People suffering from chronic lower back pain may find relief through cognitive behavioral therapy, a short-term treatment aimed at challenging and reframing negative beliefs.

Chronic lower back pain is one of the three most disabling conditions in the developed world, the British researchers report. And, it can be expensive to treat.

“Back pain is a physical health problem, not a psychological problem,” said study co-author Zara Hansen, a physiotherapist and cognitive behavioral therapist at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. “The intervention uses a psychological model to understand how we can manage back pain better, but it is not psychotherapy,”

In the study, cognitive behavioral therapy helped people change their thinking about their back pain and how they managed it, Hansen said.

“This is a relatively new approach to helping people manage long-term health conditions. People with persistent back pain are at risk of developing anxiety and depression, but this intervention did not aim to treat anxiety and depression,” she said.

For the study, published in the Feb. 26 online edition of The Lancet, Hansen’s team randomly assigned 701 patients with low back pain to therapy in addition to standard treatment or to standard treatment alone. The standard treatment included guidance on staying active and the best use of pain medication. The others got up to six sessions of group therapy. All participants had their back pain measured at the start of the study and one year later.

At one year, those who had CBT showed a 2.4 point improvement on one disability test and a 13.8 percent improvement on the other. Those who had no therapy saw a 1.1 point improvement on the one score and a 5.4 percent improvement on the other, the researchers found.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for health problems is based on a psychological model, Hansen said.

“The model explains that the way that we think about our health problems will determine how we behave or, put another way, how we manage them,” Hansen said. “If we have unhelpful ways of thinking about back pain, we’ll behave or manage it in unhelpful ways. A cognitive behavioral intervention targets the thoughts or behaviors directly.”

“For example, if I have persistent back pain and I think that I should avoid anything that brings on pain in case I am damaging myself, then I will slowly become less and less active, less and less fit, and then the stiffness and weakness that comes with using my back less will make my back feel worse,” Hansen said.

Therapy, offered individually or in a group setting, helps patients identify this vicious cycle. The aim is to understand that pain doesn’t usually signify ongoing damage and that by gradually increasing activity they can relieve the stiffness and weakness, Hansen said. “The main aim of the intervention is to help people get back to doing enjoyable and/or rewarding activities that they may have stopped or avoided due to back pain,” she said.

Back pain is increasingly common, said Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti, medical director of the Pain Management Center of Paducah, Ky. “However, it can be managed effectively for a significant proportion of patients in a primary-care setting with (therapy) when it is available.”

Therapy costs about half of other treatments, such as acupuncture, the researchers noted. But as a treatment for back pain, it is not usually covered by health insurance in the United States.

- above article written by Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter

If you’re suffering from chronic lower back pain in mid-Michigan, visit Colestock Family Chiropractic in Eaton Rapids for gentle chiropractic adjustments using the Activator Method Technique.

One of the primary ways, if not THE primary way you can avoid back pain is to adhere to a healthy lifestyle.

Where do you start?

~ Eat a nutrient-rich, balanced diet, with sufficient intake of calcium, Vitamin D and phosphorus. (Phosphate makes up more than half the mass of bone mineral; Vitamin D helps maintain appropriate calcium/phosphorus levels. When phosphorus is too high, the body takes calcium out of the bones to bind with the phosphorus and remove it from the blood. Bones become brittle as a result.)

~ Avoid smoking and excessive alcohol use. That goes without saying.

~ Maintain a healthy weight— additional pounds place excess strain on spinal vertebrae and discs creating physical stress which leads to something else….

~ Stay well-hydrated. The body is 70% water, and sufficient hydration contributes to intervertebral disc health and that of other back related structures and functions. H20 acts as a spinal lubricant.

~ And often over-looked, get your vision checked. Poor vision can affect the way you carry yourself, which can contribute to back problems. Hunched over because you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders? Get your eyes checked. And stop hunching over!

Next post I’ll blog about the Proper Body Mechanics when standing, sitting, driving and sleeping.

For all our back aches and pains, visit Colestock Family Chiropractic in Eaton Rapids, MI specializing in the Activator Method Technique, a painless adjustment procedure that’ll realign your back without the snap, crackle and pop of your typical chiropractor.

Call Dr Denise today at 517.663.8825 to schedule your appointment. Walk-in’s are welcome, however, by appt has priority.

Only 17 minutes from Charlotte, Mi, 22 minutes from Jackson mi, 25 minutes from Lansing Mi, on M-50 in Eaton Rapids between I-69 and 127.

This video showcases Dr Denise Colestock performing an adjustment on a new client with the gentle approach to chiropractic care using the Activator Method Techique.

The Activator Technique is a painless chiropractic device used by less than 2500 qualified doctors in the entire world. It is the “gentle approach to chiropractic care” as the slogan for Colestock Family Chiropractic attests to.

If you’re suffering from lower back pain, upper back pain, neck pain or just plain pain, make an appointment to see Dr Denise at Colestock Family Chiropractic in Eaton Rapids, located in mid-Michigan between Lansing and Jackson.

We just added a new video this morning demonstrating the Activator Method. If you go to our “video page” link at the top of our website and click on that you can see our short video demonstration with the Activator Method Technique, the gentle approach to chiropractic care.