Eastfotorant Northcut, a 42-year-old corporate executive in New York City, has been suffering from lower back pain and leg pain for almost three years until he was “careful to pick up the easy thing,” he recalls.

When he finally asked for help, his doctor suggested acupuncture right off the bat. Northcut completed six treatments over about eight months. Now, he says, “I don’t have back pain in any way. I’m 100% better.”

According to the American Pain Foundation, more than 26 million Americans between the ages of 20 and 64 suffer from chronic back pain, and this is one of the top reasons why people see a doctor. But even among these millions, the painful mystery of back pain can be discovered: this common condition can be surprisingly difficult to treat.

The lower part is a complex place, with many possible sources of pain. While surgery may seem like a quick fix, in reality about 85% of people don’t need it — and won’t benefit from back surgery, says Anders Cohen, MD, head of neurosurgery at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York.

It provides plenty of space for alternative and complementary therapies such as vitamin, acupuncture and chiropractic therapies that help relieve pain. “If I don’t see anything unstable, I don’t see anything wrong with the disc or bone, I use regular alternative therapies. It’s a central crook in my practice,” Dr Cohen added.

“There are some types of back pain that are in the lining of the muscles or in the connective tissues of the muscles that are really hard to treat,” added James Brie, MD, an athlete at Scott & White Healthcare. “

Acupuncture is one of the first and most effective courses of treatment for people with chronic pain. Retired Tennis Pro, Dr. Cohen said, “We have had great success with acupuncture. Great for someone who has pain in the back or neck and is not spreading his arms and legs so much,” said Retired Tennis Pro. “I got it myself, got up and felt 75% better.”

Former medical practitioners say that acupuncture works by rearranging the energy meridians and re-balancing the body. Western physicians don’t really know why it has any benefits. Nevertheless, they have found that it can help in many cases. “We have nothing to do with it in Western medicine, but it seems to work,” said Dr. Cohen. “We don’t just have Western explanations.”

Next page: Massage Massage

Massage can benefit people who want to maintain health behind their backs and who get occasional pain. Its effects have been studied and explained.

“The massage not only stretches the muscles and gets the knot but also maintains the lactic acid and lymphatic drainage technique in the body,” Dr. Cohen said. “When people are in pain, it means making lactic acid or waste products in the muscles.

The key, says Dr. Bray, is to look for any messages that you can connect with and trust. “It’s great if you have a good masseuse.” “If you don’t, they can mess it up.”

Chiropractic Therapy

Although most people as a therapist think that you have cracked your back while lying on the table, they have also “treated a lot of soft tissues,” Dr. Cohen said.

Chiropractors can help with back pain and in some cases even pain that spreads to the buttocks or buttocks.

Some borrow techniques from physical therapy, using ultrasound and heat to break the cycle of muscle spasms and contractions and cause chronic irritation.

And it turns out that the sound of cracking goes away as soon as the chiropractor inspects it. Physicians think it is nitrogen bubbles that come to be expressed in the joints. “It helps maintain the balance of the spine,” Dr. Cohen explained.

Pilates and Yoga

One comes from Germany and the other is Hindu, Pilates and yoga can help keep your back and cut wounds, Dr. Cohen said.

“These are techniques that work with body symmetry, muscle strengthening, breathing, coordination strength, flexibility, body coordination and body symmetry, so you adjust your body properly, which makes you feel better and more resistant to injury and fatigue. “She is explaining. “It makes sense.”

“Men and women tend to carry weight on the hips and abdomen because that’s the centre of gravity,” Dr. Cohen added. “Pilates largely avoids high impact, high power output, and heavy muscular and skeletal loading. The Pilates largely avoids high impact, high power output, and heavy muscular and skeletal loading.

However, these are not activities for people with degenerative or herniated discs. “The types of yoga that actually focus on flexibility and actually stretch the spine can be really responsive to someone,” said Costantinos Vasalos, a physical therapist and coordinator of the university’s spinal rehabilitation program.

Next page: Strengthening Exercises Strengthening Exercises

Activities such as sit-ups or crunches are designed to maximize muscle contraction. But reinforcement exercises can also be reactive and need to be used appropriately.

“You get stronger, but you can also get a lot of spinal contractions. So if you do this with spinal problems, you can contract the spine and make the symptoms worse,” warns Vasilios.

Aerobic exercise

, like Pilates and yoga, is more aerobic exercise for those who need to keep in shape and maintain a healthy back, not for those with severe injuries.

“Aerobic exercise makes muscles more efficient over time,” Dr. Cohen says.

And walking is a great way to exercise the back muscles, says Vasilios. However, to be effective, walking must be at a brisk pace and should be done regularly and regularly.

“Natural positioning rather than sitting on the back than walking,” Dr. Cohen explained. “If you are sitting in a low chair or in a low car and your hips and knees are raised, it bends from behind and increases the strain.”

Cycling in a pool or break can be more comfortable for people aged 60 or older, for example, with a disc that compresses the nerves, Vasalos says.

“It will help build a few muscles around the spine,” he added.

Dr Cohen warns that rapid pain exercises should not be used for pain learning.

Glucosamine

A large trial in Norway, published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, has raised serious doubts about the quality of glucosamine for chronic abdominal pain associated with osteoarthritis. Study participants took 1,500 mg of glucosamine a day for six months but found no benefit from the supplement.

Researchers do not rule out the possibility that glucosamine may have an inhibitory effect or that it may last for several years. And glucosamine seems to be safe. So if you think you are benefiting in some real or imagined way, there is no harm in continuing.

Next page: Vitamin B12 Vitamin B12

Some people swear by Vitamin B12. However, there is really no indication that it has a direct effect on back pain, experts say. Instead, there may be some benefit from increasing the energy it provides.

“It’s really more than a pick-up,” Dr Cohen said. “Patients think it’s a way to start jumping on the system. It gives you energy but in terms of healing power, I can’t say more than that.”

Vitamin D Vitamin D

is a long term strategy for maintaining bone and back health

Some spine surgeons are “really, really pushing for bone health, especially for our age,” says Vasilios, who recommends taking 2,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D and 1,000 milligrams of calcium citrate per patient per day. Gives.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends 50 to 800 IU per day for adults 50 and older, and 400 to 800 IU per day for adults with a minimum of one thousand IU.

This is especially important because, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, about 1 billion people worldwide have vitamin D deficiency, which is critical to bone health.

Vitamin D is present in some foods such as cod liver oil, some fish and preserved milk, but it is mainly synthesized in the body after exposure to sunlight. Still, this is no excuse to roast in the sun. Sunscreen can make enough vitamin D in just 10 to 15 minutes. It is better. Many multivitamins will give you one thousand IU of vitamin D.

Therapy

Cohen says, “Some people feel that back pain becomes almost a psychological condition, especially in chronic patients, especially if doctors do not find any physical errors,” Cohen said.

Biofeedback, hypnosis and cognitive behavioural therapy have been shown to be beneficial.

“These try to reset the patient’s mind, re-training the mind to help reduce pain,” Dr Cohen said. “I think it’s a bit far from the edge. But you can’t figure out what you can discover at once. And the idea is not to leave it to the patient, but to find a different angle to the attack so they can feel better.”