Stop Sciatica & Back Pain

A key approach that we advocate in the Better Back System is educating yourself and taking responsibility for your own health and the condition of your back.

Exercise and diet are the two foundations of this approach.

Especially, don’t wait to get sick and then try and fix yourself, rather take steps in advance to look after your wellbeing.

We are unapologetically advocates of natural health practices. Personally, I think the general American public is under the spell of the powerful “drugs and surgery” lobby groups and their health is suffering badly as a result.

Don’t take my word for it, here are links to eBooks with well researched information on the dangers of mainstream “healthcare”, which by the way is such a classic “big lie”.

Sickness care is too kind also, as there’s more care about profit than for the patient in many medical practices, but it is closer to the truth.

Book 1:
Death by Medicine

Book 2:
Interview with Gary Knull best selling author of “Get Healthy Now”

The Scary Bottom Line:
More than 750,000 Americans are killed every year by American medicine.

Can’t possibly be true!? Read for yourself and you decide.

The spine is a large and complex organ and precise diagnosis of the causes of lower back and hip pain is notoriously difficult.

For example, a doctor may look at the back X-ray of a patient with severe pain and see nothing unuusal apart from “routine wear and tear”. On the other hand, people who are exeriencing no back problems may have X-rays that suggest they should hardly be able to walk!

The spine itself is full of joints, nerves and ligaments and is heavily interconnected with the surrounding muscles that support it.

Basically all the major nerves to your body’s extremities start by running down your spine and then branch out to these other areas. So for example if you have a problem with your middle or upper back you may find it affects the strength or feeling in your arms or hands.

The sciatic nerve exits the spine in your lower back and connects with your legs - thigh, calf, foot toes etc.

If your back suffers injury or degeneration it can affect the spine’s structure and/or alignment of the vertebrae (bones in your spine). This can result in pressure being placed on nerves as they exit the spine via gaps in the vertebrae.

This is what happens with sciatica - pressure is placed upon the sciatic nerve which results in pain and/or tingling and/or loss of function in your legs.

In terms of lower back and hip pain, the lower back is frequently affected by injury, degeneration or wear and tear because it is an area of high stress. Lifting, bending, twisting, sitting or driving for long periods all affect the lower back in particular.

Note: The “L4″ and “L5″ vertebra are 2 vertebrae in your lower back that are frequently impacted by wear and tear or injury and a cause of lower back and hip pain.

Once your back suffers an injury, or loss of function through general wear and tear (for example one or more disks may become thinner or distorted in shape), then 2 things are liable to happen:

1. The surrounding muscles are likely to spasm or “freeze” in an attempt to protect the spine from the threat of injury.

2. The wear and tear can cause the spine’s alignment and vertebral spacing to change, thus leading to pressure being placed on nerves in and around the spine.

Both effects are likely to cause pain.

The Solution:
Here are suggested strategies:

1. Get your spine back in alignment (as best you can allowing for injury and aging).
The options here include:
(a) active treatment from various therapists and specialists (physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors etc)
(b) doing items 2-4 below and waiting for healing to occur naturally
(c) doing a mix of (a) and (b) - this is my preference
(d) back surgery (be very careful with this)

2. Review your habits with the objective of eliminating bad movements and poor posture.

3. Improve your diet - eat good food.

4.3. Strengthen the muscles that surround and support the spine. This treatment of sciatica back injuries is the focus of the the Better Back System.