Back Pain Drugs Fail To Do The Job

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on April 25, · 2 Comments

People all over the world are desperate for back pain relief and to often back pain drugs fail to do the job. And we are talking about things like steroids and other drugs with harmful side effects as well. Steroids do better but not good enough.

Recently Johns Hopkins led a study that they reported in their JHU Gazette

Back Pain Drugs Fail To Do The Job

Despite the great promise that injecting a new type of anti-inflammatory pain medicine into the spine could relieve the severe leg and lower back pain of sciatica, a Johns Hopkins–led study has found that the current standard of care with steroid injections still does better.

Etanercept, sold under the brand name Enbrel, is a genetically engineered small-protein drug known as a tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, inhibitor. Currently, it is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue causing pain, swelling and damage. The drug blocks TNF, a naturally produced substance that causes inflammation.

A team led by Steven P. Cohen, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, conducted a blinded, placebo-controlled study, providing epidural injections of either 60 milligrams of a steroid, 4 milligrams of etanercept or 2 milliliters of saline to 84 adult patients with sciatica. One month after the second of two injections, the patients on steroids reported less pain and less disability than those in the other two groups. The study is published in the April 17 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Cohen says that studies with etanercept grew out of efforts to prevent or limit the pain that commonly comes from a herniated disc pressing on a nerve root in the lower back or neck. Steroids work, he says, but they are not without drawbacks, including mixed and only temporary results in relieving pain, and the potential for catastrophic complications. Pain experts have long been working to try to find an alternative treatment that is safe and reliable, he notes.

“People are desperate for a safer, more effective drug,” Cohen said. “This new treatment shows a lot of promise, but at least in the doses we gave it—the dose known to be safe—steroids still work better. And in those lower doses, etanercept may not be the drug everyone’s hoping it is. There’s still a lot more work to be done.”

Click to read more about how back pain drugs fail

The interesting and missing aspect of this study is anything that reduces or eliminates back pain safely without any harmful side effects and permanent. If seems that Dr. Cohen is missing the real point when he says “People are desperate for a safer, more effective drug.” It only shows you where the mindset is off. People are not desperate for a safer or more effective drug, they are desperate for pain relief and would really prefer pain elimination.

Here is something I sent in to John Hopkins…

Hello,

I really respect the work that Johns Hopkins does to try to elevate pain and help people get healthy. I wasn’t surprise by the statement from Dr. Cohen, “The effects of steroids didn’t last.” I’m not sure but I wonder if you could get a study funded that combined pharmaceutics and a holistic health procedure such as energy psychology and test it against just the pharmaceutics. I would suspect that the percentages that all seemed low (less than 40%) in the reported study would raise significantly.

To Your Best,
Houston
Dr. Vetter – DocResults

Yes back pain drugs fail to do the job so badly that we now have a major epidemic of back pain suffers so much so they it has been divided into different categories, back pain, chronic back pain, lower back pain, sciatica back pain, upper back pain, etc. All because of the failure of combining complimentary medicine like energy medicine and energy psychology and other alternatives in with the drug regiments.

If back pain drugs fail and you know someone who is suffering please share this with them as there is hope and we’d like to help. So please share this on Facebook, twitter and pinterest.

Doing Sit Ups Right To Stop The Pain [VIDEO]

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on April 2, · Leave a Comment

Yes you read the title of the article right, if you have back pain you may want to start doing sit ups right to stop the pain. Many people think that sit ups strengthen the back however if the back muscles are not stretched properly the stress and strain of the normal sit up can have adverse effects on your back. So there are specific actions you can take to do sit ups the right way to help strengthen the back

Here is a video from Health Services

Doing Sit Ups Right To Stop The Pain

Strengthening the back can help when doing sit ups but if you have back pain stop doing sit ups the wrong way and start doing sit ups right to stop the pain.

Please share this with those you know in pain.

Insurance Companies Say Enough To Back Pain Surgery

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on March 8, · Leave a Comment

Severe Back Pain Relief Without Surgery

It is finally happening, you probably knew it was going to happen sooner or later. The insurance companies say enough to back pain surgery. The cost of surgery for back pain is rising daily and the percentages of relief is as low as 50% so it is no wonder insurance companies say enough to back pain.

The option, use something with a higher percentage of pain relief and a much lower cost to achieve it.

Patricia Sarath wrote and article over at Bizmology and in it she said…

Health insurers have had it up to here with back pain. It’s prevalent, expensive, and surgery doesn’t do a good job of fixing it.So some insurance providers are saying, “Enough!” and making patients try less-invasive treatments before undergoing surgery.

John Fox, M.D., Priority [Health]’s associate vice president of medical affairs, said patients who have non-emergency back pain have been required since November 2007 to consult with a physiatrist — a rehabilitation physician — about treatment options before surgery.

Fox said studies show that 90 percent of patients with acute back pain improve within six months with conservative care — aspirin, ibuprofen, education, light exercise and physical therapy when warranted.

An estimated 1.2 million spinal surgeries are performed each year in the U.S., according to the National Center for Health Statistics. More than 300,000 are spinal fusions that average $60,000 per procedure.

Some studies have shown that back surgery failure rate, known as failed back syndrome, is as high as 50 percent.

That’s a dismal failure rate. So while insurance companies are in it to save money, in this case, they have their balance sheet and their patients’ best interests at heart. While this news is bad for back surgeons, it’s great for alternative therapy providers, physical therapists, acupuncturists, and chiropractors. Especially chiropractors, since chiropractic care is already seen as tailor-made for the relief of back and neck pain.

It is a good thing insurance companies say enough to back pain surgery in most cases as the success rate of back surgery is not that good and it is cost prohibited to the average person. Even after an insurance company pay the usual and customary 80% on a $60,000 back surgery, the consumer is left owning $12,000 and often still suffers excruciating back pain.

That doesn’t have to be the case. There are many complimentary and alternative processes from chiropractic care to energy medicine and energy psychology that get a much higher level of pain relief and even pain elimination for acute and chronic back pain.

Pain Relief Requires No Classification

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on March 6, · 1 Comment

Pain Relief Requires No Classification

I don’t know if you find it frustrating when talking about pain relief you hear people talking about classifications of pain instead of how to relieve pain. Pain Relief requires no classification whether or not some decide to classify pain. I ran across an United Kingdom article over at healingbackpain.co.uk that gives no information in the article about healing back pain or pain relief of any kind.

Pain Relief Requires No Classification

After many years of research and billions of pounds spent on medical treatments, not to mention more billions in loss of productivity for employers and loss of income for employees, back pain is still an ailment that refuses to be easily classified.

There is an extensive list of possible causes, but physicians generally categorise back pain into three types.

Acute back pain is commonly defined as pain that has been present for up to six weeks; sub-acute lasts six to twelve weeks; chronic defines back pain that lasts more than twelve weeks. As clinical definitions there are also three categories: non-specific back problems, sciatica and potentially serious spinal conditions.

There are also various ‘high risk’ factors for back pain, not a comprehensive list but useful for a preliminary diagnosis. Some of these factors can be lessened by a change in lifestyle, some can’t.

Among the former, the list includes lack of exercise, smoking, overweight, poor posture and ‘desk jobs’ or jobs that require constant lifting or bending or constant vibration (like operating a jackhammer). The latter category includes back injuries, age, gender (male) and spinal defects, amongst others.

The majority of back pain falls in the acute category, namely sprains from overexertion or other events that cause ligaments to stretch too far and/or muscles to tear. Again, in the majority of cases pain goes away within a few days or weeks with rest and without any special treatment. However due to the complexity of the problem, physicians have developed a list of ‘red flags’ that could indicate more serious underlying problems.

A red flag could be pain in the upper part of the spine, or pain accompanied by fever or weight loss, or first-time back pain in someone younger than 20 or older than 55. Other red flags or warning signs include back pain following a violent injury, constant pain that gets worse, and even ‘painless’ symptoms such as loss of sensation or loss of control of bladder or bowels.

If there are no red flags in evidence, conservative treatment or no treatment at all is the usual procedure. The most effective initial course of action for patient and physician is a careful observation of symptoms and examination of the patient’s medical history and general lifestyle.

The truth of the matter pain relief requires no classification because when you relieve pain and eliminate it there is no class to put it in as there is no longer any pain.

Please share this with anyone who is in pain and their doctor is trying to classify what kind of pain it is. Everyone deserves pain relief, not classification.

Preventing Lumbago Is Not A New Model of Winnebago.

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on March 5, · Leave a Comment

My Aching Lumbago

It’s not a new model of Winnebago. In fact preventing lumbago is not about vans or trucks, lumbago is a term for back pain, or more accurately lower back pain. And there are easy ways to eliminate it today.

Back pain is big business and they have divided pain into two categories with sub categories. The main categories are…

acute – pain that last less than 6 weeks
chronic – pain that last more than 12 weeks.

With the new cutting edge technology that is being rediscovered and used today pain is more easily removed and eliminated and yet for the professionals getting them to look at, consider or even try the new paradigm is often a difficult endeavor.

Here is something most professional agree with and yet it seems by the number of recurring lumbago patients it isn’t stressed that much.

Preventing Lumbago

From informedhealthonline.org:

Preventing recurring low back pain

A group of researchers from the Cochrane Collaboration – an international network of researchers – wanted to find out if physical exercise could prevent low back pain from recurring. They did a search for trials testing whether strength exercises, gymnastics and endurance training helped to prevent non-specific low back pain. In these trials volunteers were randomly divided into groups. These groups were then given different treatments and were then compared.

The researchers found nine trials involving a total of about 1,500 participants. The exercise programs in the trials started at different points in the treatment process: In five of the trials the participants already started doing exercises while they were still having treatment for acute pain. In the other four trials the participants only started doing exercises once the pain had improved. In most of the trials, the exercises were led by a physiotherapist. The exercise sessions lasted between 15 minutes and one hour, and the participants exercised several times a week for up to a few months. People whose back pain had a known cause, such as bone fractures, tumors or infections, did not participate in the trials.

It helps to do exercises once treatment is over

Exercises after treatment

In some trials the participants started doing special exercises led by a physiotherapist once their treatment for acute symptoms was completed. They were compared with a group of people who did not follow this kind of exercise program. The outcome: exercises led to fewer recurrences of low back pain in the first two years. In two smaller trials researchers tested a program using regular exercise following treatment of acute symptoms and looked at how many of the participants had low back pain returning within the first two years:

33 out of 100 people in the exercise group had a further bout of low back pain.

65 out of 100 people who did not do exercises had a further bout of low back pain.

Other small-scale trials that tested using a regular exercise program after treatment of acute symptoms looked at how often people took sick leave from work. The researchers found that those who had the exercise programs took sick leave just as often as those who did not, but they did have fewer days of absence overall.

Yes exercise is a good way to prevent pain of any kind returning. And with the new cutting edge pain elimination protocols a much higher percentage of people can get pain relief. So if you think preventing lumbago is a good idea share this article with others.

Cutting Edge Pain Treatments Really?

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on February 2, · Leave a Comment

Cutting Edge Pain Treatments Really? Sometimes I can’t believe what I read. I saw a headline about 9 news ways to relieve chronic back pain and since I like to study and learn cutting edge technology I thought I would learn something so I went to the article and I learned something alright and it was probably just what I needed to learn. Cutting edge technology and being on the cutting edge really does leave you out there.

Cutting Edge Pain Treatments Really?

Here is some of the article by Diane Wedner in lifescript healthy living for women.

You’ve tried all the typical back-pain treatments, from anti-inflammatory drugs to physical therapy, with little relief. But don’t give up: There’s hope with cutting-edge therapies, from new drug regimens to surgeries that target the spine. Lifescript’s Medical Detective uncovers the top new treatments for chronic back pain…

Millions of women suffer from chronic back pain, triggered by pregnancy, toting tots, hauling groceries and those heavy purses that hold everything but the kitchen sink.

It all takes a toll on the spine, triggering pain that can turn everyday movements into agonizing impossibilities.

“Back pain is the major cause of pain and disability in this country,” says anesthesiologist George W. Pasvankas, M.D., medical director of the Pain Management Center at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. “It’s the most frequent [reason patients ask] for medical care.”

Most back pain problems are short-lived and can be eased with mild exercise and anti-inflammatory drugs, doctors say.

But that’s not true for about 26 million Americans with chronic back pain. They live with excruciating aches and spasms that last 6 weeks or longer. They can’t get relief with over-the-counter analgesics or gentle yoga poses.

Now, some cutting-edge remedies are providing pain relief where ordinary therapies and medications fail. Lifescript’s Medical Detective unveils the top 9 breakthroughs for the most difficult back pain cases.

Now with an introduction like that you would think there would be at least some discussion of the breakthroughs being used in some of the Behavioral Hospitals around the country, if not some of the cutting edge Energy and Quantum Vibrational technology out that is getting higher percentages than most everything available.

Here are the 9 breakthroughs found in this article. (I say breakthroughs as it pertains to the modern medical community and not to the pain relief community.)

Chronic back pain treatments #1:

Gabapentin Chronic back pain treatments #2: Methadone

Chronic back pain treatments #3: Ketamine

Chronic back pain treatments #4: Pain pump

Chronic back pain treatments #5: Sympathetic nerve blocks

Chronic back pain treatments #6: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA)

Chronic back pain treatments #7: Spinal cord stimulation

Chronic back pain treatments #8: Kyphoplasty

Chronic back pain treatments #9: Lumbar decompression

All the things that should be the last resort are the first response. Now do you see why I the title of this is cutting edge pain treatments really? Every single one of these involve either another medication, shoots and/or surgery. When are we ever gonna learn. Using the same thing that we’ve been using before will get the same results. A small percentage will get relief and the majority will continue to suffer.

Using actual cutting edge technology we are seeing some tremendous results with relief, reduction and eliminating of pain. And in most cases in 1 to 3 sessions even with chronic pain.

Please like this page and share it with others if you want the word to spread.

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Headaches

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on January 20, · Leave a Comment

When I saw this from chart I thought about you because it covers everything you ever wanted to know about headaches. This applies to every type of headache you can think of. You name it stress headache, sinus headache, migraine headache, tension headache, chronic headaches, acute headache, cluster headache and any other you can name this chart gives you the facts.

I want to thank Mount Sinai Hospital for putting this out.

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Headaches

mountsinai.org

Source: Mount Sinai Medical CenterAnd the number #1 thing to remember…out of everything you ever wanted to know about headaches is that no matter what kind of headache you have if you want to get rid of it Quantum-Vibrational Innergetics can eliminate it for you.

What To Do About Lower Back Pain | Holistic Health Daily

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on December 21, · Leave a Comment

Just the other day I was walking through the mall and the lady I was with asked the question about what to do about lower back pain. She made the observation that as we walked down the hall of the mall there seemed to be more people than usual grabbing their backs or using canes or walkers.

She knew the type of results we get with people with pain management problems in 3 sessions or less and she noticed that there seemed to be way more people than she usually saw were having back pain. Part of it may be the stress of the holidays and people could probably use some stress management during the holidays

Here are some lower back pain relief ideas from Lower Back Pain Relief Ideas.com

There are various causes of lower back pain and each with different form. More importantly, there are 3 ways to ease lower back pain; Lifestyle adjustment, Medication or Surgery. After you recognize the kind of lower back pain you currently have, follow these easy, effective and reliable Lower Back Pain Relief Ideas Synopsis.

Lower Back Pain Relief Ideas Synopsis – Change Lifestyle

Change in Lifestyle: Exercise, diet and rest are all part in changing your lifestyle. One example of a very common cause of lower back pain is obesity. To put it simply, the huge amount of weight of the upper body forces a very strong pressure and strain to the muscles and bones of your lower back, thus stressing it and will result to pain.

Lower Back Pain Relief Ideas Synopsis – Losing

Losing pounds is ideal in reducing the strains caused by weight of the upper body. Magnesium, Vitamin D and vitamin B12 rich foods have also been proven to ease lower back pain and including them in your diet could provide various effects in the repair of muscle tissues in the lower back area. One other best idea from Lower Back Pain Relief Ideas Synopsis is exercise. Being in perfect shape will reduce the continuous pain from your lower back pain since the muscles and bones will be tolerant to intense stress.

Yoga and Biking are some good examples of exercise which will aid in the process of relieving your lower back pains. Furthermore, in applying these Lower back Pain Relief Ideas Synopsis, giving yourself a time-out from all the hard work you do during the day could ease the pain and allow the lower back muscles to rest and recover.

While the above ideas are useful for relieving lower back pain it takes time and effort to just get to the point of relief. In addition to doing the suggestions and changes offered in the article go here for immediate relief for lower back pain.

If you are wondering what to do about lower back pain please follow the tips above and if your pain is severe or chronic you may want to call us because we know what to do about lower back pain.

The Physical Cause of Your Back Pain

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on November 25, · Leave a Comment

When you get back pain you usually go looking for the physical cause of your back pain. Most people and their doctor know very little about using the right equipment ot locate the physical cause of your back pain. I like what a physician Andrew Haig said in an article at care2.com even though he as most physicians miss the source of back pain…

An EMG, or electromyogram, is a test that’s been around for decades, but doctors have only recently started using it again on patients with back pain, thanks to new research showing its effectiveness as a diagnostic tool. Unlike an MRI that simply takes a photograph of the spine, the EMG registers electrical activity in the muscles surrounding the spine. This method can more accurately identify the source of pain, says Andrew Haig, a physician and professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Michigan Health System. “Taking a photo of a car with a dent in it isn’t going to tell you whether the radio works, and taking a photo of an old spine isn’t going to tell you if it hurts,” Haig says.

In fact, having an MRI could even be bad for you, Haig says. Most older spines have some sort of disc degeneration or other problems, and surgeons often identify those issues as the source of the back pain and a reason to operate. But studies have found that people with disc problems aren’t necessarily in pain. And fixing disc problems isn’t a sure way to relieve pain.

How it works: To perform an EMG, a doctor inserts needle electrodes through the skin and into the back muscles. The electrodes test the amount of electrical or nerve activity in the muscle when tense and at rest. The doctor then analyzes the results — which look like line graphs — looking for abnormal nerve activity, which would potentially rule out a disc problem as the source of the pain. Avoiding surgery is a primary reason to have the EMG test. “EMG for back pain has almost zero false positives,” says Haig.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/whats-causing-your-back-pain.html#ixzz1ejeqIeYp

Even though Dr. Haig has shown a more accurate way to find the physical cause of back pain it is still like trying to place a bet on a horse race with the horses already halfway around the track. Finding the physical cause of back pain does not stop the source of the pain from repeating or moving to another location to keep the pain going.

In Energy psychology we know that the cause of pain is a disruption in the energy system. A disruption of the balance and flow and once that is restored pain goes away and it goes away quickly. A broken bone is definitely evidence of a disruption in someones energy system. And how many people do you know who after the broken or cracked bone was mended they still had aches and pains? What most doctors miss when addressing the physical cause of your back pain is the source of the physical cause which is a disruption in the energy flow and balance. 90% of the time there are other causes other than the physical components of your back pain. We are here to help.

Have you ever considered what’s behind the physical cause of your back pain?

What To Do About Back Pain

Written by Dr. Houston Vetter - DocResults: Holistic Health Editor on October 13, · 1 Comment

Most people from time to time wonder what to do about back pain because the number of people who suffer from back pain increases every single day. There are many alternatives out there on how to handle having back pain.Gregory Hollstrom a Chiropractor from Tampa Bay wrote in the Tampa Bay Newspaper

First lets start with the obvious: New or acute back pain is rarely an indication for surgery.

While it is tempting to believe that some “minimally invasive surgery” that will have you back to work in days is the answer, acute or new back pain is not an acceptable use for this surgery. Protocols are in place for surgery and adequate trials of conservative care must have been tried before a reputable surgeon would consider surgery.

Chronic back pain may be an indication for surgery depending upon the response to conservative care, the condition causing the pain, and the results that are expected by the patient. If the patient is expecting to walk away from chronic back pain, pain-free after surgery, they are most usually very disappointed. The numbers of patients undergoing disc or stenosis surgery with complete resolution of pain are low, which is why this surgery is reserved for those patients who cannot get acceptable relief or control of their pain from conservative care. No surgery or treatment is going to relieve all pain and symptoms 100 percent.

So what is conservative care?

Generally, it is the safest and most effective care for a condition with sufficient history to show outcome versus complications.

While I prefer surgery as the last, last, last resort and because of the risk involved and the fact that it usually doesn’t get rid of the pain, I know and have personal knowledge of people who easily have eliminated their back pain without ever having to consider surgery.

The article goes on to say:

Numerous studies have shown that active care is better than passive care in treatment of back pain. Short-term passive care may help with symptoms (massage, therapy, etc.), but does little to correct the problem that caused the pain, and if not corrected it will recur and cause chronic problems. Both spinal manipulation and decompression/distraction have been shown to produce outstanding results depending upon the condition. When combined initially with therapy modalities and later with exercise, they produce the same long-term outcome as surgery at far less cost and with fewer side effects and complications.

To read the full article click here http://www.tbnweekly.com/editorial/health_news/content_articles/101211_hth-02.txt

Dr. Hollstrom goes on in the article to recommend decompression therapy and chiropractic manipulation to resolve back pain. While chiropractic manipulation and decompression therapy do get results. There are faster more effective ways to eliminate pain and save time, energy and effort. Energy or Vibrational Medicine solves the problem faster than pretty much every other form of treatment.

Who do you know who could benefit from back pain relief?

What are your thoughts on what to do about back pain?