Tag: lifestyle medicine

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New Year’s Resolutions for the Back Pain Sufferer

Happy New Year!

2019 is coming to an end. As we embrace the new year, and you are making your New Year’s Resolutions to finally kick back pain to the curb, keep these points in mind. Because as a society approximately 80% of us have or will experience back pain, this is the perfect season to resolve to beat the odds. At an annual health care burden in the billions of dollars, lower back pain is a scourge felt worldwide. But these New Year’s Resolutions can help you overcome one of the leading causes of disability worldwide.

  1. Exercise at least 20 minutes a day, 7 days a week.
  2. Stop smoking.
  3. Eat at least 6 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
  4. Get more and better sleep.
  5. Seek help if your symptoms are not resolving.
Picture of a man holding his lower back in pain arched into extension with a caption stating that Dr. Erik Reich in Meriden, CT treats back pain in the blog for New year's Resolutions for back pain sufferers.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT who treats all types of musculoskeletal back pain.

Exercise for Your Back Pain

It may seem counter intuitive to exercise a part of your body that may be injured or in pain but science regularly backs this up. Therefore, one of the best interventions for both acute (new) and chronic (old) pain is graded exposure to exercise. If you are unsure of where or how to begin an exercise program while in pain, see resolution #5 – Seek Help!

Stop Smoking

Needless to say this is old news for a variety of health reasons, but in terms of back pain, smoking is very bad for both pain intensity experienced, healing time, and outcomes overall. I recently wrote a blog on this very subject here.

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies

Fruits and veggies pictured on the blog of Dr. Erik Reich Meriden Chiropractor for New Year's Resolutions for back pain sufferers.
Increased fruit and vegetable intake is associated with better healing and pain reduction.

When you consume more fruits and vegetables your body heals better, this is well documented in the scientific literature. Vitamin A is required for cell and bone formation, cellular differentiation, and immune function. Vitamin C is necessary for collagen and connective tissue formation and as a tissue antioxidant. Fruits and vegetables also contain fiber which is filling and satiety will reduce cravings for more inflammatory foods (processed foods, sweets, chips, etc.) which should be avoided when healing.

Better Sleep, Better health

Two recent studies in just the past month or two have shed more light on the important role sleep plays in your health outcomes. In one study which was discussed in this article, lack of and poor quality sleep was shown to increase pain felt by up to 30%. Furthermore, in another recent example, a study showed how sleep helps to clean the brain and allow your body to remove toxins.

Ask for Help

The human body is resilient. You are highly adaptable and given the right inputs the body will take care of the output. But garbage in = garbage out. So if you are experiencing back pain, make some simple (but not easy) lifestyle changes to give yourself the greatest chance to recover. Or if you are unsure of how to make these changes, don’t hesitate to reach out and get some help.

Dr. Erik Reich is available for appointments Monday – Friday and can be reached by phone at (203)235-0171.

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Why is Smoking Bad for Healing After Disc Injury?

If you want to get better faster and with less pain after a disc injury, don’t smoke.

Picture of an anatomical model of a lumbar disc herniation on the website of Meriden CT chiropractor Dr. Erik Reich
Scientific studies routinely demonstrate that smokers have more pain, decreased healing ability, and longer recuperation times”, states Dr. Erik Reich, a chiropractor in Meriden, CT.

It’s no surprise that smoking is bad for you. If you are a smoker, you’ve most likely been told by friends, family members, and your doctor to quit the habit already a million times. However, as a chiropractor, let me be perhaps the first to state it this way: smoking is terrible for your health after a disc injury.

In this study by Tsarouhas A et al. the authors state, ” Smoking habits were found to have a negative dose-dependent effect on the transcript levels of MMP-3 and MMP-13 and a positive correlation with pain intensity, suggesting an unfavorable role for smoking in the regression process of herniated disc fragments. “

In other words, smokers take longer to heal after a disc injury. Smokers also experience more pain with disc injury than non-smokers. Anyone who has had a cervical or lumbar disc herniation can tell you, they can be extremely painful and debilitating. Therefore, you should give yourself every advantage when you are trying to heal after such an injury to your spine. If you are a smoker, be aware that continuing to smoke during the healing process has been demonstrated to slow recovery, increase pain intensity, and result in poor outcomes. So stop smoking for disc health!

In sharing this study and the information in it, it is my hope that if you are a smoker experiencing back pain, but especially back pain due to trauma or disc injury, you seriously consider quitting immediately. I know you’ve heard it before about the negative health consequences of smoking cigarettes, but this study makes the connection between smoking and back pain in a way most people are still unaware.

Graphs of MMP levels from a study on disc herniations and the effects of smoking on the website of Meriden, CT chiropractor Dr. Erik Reich
Significantly lower MMP-3 (c) and MMP-13 (d) mRNA levels were observed in discs removed from patients smoking more than 20 cigarettes per day compared to non-smoking patients 

I have no doubt that studies coming out in the future will build on the negative relationship between smoking and back pain, but in the meantime if you want my clinical advice: stop smoking for disc health now to improve your outcomes from suffering a spine related injury. Of course this is in addition to eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, and if you need help doing that call (203)2350171 today.