Thursday, August 21, 2008

Back Pain and Nutrition: A Lesson From Mozart


Hi All,

Okay, well let's get something straight - Mozart is the name of my Bernese Mountain Dog and truly man's best bud.
Well ... yesterday, we got some troubling news about Mozart. We were told that my pal has got cancer and the doctor's prognosis was not very positive.
At first my wife and I cried, then we cried some more ... but then we took a step back and asked ourselves, "What could have caused this?"
When we asked the doctor what caused the cancer, she told us it was a predisposition to the breed ... our response was "Bologna!" There was no way that cancer was a predisposition - there had to be a cause!
Is it any wonder why an estimated 50% of all dogs will die of cancer? Why hasn't mainstream medicine begin to question this?
Upon doing some research, we believe we found the culprit.
We feed our dogs the best in organic food; however, there was one critical factor that we failed to ignore. Dogs were not designed to have processed dog food, chock full of rice, grains and other fillers not common to their 'natural lifestyle' ... (that opens up a whole new discussion).
The processed food is one significant 'culprit' to the possible disease (as the same goes for humans).
Here's How This Story Relates to Back and Neck Pain...
All too often, people will go about their daily lives with back and neck pain under the false assumption that their pain is hereditary or it's an 'incurable' disease or it's a herniated disc or it's arthritis or it's osteoporosis ... whatever the label may be.
Once given a label, most people begin to look for an immediate solution to the problem.
Perhaps, the bigger question might be, "What caused my back and neck pain in the first place?"
Identifying the cause can often provide tremendous insight into discovering the ultimate solution ... and, providing you with a tremendous life of pain-free living.
Wishing you all great health,
Charlie
PS After 3-Days in the ER, Mozart is now home with us. We've conducted some extensive research and ... well ... we're going to try everything to fight this with Mozart. It wouldn't be the first time we accomplished something that someone claimed was 'impossible."
PPS In the book, "Powerful Strategies for Back and Neck Pain Relief", the focus is on my quest to uncover my own back and neck pain relief solutions by obtaining an understanding of the causes of the problem. If you're interested, please check out http://www.backandneckpainresources.com/.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Arthritis Pain Relief For Your Back and Neck: "Soup to Nuts"

We've long known about the impact of our dietary practices and one's ability to treat, manage and/or completely get rid of back and neck pain - yet, most people are completely unaware.

In the following article, the focus is on Arthritis and dietary practices to help you find arthritis pain relief. Definitely a worthwhile read:

Arthritis Diet: Eating the Right Foods: "Dietary practices have a major impact on arthritis. In fact, if you eat the typical American diet, it could be making your arthritis worse. Among the offenders are saturated fats (which occur in cooking oils and fried foods), white flour and sugar, red meat, chemical additives, yeast, and milk and dairy products. These foods can increase inflammation, invoke allergies, and interfere with hormone production, cellular integrity, and the function and mobility of the joints."

To your amazing health,
Charlie

PS - To learn more about powerful nutritional strategies for amazing pain relief, be sure to check out http://www.backandneckpainresources.com!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Back Pain Treatment | A Deeper Look ...

A very successful mentor of mine once said to me:

"Charlie, I'm always looking for what I don't see - there's always two stories."

With that in mind, let's take a deeper look at the most commonly used back pain treatments and another look at "what I don't see."

I'm certain you'll find this interesting!

Back Pain Treatment Options: "The following is a brief discussion about the most commonly used treatments for back pain available today.

Drug Therapies
Today, patients have a wide variety of medications to choose from to treat their back pain. Some drugs not only relieve pain but also work to reduce inflammation and relax muscle tension and spasm. However, many of these medications, even those available without a prescription, can have serious side effects. Talk to your doctor before taking any medications for back pain.

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) include aspirin, ibuprofen, Naproxen®, Ketoprofen® and many more. Anti-inflammatory medications help reduce swelling and inflammation and promote healing. When taken in low doses, NSAIDs work as mild analgesics. When taken in higher doses and on a regular basis, enough of the drug builds up to have a true anti-inflammatory effect.
COX-2 Inhibitors are a new type of NSAID and include celecoxib (brand name Celebrex®). These medications, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), allow patients to take higher doses without the accompanying gastrointestinal side effects from conventional NSAIDs.

Acetaminophen such as Tylenol®, Anacin-3®, Phenaphen®, Valadol®, and other brands are analgesics. Analgesic medications are used to treat acute or some forms of chronic pain. They are the most common alternatives to NSAIDs. Acetaminophen can be used alone or in combination with NSAIDs. Liver and kidney damage are potential serious side effects of acetaminophen use.

