There is nothing worse than an ongoing, nagging pain in the back. Many people live with back pain for years without doing anything about it. People living with back pain will tend to change the way they sit or stand to favor positions that are less painful, causing even more damage to their bodies. As a result, other parts of their bodies start to feel the strain. Spinal Decompression Therapy can help reduce or eliminate back pain, allowing other parts of the body to heal.
Too often people experience ongoing episodes of back pain only to learn years later that by “working through it” and not treating it with proper rehabilitation that they have set themselves up for long term pain and spinal degeneration…I know, not what anyone wants to hear. The reason this happens is because the body heals in three phases: inflammation, repair and remodeling. The entire healing process takes one year, yeah one year! Most people think that when the pain is gone the injury is better, but that is not the case. Over the first week or so the body is in the inflammatory stage and the area is usually very painful, hot, read and swollen. As inflammation decrease you move into the repair stage which lasts about three months. During the repair phase you begin scaring as the body produce collagen, a protein that repairs your injured tissue. As you finish the repair phase you move into the remodeling phase which is where your body makes the scar permanent by hardening it like concrete drying. The remodeling phase takes about nine months. The total process of healing an injury, no matter how small goes through three phases and last about one year.
If you ignore low grade reoccurring pain, which is your body’s “check engine light”, by taking medication or just “pushing through it”, you set yourself up for long term pain because you heal back wrong! That’s right, you heal back wrong. When your body heals and scars, if you are not going through the right type rehabilitation or therapy, there are two negative consequences that happen to you soft tissue and nerves. The soft tissue or scar that forms is thick and less flexible. Do you think your back or neck will be more or less likely to be reinjured if this happens? Second, the nerves will grow into the new scar tissue and they will be more sensitive than the original tissue and nerves. If your nerves are more sensitive, do you think you will be more or less likely to have pain in the future? This is why you shouldn’t ignore your pain, and why you should get treatment in the form of physical medicine. A physical injury requires a physical treatment to heal it properly, medications only cover up you check engine light, and set you up for long term problems. I personally want to enjoy my life as much as possible just like everyone else, so think about your choices when you take a pain killer or anti-inflammatory…you may be setting yourself up for trouble in the long run. Also, anti-inflammatories have been show to inhibit, or interfere with the formation of your scar tissue. Does that sound like a good thing to you? Do you think you will heal normally or heal back wrong if you take anti-inflammatory medications?
The main thing is that you are informed and in control of your health. Most people never get the information you just read, and they think that ignoring the pain and taking medications is fine and that it will not cause any problems done the road, but you can’t deny physiology or how the body heals. Better understanding your health and how your body heals could potentially extend your life and quality of life if you use the information I’m sharing with you, the choice is yours.
Spinal decompression therapy is the treatment of choice we use for pain relief. Stretching the spine out during therapy sessions brings back pain relief in the majority of patients that are candidates for the therapy. As Kim Ollis put it, “I’ve had chronic back pain for as long as I can remember…I also had numbness in my left arm. I wanted to find out if decompression therapy would help with that. I’ve tried it…and can honestly say it has helped tremendously with my pain, and the numbness in my arm is completely gone.” You can view her video testimonial below.
If you are having pain don’t ignore it. Invest in your future, invest in your quality of life and treat the cause of your problem, don’t just cover it up and create a problem that will be much worse down the road. If you are interested in getting help for your back pain, disc herniation, slipped disc, disc bulge, or spinal stenosis call our office in Hickory, NC for a free 5-10 minute phone consultation or to schedule an appointment. You can reach us at (828) 324-0800. Our website is HickorySpine.com.
