Archive | Back Pain RSS feed for this section

Low Back Pain and Sleep -(Cont).

15 Jan

Last month, we discussed the relationship between sleep deprivation and low back pain (LBP) and found that LBP can cause sleep loss AND sleep loss can cause LBP. It’s a 2-way street! This month, we will look at ways to improve your sleep quality, which in return, will reduce your LBP. There are many ways we can improve our sleep quality. Here are some of them:

Turn off the lights: Complete darkness (or as close to it as possible) is best. Even the tiniest bit of light in the room can disrupt your internal clock and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin. Cover your windows with blackout shades or drapes.

Stay cool! The bedroom’s temperature should be ≤70 degrees F (21 degrees C). At about four hours after you fall asleep, your body’s internal temperature drops to its lowest level. Scientists report a cooler bedroom mimics your body’s natural temperature drop.

Move the alarm clock. Keeping it out of reach (at least 3 feet) forces you to get out of bed and get moving in the AM. Also, you won’t be inclined to stare at it during the night!

Avoid loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on your body to be suddenly jolted awake. If you are regularly getting enough sleep, an alarm may even be unnecessary.

Reserve your bed for sleeping. Avoid watching TV or doing work in bed, you may find it harder to relax and drift off to sleep.

Get to bed before 11pm. Your adrenal system does a majority of its recharging between the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. and adrenal “burn-out” results in fatigue and other problems.

Be consistent about your bed time. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same times each day, including weekends. This will help your body to get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and get up in the morning.

Establish a bedtime routine. Consider meditation, deep breathing, using aromatherapy, or essential oils, or massage from your partner. Relax and reduce your tension from the day.

Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed to provide the L-tryptophan needed for your melatonin and serotonin production.

There are other “tricks” that ensure a good night’s rest that we will continue with next month as this is a VERY important subject and can literally add years to your life and life to your years.

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

 

Low Back Pain and Sleep.

9 Jan

Sleep deprivation has been called, “…an epidemic” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To achieve and maintain good health, we must ensure restorative sleep!  Here are some ways to help with that.

Avoid snacks at bedtime …especially grains and sugars as these will raise your blood sugar and delay sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you not only wake up but falling back to sleep becomes problematic. Dairy foods can also interrupt sleep.

Take a hot bath, shower or sauna before bed. This will raise your body temperature and cooling off facilitates sleep. The temperature drop from getting out of the bath signals to your body that “it’s time for bed.”

Keep your feet warm! Consider wearing socks to bed as our feet often feel cold before the rest of the body because they have the poorest circulation. Cold feet make falling asleep difficult!

Rest your mind! Stop “brain work” at least 1 hour before bed to give your mind a rest so you can calm down. Don’t think about tomorrow’s schedule or deadlines.

Avoid TV right before bed. TV can be too stimulating to the brain, preventing you from falling asleep quickly as it disrupts your pineal gland function.

Consider a “sound machine.” Listen to the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to drown out upsetting background noise and soothe you to sleep.

Relaxation reading. Don’t read anything stimulating, such as a mystery or suspense novels, as it makes sleeping a challenge.

Avoid PM caffeine. Studies show that caffeine can stay active in your system long after consumption.

Avoid alcohol. Though drowsiness can occur, many will often wake up several hours later, unable to fall back asleep. This can prohibit deep sleep, the most restoring sleep (~4th hour).

Exercise regularly! Exercising for at least 30 minutes per day can improve your sleep.

Increase your melatonin. If you can’t increase levels naturally with exposure to bright sunlight in the daytime and absolute complete darkness at night, consider supplementation.

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

 

Low Back and Obesity.

4 Jan

Losing weight can dramatically reduce Low back pain (LBP). For the next 2 months, we will look at easy ways to lose weight without the need for fancy, hard to follow diets. As the saying goes, this is a “no-brainer.”

Time you meals. Set a timer for 20 minutes and “pace yourself” so that you eat slower. This is one of the most effective ways to reduce weight without a complicated diet plan. Make each bite “count” and enjoy the food’s flavor! This tricks your brain into thinking you’re more full while wolfing down your food in a hurry blocks those brain signals, resulting in over-eating.

Sleep an extra hour. This can result in a drop of 14 pounds a year according to University of Michigan research.

Serve three vegetables and/or fruit vs. one in your evening meal. You can eat more and STILL reduce weight!

Add a broth-based soup to your day. It fills you up without adding calories. Avoid creamy soups as they can be high in fat and calories.