Opioids such as morphine and codeine, meperidine (Demerol®), or oxycodone-release (Oxycontin®) are rarely used and only if pain is severe. Due to their addictive nature, these drugs are not routinely prescribed, as many physicians believe they do more harm than good.

Muscle Relaxants such as cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril®), diazepam (Valium®), carisoprodol (Soma®), or methocarbamol (Robaxin®) are often prescribed for severe pain. However, some experts believe that NSAIDs are just as effective."

Now, armed with an understanding of the most commonly used back and neck pain treatments - let's take a better look at some of the statistics.

Interesting Medical Information:

"People who use aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDSs) have a hospitalization rate 5 times that of the general population. More than 20,000 people with bone/joint problems die each year because of NSAID-related gastrointestinal problems.
(Researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)

Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) fight inflammation, fever, and pain by blocking the body's production of prostaglandins. But since they can also block the prostaglandins that keep the stomach lining healthy, they can cause stomach irritation and bleeding. NSAIDs bring relief to millions of people with arthritis and back pain, but although many are available without a prescription, they are perhaps the drugs most likely to cause side effects, from harmless heartburn to life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding, which puts more than 40,000 Americans in the hospital each year.
(Harvard Men's Health Watch, January 1999)"

Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?

To your great health,
Charlie

PS For back and neck pain solutions with NO Drugs and NO Surgery - check out http://www.BackandNeckPainResources.com!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Is Your Chronic Back and Neck Pain Making You Depressed?

Depression, Anxiety and Stress Often Accompany Chronic Back and Neck Pain Conditions: "Depression, anxiety and stress come with the chronic pain territory. Researchers estimate that accompanying depression and anxiety occur in 20% to 50% of patients with chronic pain.2 If you experience chronic pain, your emotions and moods may be strongly influenced by the underlying physiology associated with your condition."

That's a concerning statement and, yes, our experience concludes similar results - so ... what do you do about it?

You may be surprised to learn that research has determined that a large percentage of back and neck pain candidates experience pain in their spine as a result of a traumatic experience (abuse, injury, stress, etc).

This experience is often viewed as the catalyst for the pain when - though this is partially correct - the catalyst is often the psychological association to the experience that subconsciously creates either temporary or chronic pain conditions.

For example, ever been so stressed your chest hurt or perhaps your lower back? Ever been so mad that your neck began to tighten? That's just a couple examples which we may be consciously aware of emotions triggering discomfort in our bodies.

Back and Neck Pain is not the same for everyone - certainly some people may experience pain due to an injury or illness, but most often the 'cause' is misunderstood.

With that said, it's important to have a working set of tools and techniques to create a pain free and healthy back and neck.

To your boundless health,
Charlie

PS For a complete set of strategies including a free special report - check out http://www.BackandNeckPainResources.com!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Back Pain Remedies: How Yoga Helped Relieve My Herniated Disc Pain

I came across this article today and thought you might enjoy ... Yoga is one exercise that I've resisted for a while (I've got a background in wrestling, boxing and martial arts ... the gentleness of yoga didn't seem to fit in) yet, amazingly, once I started practicing - the results were very impressive!

My flexibility and strength increased and, coupled with the strategies used in the ebook "Powerful Strategies for Back and Neck Pain Relief" - I've been enthusiastically pain free for years! I suggest you give yoga a try ... here's one person's response ....

Back Pain Remedies: How Yoga Helped Relieve My Herniated Disc Pain - Associated Content: "In my situation, I have almost constant low back pain from 2 herniated discs. I had an MRI that confirmed my doctor's diagnosis. She prescribed physical therapy as well as ice/hot packs to help alleviate the pain. I followed this advice faithfully for over 6 months with little relief. I turned to yoga as part of a holistic plan to try and reduce my pain level before considering surgery or other invasive solutions."

To your amazing health,
Charlie

Stop Back and Neck Problems with an Ounce of Prevention

It's one thing to cure or heal yourself from back and neck pain - it's another thing to prevent it altogether. Here's an article that's focused on prevention:

Keep the Back Pain Away - Preventing Back and Neck Problems from Returning: "Simple things can work wonders when it comes to keeping your spine healthy. This is called preventative maintenance, and its equivalent is an old saying you may have heard: 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.'"

Such preventative steps include:

1. Develop Body Awareness

2. Strengthen Your Core

3. Use Your Body Well

4. Be Active and Exercise

5. Breathe

6. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Check out the article for more information - I thought you might enjoy ....

To your great health,
Charlie

PS For powerful ways in which you can fast back and neck pain relief, check out http://www.backandneckpainresources.com/!