PROFESSIONAL #2: THE ORTHOPAEDIC SPECIALIST All right, let’s say the doctor’s prescriptions helped for a while, but the pain returned. In most cases, he’ll now recommend you to a specialist, often an orthopaedic specialist. This is a medical professional who specializes in the muscles, ligaments, bones, tendons, joints, and nerves—all the parts of the body responsible for allowing us to move. The orthopaedic specialist (surgeon) is going to focus on the structural issues of your body—looking for major trauma and injury. If you have a herniated disc, she’s going to zoom in on how to “repair that disc.” She may say something like, “Your MRI shows bulging and/or herniated discs at L4-L5, L5-S1” (referring to the specific vertebrae affected). When you hear a verbal version of this report, it seems so clinical and certain. A particular vertebra or disc appears to be in an abnormal position—which may be factually true. But what’s not necessarily true is that the vertebra that’s in the abnormal position, or the bulging disc, is actually pressing the nerve that’s been causing you pain. That’s just an educated guess. The surgeon’s next response is to tell you, “I’d like to go in and clean it up.” She’s going to either remove a piece of the disc with scissors and knives or burn it with a laser. The idea is that once that “offending” piece of the disc is gone, it will no longer put pressure on the nerve, thereby relieving your pain. Again, this assumes that a specific disc is actually pressing on a nerve and that that specific nerve is the one causing your pain. Here’s the problem: That bulging disc may not even be the culprit. In fact, in a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that 28 percent of the MRIs they analysed with disc herniations belonged to people who had never reported back pain! Discs often erode as we get older, but whether or not they bother us is dependent upon the person. In addition, many studies show that with proper physical treatment regimen, most herniated discs will heal without an operation, often in just months. With time, they often are absorbed back into the spine or, if torn, they heal, just like a cut on your skin does. While the pre-surgical experience seems like a very scientific one, at some point in the process it deviates from factual science and becomes educated guessing based on factual science. What almost never happens is surgeons probing into the reasons why you have pain or a disc herniation. They don’t ask, “What caused the disc to move into that abnormal position in the first place?” Without this probing—if muscle imbalances caused the herniated disc in the first place, for instance—that underlying problem hasn’t been solved. Even with surgery, the muscle imbalances within your body have not been rebalanced. Over time, your surgically repaired discs will face the same pressures and, likely, end up bulging all over again. From a surgeon’s perspective, the solution will be simple: Perform the surgery to remove the offending disc…again. That’s one of the many reasons why some people go through surgery after surgery. In many cases the surgeon isn’t cutting out the problem, just the symptom—leaving the problem to cause more pain in the future. If your pain persists and you don’t want surgery, many orthopaedic surgeons will recommend cortisone shots. Cortisone injections, epidurals, steroid injections, and epidural steroid injections are all essentially the same thing. The goal is to inject a chemical into the inflamed area and try to control the inflammation, delivering relief in the short term. Some people feel better by the time they get home, or perhaps the next morning. However, others don’t feel better at all. It’s about a 50/50 chance. Because the effects last only a few weeks, you may have to go back for two, three, maybe more shots, until you reach the limit. And there is a limit, because too much cortisone in the tissues can result in permanent damage, weakening tendons or causing deterioration in the cartilage of the joint. How does this happen? Cortisone shots can cause harm in two ways. First, because cortisone is a type of steroid that inhibits inflammation, it also halts healing. Injecting an injured area may relieve pain, but at the same time, it sends the body’s repair service home, leaving the area defenceless and weak. The patient, believing he’s cured, goes back to working the joint, muscle, or tendon, not realizing he could be doing further damage. Second, cortisone is a catabolic steroid, which tends to break down and destroy connective tissues. Actual cell death is seen near the injection site. So most doctors set the limit at two to three shots (although I have one client who received nine!). Regardless of the outcome, if the underlying cause wasn’t addressed, the pain will return. Of course, not all orthopaedic specialists recommend surgery right off the bat. It depends on your condition and on the specialist. Many will suggest rest, physiotherapy, specially constructed back supports and braces, or safety belts. Again, these can be helpful in temporarily alleviating pain, but they don’t address the range of underlying problems that may be causing the pain. N.B. Yesterday Ive created one day event FREE PDF DOWNLOAD, for my bestselling book BACK PAIN REMEDIES: MYTHS, HALF TRUTHS, FALSE CLAIMS, AND GENUINE CURES. By the amount of downloads (217 by the closing at 24:00) I got the idea that more people will be looking for it. For that reason Im extending that offer for another few days. I am not creating a new event, but you can copy the full link below and paste it into your browser for an instant download: d1hjzlzmzr8jsh.cloudfront.net/REMEDIES FREE PDF/Backpain Remedies-informed choices,PDF.pdf If you havent downloaded it yet, do it now, while this offer is still available. When it is gone - its gone, as Im resuming selling it on Amazon kindle in a few days (original price 13.99). Have a great weekend!
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 07:44:11 +0000
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