment which included heavyneuro-muscular work.

Fist the yoga therapy;
Overall I think it is good but you need to have someone who is a physical therapist or have a good working knoledge of muscle imbalances to work with you. Bacically the therapist took the problems that I had and gave me good yoga streches for them. 90% of is I was already doing but I learned 10% new things that I was not and I got my poses critiqued (all of my poses needed a little work). The therapist told me that for back and neck problems holding childs poses is one of the best poses you can do and my experence has proved this to be true for me. I also worked with the therapist and developed a totally new pose which there was no name for (we called it churning in a standing postition) which really seems strech my upper back in just the right way.

As you all should know by now I believe that chiropractic is a flaued science and to get me to trust one is not easy but I trusted and went to one on my trip so here is my story;
This Chiropractor volunteers for a non-profit Budist based yoga instutewhich charges people $75 for his service. He weighted about 260lb's and was about 6'4'' he worked on my back with very heavy pressure using neuro-muscular techniques then he adjusted me using a bear-hug type techinque and the usual left side right side and cervical adjustments at the end. Overal it was effective, no major change or anything but I feel improvment from it.

I also learned when you have extreem pain 3-5000mg's of vitamine C is a must (from rose hip is best).

Well after all this therapy and my stedy constant improvment I felt good enough to shoot some clays with my friend and even hop on a 4 wheeler in the snow and I had a blast.

If I can get one messege through to only one person I want it to be that;

"You can heal, You can heal, You, you make it happen not a doctor not a friend or your wife you have to make the decision that nothing except your soul is more in portant than you healing and YOU have to change YOUR life to do it because it is a hard battle when you are damaged"

May God bless and help to heal all who read this
,Mike

What is myotherapy? Can you please explain

I found the Osteopath is wonderful
Mine is also a registered massage therapist.
So I get the full treatment.
Everything gets realigned and she works wonders on the facia that are all melded together.
Also being in the "lazy river" pool at the aquatic centre. Nice warm salt water that moves you around a circle. The circualation is improved by this.

Yesterday I ordered a new mid-back confort chair and a better desk. I will put an electric chair massager on the chair for when I do my work. I think this will help a little more.

Good luck to all
,Mike

Supp yall, I am very supprised as to how much improvment I had this over the last week and a half. I am actually 90% pain free 90% of the time in my neck and 70% pain free 80% of the time in my back. I am sleeping well my knee has also been healing and am able to walk a few blocks with no real problem and the knee is pain free 90% of the time. I think healing this type of condition has been in big part due to balancing the energy in my body. I have never missed a day since I started doing yoga I practice twice a day and my wife massages my back every day after I finish the yoga. I use raw herbs that help balance the yin and the yang within my body to creat a great environment for healing. I examine my body and listen to what people tell me about the small details of my spinal alignemt, my posture and the recomentations that they make I use a ton of supplements and have a fantastic diet. I have lots of plants in my house to clean the air that I breath which in turn cleans my body and I stear clear of all chemicals including the use of cell phones which believe it or not brings your body out of balance.

With all this not to mention all the therapy I get on a weekly basis it has been a year and a half and pain is still a part of my life, I still can not function at 100% or even 75% but I am getting there.

The whole point to this post and this whole log in genneral is to show other people that you can beet these types of conditions it just takes a lot of time and patients and quick fixes like surgeries for chronic pain will never work if you do not fix the cause of the problem which as you can see is far larger than doctors usually tell you. Ask yourself who is going to tell you what it really takes to get fixed and what profit is in it for them for spending that much time with you.

God Bless you all
,Mike

Mike,

I am glad this is working for you. :)

But, I want to know...WHERE are the people who are going for "quick fixes"? I

Interesting thread.

:cool:



Like Mike, I do yoga. But not like I need an hour a day. Whatever I can handle, 5 minutes. It's a huge help. I too like child's pose - dog pose is another good one. Stretch out that spine and then relax with a forward bend.

I'm a big baby about exercise so I only do stuff if it's fun.

:D

I also swim in the summer - heated pool mmmmm!

Another quick fix - exercise ball. I like to roll my back over that gently.

I'm only trying to say it takes a lot of work on the persons part rather than the reliance on other people such as surgens to do it for ya. So many people such as me when I first found this site are looking for surgical means to end their pain and I totally understand that. I'm trying to help other people realize that there are other options and the best ones take a lot of time and work on the part of the individual not on a surgen.

,Mike

Infrared and red laser therapy
 

Yesterday I ordered a low level laser it's a pain-x 2000 moddel under the name back light. I'm real excited about it, I'll let yall know how it works out.
BTW I have found using a therapy ball to sit on while I use the cumputer is a lot easier on my back and neck than using a chair.