Eat more whole grains. Add brown rice, barley, oats, buckwheat and/or whole wheat when consuming waffles, pizza crust, English muffins, and pasta. If you are gluten sensitive, look for alternatives like quinoa.

Visualize your favorite “skinny clothes.” Think about, or literally take out, a favorite dress or pair of pants that you no longer fit into and use it as a target or goal to wear them again.

Skip the bacon! If you avoid that 2 strips of bacon at breakfast or on your sandwich at lunch, you’ll save about 100 calories / day, about 10 pounds per year! Instead add tomato slices, banana peppers, roasted red bell peppers, grainy mustard, or a light spread of herbed goat cheese.

Pizza perfect! Choose a veggie topping vs. meat and shave 100 calories from your meal. Consider going light on the cheese, use reduced fat cheese and choose a thin, bread-like crust made with olive oil.

Drink “smart!” Trade that soda in for water or zero-calorie seltzer and you’ll avoid about 10 teaspoons of sugar! Add a lemon, mint or frozen strawberries for a much more satisfying beverage.

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

 

Tags:

Low Back Pain, Balance, and Foot Orthotics.

2 Jan

Low back pain (LBP) can result from many causes, and sometimes it just occurs for reasons that are not clear, such as the accumulation of stresses that occur over time. Many causes of low back pain have been described such as bending over “wrong,” combined bending and twisting, lifting, over reaching, climbing, sitting too long, repetitious activities at home or work, sports injuries, being out of shape, and so on. But what about balance? Because poor balance leads to falling, which is the #1 cause of injuries in the elderly, ANYTHING that we can do to improve our balance should help prevent falls and hence low back injuries. Let’s look at strategies to improve our balance…

First, let’s measure our ability to balance by using a simple test you can do yourself. Stand on one leg in the corner of a room or in a doorway where you can easily grab onto something if you feel like you’re going to fall. Try to do this without holding on to anything, first with your eyes open and a second time with your eyes closed. If you have a stopwatch, click it when you start and stop (when you put your foot down). Otherwise, count, “…1001, 1002, 1003, etc.” Studies have shown that for those under 60 years old, you’re “normal” if you can balance on one leg with your eyes open for 30 seconds and 25 seconds with your eyes closed. Between ages 60-69, normal is 23 sec. (eyes open) and 10 sec. (eyes closed) is normal. If you’re 70-79 years old, normal is 14 seconds (eyes open) and 4 seconds (eyes closed). Give it a try! Notice how “normal” drops as we age. From 25 sec. to 4 sec. between age 59 and 70 is pretty dramatic! No wonder falling is so common among the elderly!

So, now that you’ve tested yourself, I’m guessing you aren’t too impressed with your balance skills. The question now is, how can we improve our balance? Performing balance exercises with a rocker, wobble board or cushion is VERY EFFECTIVE! You’ll be surprised that if you use this for 10 minutes a day, the improvement in balance is significant in just 2 weeks. Another method takes no effort at all on your part, and that is the use of custom made foot orthotics. Simply known as arch supports, foot orthotics (the good “prescription” kind) correct the rolling in or out of the heel bone, referred to as pronation (rolling in = most common) or supination (rolling out) by wedging the heel of the orthotic/arch support. This stabilizes the ankle joint, reduces the inward or outward shift at the knee and hip joints, and as a result, improves our balance.

Results of a recent study proved this to be the case. Researchers studied 13 subjects over 65 years of age who reported at least 1 unexpected fall in the past 12 months and measured their balance skills using a similar test as the one you just tried as well as 3 other tests (tandem stance, tandem gait, and alternating step tests) twice before and twice after starting use of custom foot orthotic intervention (immediately after and 2 weeks later). In each of the 4 balance tests, improvement was statistically significant in the post-tests and 2-week later follow-up tests PROVING that balance is effectively improved when wearing custom made foot orthotics. We recommend doing BOTH the exercises and the use of custom foot orthotics to obtain even better results. Since falling is such a common occurrence at any age, especially in those over 60-65 years old, these simple strategies seem like a “no-brainer” to implement into a treatment program, especially for people with poor bone density at high risk for fractures.

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

 

Low Back Pain and Balance.

31 Dec

Statistically, most people (estimated to be about 90%) will seek care for Low Back Pain (LBP) at some point in their lifetime.

