May 19

Don’t Fear! Be Confident with Your Spine.

Chiropractors see it every day. Back pain sufferers avoid lifting or worry about using their spines for things like lifting out of fear of (re)injury and pain. Researchers report that chronic low back pain patients tend to protect their spines by lifting using a reduced lumbar spine range of motion. Doing this for a long time may end up hurting more than helping. The lumbar spine tissues may experience extra loading due to altered spine motion. (1) Fear-avoidance is a natural response in back pain patients. Don’t feel bad if you do this! Within our Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management, we encourage our back pain patients to return to normal spinal motions slowly as their pain reduces and their exercise routine strengthens their spines. We’ll get there together! We are your partner in controlling back pain so it doesn’t control you. 

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Clint Dickason on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explains his care of a nurse with back pain and sciatic leg pain using the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to help her get back to doing the activities of daily living and her job, including bending, lifting, and twisting.

TIP OF THE MONTH: Curcumin for Chronic Pain Relief and Improved Cognition

Cognitive impairment is seen in patients with chronic neuropathic pain. A new study on the effects of curcumin reports improvement in cognitive impairment and reduction of chronic pain due to compressed sciatic nerves of rats. Curcumin is said to alleviate chronic constriction-injury-related behaviors and memory deficits by lowering inflammatory cytokines. (2) Sciatica is irritation of the sciatic nerve resulting in leg pain. If you have pain, do you notice issues with cognition or memory? Curcumin’s anti-inflammatory properties are something to be considered in the nutritional approach to chronic pain and sciatic leg pain.  

Thank you for welcoming us into your healthcare team.Thank you for trusting chiropractic care to take care of your spine.

References for Healthy News – MAY 2021

  1. Knechtle D, Schmid S, Suter M, Riner F, Moschini G, Senteler M, Schweinhardt P, Meier ML. Fear-avoidance beliefs are associated with reduced lumbar spine flexion during object lifting in pain-free adults. Pain. 2021 Jun 1;162(6):1621-1631. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002170. PMID: 33323888.
  2. Du J, Deng Y, Qiu Z, Sun G, Guo Y, Hei Z, Li X. Curcumin Alleviates Chronic Pain and Improves Cognitive Impairment via Enhancing Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Sciatic Nerve Constriction Rats. J Pain Res. 2021 Apr 20;14:1061-1070. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S299604. PMID: 33907454; PMCID: PMC8069680.