God Bless
,Mike

laser results
 

So far the new laser has given a few results. The first day I used it 10 times longer than is recomended to see if it really does anything and this is what happened.
-I got a head-ake and so did my wife who was in the room part of the time.
-I got a stomach-ake which resulted in lose stolls
-Pain increased in my back

From what I understand these sidefects are signs that the laser is working. I am now using the laser twice a day for 10-15 minutes a session which is 2 to 4 times longer than is recomended as one session should last 6-10 minutes. So I'll keep yall posted as to how this turns out and if a low level laser is a good investment or not.

God bless
,Mike

Last night I got really sick and I feel it was a dirrect result of exposure to the laser so I decieded to end my trial and return the laser as I feel there are some negitive side effects to it's use and a danger to my family. Although I did have some postivie results as it relates to my back I would not recomend anyone to buy a low level laser for home use as there are better treatment options.

,Mike

Hi Mike, just wondering if you used it too much? Why not give it a try at the suggested levels?

special pillows?
 

Where do you get these pillows? I have cervical stenosis, with pain even after my surgery a year ago, and I think I've got just about every special pillow ever made, and half the massage cushions ever made, but none of them works perfectly and I'm always looking for more.

I didn't think anyone could get a laser for home use. They are dangerous at therapeutic strengths? Also, what is causing your pain? I don't know if I read carefully enough, but it seemed like I never saw a posting saying what is wrong with you.
I'm a firm believer in getting a diagnosis before I treat.
It's also true that when they go out and x-ray backs at random, they find enough slipped discs and stenosis to cause major symptoms in 50% of adults, but much much less than 50% have symptoms(problems). It's also true that NOT treating some problems can cause other, chronic problems.
Just a reminder
Jane
(P.S. I've been eating natural foods (including steak) and almost 100% whole only grains since 1965 and think many 'alternative' therapies are great)

Yea lasers are dangerous if you get one be carful. Your right I may not have posted it or posted in a few pages back so here is what I got:
T-2, T3 hereation
T3, T4 herneation
L5-S1 herneation
Some kind of undianosed ligament damage in my neck which cause me great pain. I got this all in the military so the VA has me covered.

I'm 24 years old 170lb's and very healthy otherwise. I also have a wife and kid who are very supportive and I study acupuncture and oriental medicine.

That is true I did use it excessivily. Though it was my plan to over use it. See the laser costs $1,200 and I wanted to see if using it a lot would make a difference in my pain level and the amount that my back cracks in a day.

What I found is that the laser has side effects which a person may not notice if you use it at the recomended levels and it made very little difference in my pain level and no difference in the amount that my back and neck would crack in a day, couple that with a $1,200 price tag and a 10 day return window it made no sence to keep it. If I would have used it at the suggested dose I would have been stuck with a dangerous product that does not do much.

,Mike

New formula
 

I'm on a new herb formula that helps to heal my ligaments and tendons rather than treat pain. It tastes horable but I like it and it is very cheep ($6 per week). It's name is: "Du Huo Ji Shen Tang" I use it in the raw form.

May God bless and help to heal you all
,Mike

Swimming
 

I have enjoyed swimming my whole life but never realized how much it actually helps your back until last week when I hopped into the pool and noticed less pain and cracking in my back after the swim. So I changed my exercise program now it looks like this:

M-45 mins yoga 5 minutes strength work in gym 20 mins streching
T-45 mins yoga 10 min swim 20 mins streching
W-repeat monday
Th-repeat Tuesday
F-repeat monday
Sat-repeat tuesday
Sun-1 1/2 hours yoga, extra heavy ab work, 20 mins streching

If I feel tired I take an easy day, but the swimming is key.

God Bless
,Mike

Home therapy
 

Me and my wife have been doing some great home therapy as of late, here is what we are doing:

First I insert one acupuncture needle at DU 20 then my wife does lite massage on my back followed by a shiatsu thumb press down the transverse processes of the vertibra then placing her thumb on the spinous processes of the twisted vetibra she manually untwists the twisted vertibra then presses on the transverse process of the twisted vertibra with her thumbs we follow this with about one minute of Gua Sha then we apply fire cups to the areas that I have pain and leave them for about 10 minutes then repeat the shiatsu pressing down the spine then apply Wood lock medicaided oil to my whole back. This whole thing takes 5-10 minutes of work on her part. We have been doing this twice a day (the cups only once) for a few months now and it is very effective at eliminating the pain in my neck and back.

May God bless all who read this and help them to heal
,Michael