Balance is a skill that is learned as we develop. Initially, as infants, we have not developed the “neuromotor pathways” or, sequence of signals between the brain and our toes, feet, ankles, knees, hips, and so on. The constant flow of sensory information received and processed by the brain prompts motor messages to be sent back to our limbs and allows us to move in a progressively more coordinated manner as we develop. This natural progression of developing motor control starts with crude, rather uncontrolled movement of the fingers, hands, arms, legs, and feet, and soon, we learn to hold up our head, scoot, roll over, crawl, stand, and eventually walk (usually during the first 12 months of life). The learning process of recognizing sounds, voice quality and inflections, and words occurs simultaneously. This bombardment of sensory information to the brain leads to the ability to gradually perform highly integrated functions including walking, running, jumping, and dancing. As part of that learning process, falling frequently occurs. We all recall the challenges of learning how to ride a bike, swim, do a somersault, climb a tree, swing, dance, do gymnastics, ski, and on and on. As time passes and we enter middle age, we become more sedentary. As a result, we start losing our “proprioceptive edge” and become less steady, leading to more frequent balance loss and falls. Eventually, we have to hold on to hand railings or the wall in order to keep our balance and falling occurs more frequently. Couple this gradual loss of balance with bone demineralization (osteoporosis) and the risk of a fracture, such as a hip or vertebra, increases as well.

So the question arises, what can we do to slow down this process and maybe even reverse it? The answer is, A LOT!!! Just like muscles shrink and atrophy if they are not used, so does our ability to maintain our balance. We have to keep challenging our balance in order to keep those neuromotor pathways open. That need doesn’t stop after childhood, and in fact, becomes more important as we age. Last month, we talked about the “normal” length of time people can stand on one foot with the eyes open verses closed. If you tried the test, do you remember the steadiness difference? This “test” can be used at various time intervals, such as once a month, as you add balance challenging exercises to your daily routine. Frequently, people will find that within the first 2-4 weeks, they will feel more “sure” or secure on their feet, and even may not feel the need for a cane, or they’ll reach out less often for a hand rail. Start with simple exercises like standing with your feet together and hold that position for progressively longer times (eyes open and closed). We will continue this discussion next month with more balance stimulating exercises.

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

 

Tags:

Low Back Pain and Balance Specific Exercises.

24 Dec

Low back pain (LBP) and its relationship to balance has been the topic for the past two Health Updates, and an initial discussion regarding specific balance exercises was introduced last month. This month’s Health Update will complete the discussion about what you can do to preserve your current balance skills, or better yet, improve them! Remember, wear your foot orthotics and don’t forget to move them between your different shoes. Similarly, if you have leg length imbalance, move your heel lift to other shoes or simply purchase additional lifts and keep the heel lift in several pairs of shoes. Also, test your balance skills now before starting a balance exercise program and re-test every 2-4 weeks to measure improvement (see the January 2013 Health Update for the testing protocol).

The initial exercise we discussed was standing with your feet together and holding that position for progressively longer times (eyes open and closed). Once you can hold this position with your eyes closed for ≥ 30 seconds, start increasing the balance challenge by:

Move your heel of the left foot next to the big toe of the right foot and repeat the exercise with the eyes open and closed. Repeat on the other side! When successful for ≥30 sec., do it with eyes closed…..

Place your left foot in front of the right foot/toes (like standing on a balance beam) and repeat the exercise with the eyes open and closed. Repeat on the other side! When successful for ≥30 sec., do it with eyes closed…..

Repeat #1 and #2 standing on a thin pillow and/or a wobble cushion or rocker board, making sure you are “safe” by standing in the corner of a room or in an entrance to a room where you can grab the door frame when needed. DO NOT RISK falling!

Rocker board exercise options:

Rock forwards/backwards (FW/BW) looking straight ahead (don’t look down at your feet). Make sure the board you are using is “safe” (where you can safely step off forwards and backwards). Don’t use a board that is too high off the ground (about 3” is maximum). Repeat the FW/BW rocking slowly for 10 minutes periodically opening and closing your eyes.

Repeat “A” but stand at a 45° angle to the front/back direction so you are rocking at an angle using the same methods and time frame.

Repeat “A” but stand at a 90° angle to the front/back direction so you are rocking at an angle using a similar method and time frame.

You can then “make up” exercises standing on the rocker board or cushion like simulating a golf swing, tennis stroke, or other favorite sport, yoga move, etc. Be creative and make it fun!!!

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

 

Tags:

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →