Healing with Touch

Biofeedback

Prolotherapy

Magnet Therapy

Body Work

Acupuncture – Chinese Medicine

Treating Back Pain Caused by Tension

About Alternative Medicine

There are many non-surgical cures for back injuries and chronic back pain. These cures are thought of as alternative medicine or holistic therapies and are based on the idea that the body can heal itself. Alternative medicine treatments stimulate natural healing processes that the body possesses. There are many well-known and some not so well-known alternative therapies for back pain management and cures.

Healing with Touch

Healing Touch is one of the forms of alternative medicine that concentrates on bringing out the body’s ability of self-healing. It brings about a “relaxation response” in the body that lowers the blood pressure and heart rate as well as makes breathing deeper. The deep breathing increases the amount of oxygen in the blood and improves circulation. The chapter on First Aid Remedies for Back Pain talks about the value of controlled breathing when dealing with severe back pain.

Healing touch is considered to be an energy therapy. Gentle touching applied to the body in a Healing Touch session help to balance your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual comfort. One of the many benefits that Healing Touch therapy has is in decreasing pain. This type of therapy can change how you respond to pain.

During a Healing Touch session, the provider of the therapy will ask you many questions regarding your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life. While lying on a massage table, the provider will place his or her hands gently above or on your body. Most people speak of having a feeling of complete relaxation and peace during a session.

Studies have been done on the effectiveness of Healing Touch for pain. The results show that Healing Touch reduces both acute and chronic pain. The effects increase with each session and several sessions are recommended.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback is basically a way that a person can get control over their body’s processes. When we can control these processes, it is easier to relax, get relief from pain, and learn healthier ways to live. Biofeedback is not so much a treatment as an educational process to learn special mind and body talents.

Biofeedback provides us with information about ourselves with the help of external instruments. An example of biofeedback is using a thermometer to take your temperature when you are sick. Biofeedback used for healing utilizes special instruments that keep track of processes in the body as they are happening. In a biofeedback session, electrodes are attached in various spots on the body. These electrodes are connected to instruments that monitor and provide feedback about your brain wave activity, breathing, blood pressure and heart rate, muscle tension, and temperature.

The idea is to become familiar with the activity of your body’s systems so that you can control them with behaviour modification. This helps in relieving stress and pain as well as improving overall health. To achieve this, however, you must be willing to participate fully in these sessions. The biofeedback therapist explains how to do mental as well as physical exercises, deep breathing, and visualization exercise that can help you treat your own back pain.

Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy is a medical procedure used to treat chronic and acute pain. It stimulates the body to heal the injured areas itself when the body can’t heal without help. Prolotherapy is most often used when traditional therapies, including surgery, have not helped. It is particularly useful for musculoskeletal pain like back and neck pain.

Prolotherapy treatments trigger the growth of new ligaments or tendons in places where the tissues have become weak. When ligaments get injured or become weak, they don’t always become as strong as they once were when they heal. Tendons can also become injured and cause pain. (See the chapter called Understanding How Your Spine Works to find out more about the structure of the spine .)

How does prolotherapy work? It uses a solution of water and sugar that is injected into the injured ligament or tendon at the spot where it attaches to the bone. This injection causes an inflammation at this spot. Surprisingly, the body requires inflammation to heal. The inflammation created by the dextrose solution increases the supply of blood as well as the flow of needed nutrients. This improved blood and nutrient flow stimulates the ligament or tendon tissue to repair itself.

Magnet Therapy

The use of magnets to relieve pain has been around for thousands of years among different cultures all over the world. Magnetic therapy is widely used alternative therapy for back pain.

This type of therapy uses a magnetic force to influence the systems in the body. The purpose is to increase circulation in injured area where the magnet is applied. It is believed that lactic acid and other inflammatory agents are also flushed out of the blood by the action of the magnets. The increased circulation carries more oxygen to the body and can aid in muscle relaxation and reducing muscle spasms and cramps. Like other alternative medicines, magnets increase that natural healing power that the body has.

Magnets can have an affect on circulation by either attracting or pushing away charged particles in the blood. The idea is to use the magnetic field to direct the blood towards the area of the back where the pain is.

Professional magnetic therapy treatments are available that use large magnetic fields powered by electricity. For treating yourself, you can buy magnetic jewellery and even magnets inserted inside a device that straps around your waist so that the magnet is centered on the affected area.

Body Work

Body work is another way to relieve back pain without using drugs or resorting to surgery. The term “body work” actually refers to Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Body work or CAM treatments offer safe and effective pain treatment for your back with no side effects. If there is a drawback to body work treatments it is that they do take time and repeated treatments to achieve the best results.

Three typical body work treatment options are:

CHIROPRACTIC MANIPULATIONS
Chiropractic treatments may not seem like alternative medicine because it is a well-known and commonly used way to treat back pain. These chiropractic treatments are focused on the idea that if movement in the spine is restricted in any way this can lead to pain as well as loss of range of motion in the back. When a chiropractor adjusts the spine, this is known as manipulation. Manipulating the spine is meant to improve movement, help you regain function, and reduce your pain.

Chiropractors use their hands to apply a sudden yet controlled force to a joint. The idea is to push the joint past the normal range of motion. They often use stretching and massage techniques to help the muscles relax. Shortened muscles or muscles that are in spasm can cause back pain.

MASSAGE
Massage is one form of body work that, like chiropractic treatments, is quite common. If done properly, massage therapy can go a long way to relieving back pain. A practiced massage therapist with good knowledge of the human body, muscles imbalances, and how to work with these imbalances can provide great results.

Back pain is often caused by muscles that are in spasm. This usually means that the muscle is not receiving good blood flow, thus causing the spasms. This causes a domino effect in these muscles:

· Since not enough blood is getting to the muscle it is also not receiving adequate oxygen.
· Lack of oxygen produces lactic acid in the muscle
· The lactic acid causes soreness and pain after physical activity.

When the muscle becomes relaxed after a massage, the lactic acid is released from the muscle, making it able to receive a healthy amount of blood and oxygen.

ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture is another form of body work and is discussed in the chapter called Chinese Medicine that follows.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

In Western medicine, back pain and injuries are diagnosed as related to spinal, muscular, or ligament issues. See the chapter called What Causes Back and Neck Pain for more information on what causes back pain.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes in the theory of Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang not only describes everything that exists in nature and their balance, it also describes all of the functions and parts of the body. When the Yin and Yang in the body are out of balance, injury and disease are possible. Chinese medicine seeks to restore this balance, thus relieving pain and restoring health.

ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture involves the insertion of fine needles into specific points connected to the affected area. The needles are left in the body anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. The spots where the needles are placed are along pathways known as meridians through which the body’s energy, the Qi, runs. When that flow of energy is interrupted, the result is pain or injury. The placement of the needles restores the flow of energy and relieves the pain.

Treating Back Pain Caused by Tension

Some people suffer from psychosomatic back pain with no physical cause. The condition is called tension myositis syndrome (TMS). This type of back pain is caused by stress. Pain as a result of TMS is thought to be the body’s way of taking your attention off of negative feelings and stressful situations in your life by directing your thoughts to physical pain.

The treatment for this type of back pain usually involves psychological therapy. The therapist may require the patient to write about his or her emotional issues and try to resume their typical lifestyle. Education is also part of the treatment, including regular visits to the therapist to learn about TMS and the psychological and physical aspects of it.

About Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine and holistic therapies can be not only safe but very effective for treating back and neck injuries and reducing chronic pain. The type of alternative therapy that works for one person may not work for another, but chances are that everyone can find a holistic treatment that will work for them. The key is finding a qualified professional who can administer these therapies safely and properly.

There are cases where these methods are not effective and surgery is the only answer. See the Chapter called Back Problems that May Require Surgery.

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