Chiropractic Maintenance, How Frequently Should You Go To Your Chiropractor To Avoid Throwing Our Your Bad Back?

Great question and there's not one schedule that fits all situations. That said, I wanted to bring up the importance of chiropractic maintenance. Yes, you're not a car or a house, but when you have a bad back, you might as well think of it that way.

Oil changes, driveway sealing, gutter cleaning, new tires, and chiropractic adjustments! That's right, lump them all together into a maintenance bucket. If you avoid maintaining any of these items, you will not end up in a good place. Your car will fail, your driveway will crack, and YOU WILL THROW YOUR BACK ONCE AGAIN, and maybe worse then you ever have. (Do I sound like I'm talking from experience?) You bet. Case in point, a few months ago.

I was working on a great new project at work and I thought I was too busy to go to Dr. Pagano. How long did I avoid going to the Chiropractor? 3.5 months! That's right, I felt invincible again...bad move. Although my back felt great, I was jogging a lot, lifting weights, lifting my kids, etc. All of that activity slowly wears down your bad back until...you can't walk! That's right, I threw out my back so badly that I could barely walk. I actually had to go to the emergency room it hurt so badly.

So, I crawled into Dr. Pagano's office, explained what I did and let him do his magic. It didn't get better overnight, but 2 weeks later I felt 1000 times better. Seriously, he had fixed me once again.

What I did wrong:
I didn't go for monthly chiropractic adjustments. Boy, that was stupid. "I'm too busy....I'm working too much..." That's ridiculous. I ended up having to go more when I got hurt than if I went for monthly adjustments in the first place!

The point of my post: You probably take care of your car and house, right? So take care of yourself for crying out loud!

Thank you Dr. Pagano for fixing my back once again. I promise I won't avoid my chiropractic maintenance ever again. I'll be in next week.

The Patient

Van Halen's Jump - A Quick Reminder From Your Bad Lower Back

It happens to me all the time. I have a good run with my back where I’m feeling great for a number of weeks and then I test the limits only to receive warning sign from my lower back that something's not right. You know, a shot across the bow signifying that my lower back didn’t like that last move. I’m starting to think that my back has a personality. :-)

Remember the music video for Van Halen’s song Jump? You know the leg kick that David Lee Roth does in the video? Well, my daughter loves to dance and I showed her that move the other day. She got a kick out of it, no pun intended. ;-) My back also got a kick out of it and then proceeded to give me a warning sign. It wasn’t too painful, but boy, my back definitely twinged. I immediately stopped any crazy attempt to mimic David Lee Roth again and took it easy!

The Next Day
Did I throw out my back? Thankfully no, but I was darn close. I visited Dr. Pagano for an adjustment yesterday and explained what I did. I’m pretty confident he hadn’t heard of the Van Halen lower back problem, but hey, there’s a first time for everything. :-) What’s my point? Listen to your back…it typically won’t lie to you. Even though I didn’t feel much pain, if I kept trying to be a rock star after I felt the twinge, I probably would have thrown out my back. Instead, I took it easy and went for a chiropractic adjustment and now I can dance another day.

It seems that I am getting wiser with age! Now rock on with your bad self!

The Patient

The 9 Most Dangerous Actions for Your Bad Lower Back

I thought it would be a good idea to list what I believe are the 9 most dangerous actions (or movements) for your bad lower back. I’m doing this so you won’t make the same stupid mistakes I did! Call it learning from experience. :-)

Counting down from 9 to 1:

9.The Evil Sneeze or Cough
If you’ve got a bad lower back, a sneeze or cough can be your worst enemy. It sounds crazy, but I can always tell who has a bad back by the way people prepare for a sneeze. Some go running to brace themselves against a wall, others bend over while they sneeze, others sit down, and some even need a partner to grab onto. My advice? Definitely figure out how to brace for the sneeze… It doesn’t look too awkward and it truly helps combat the force.

8. Jump Rope
When I first went to see my chiropractor (Dr. Pagano), he asked about my workout routine. I do a lot of circuit training and one exercise I became addicted to was jumping rope. It’s a phenomenal workout…but one that will act like a jackhammer for your bad lower back! It makes sense if you think about it… I would probably get 90-100 jumps per minute in when I got going… If you have a bad lower back, stop jumping rope and start walking on a treadmill instead.

7. The Golf Swing
For people who don’t play golf and think it’s a wimpy sport, the golf swing can be one of the most violent swings for your lower back. Add that most amateurs score around a 100, which means you are twisting and hitting that little white ball with force about 70 times each round. Also add in hitting the ground a bunch of times, forcing the club through the rough, and of course driving the ball with a gigantic, oddly-weighted driver, and you can see how the golf swing can hurt your already damaged lower back…

6. Side Bends
If you have sacrum problems like I do, the side bend can be a brutal exercise. As my condition worsened over the past few years, side bends really irritated my lower back. Solution? Don’t do them. You can do any other type of ab exercise, just don’t do side bends. I haven’t really missed them.

5. Getting into Your Car Too Fast
This was a relatively recent problem for me… I needed to get to the train station fast and ran out the door, opened my car door, and holding my bag (which was about 15 pounds), I entered the driver’s side all at once (with my bag in hand)… I should have placed the bag in the passenger’s seat and then come around to get in. I didn’t and felt my lower back twinge. Luckily, it wasn’t bad, but I never do that anymore…

4. Kicking
One of the worst back pulls I ever had was after playing soccer with my daughter. She thought it was really cool when I kicked the ball as far as I could. So, I proceeded to do this over and over again until I felt my lower back go out… When I walked into Dr. Pagano’s, he could tell by my face that I did something stupid… It took about a week for my back to get better… Thank goodness for chiropractic adjustments.

3. Sitting at Your Desk
You might be saying, “At number 3??” You bet! Many times you are out of alignment as you sit at your desk. You might have your legs crossed, you might be leaning more to one side, and you might be sitting on the edge of your seat, so to speak… Over time, this can really irritate your back. Then, once you successfully irritate your back, sitting in front of your computer can be a horribly painful experience. Actually, read this article about a CEO who built a desk where he stands versus sits because it hurt so bad! Solution? Get up often, stretch, and make sure you catch any bad positioning early enough. i.e. Don’t cross your legs, try and sit straight in front of your computer, etc. Or, build a desk where you can stand. ;-)

2. Twisting or Turning While Holding Weight
This is somewhat similar to “getting into your car too fast”. If you have young kids, then picking up your child and turning with her in your arms can be a killer for your bad lower back. When my daughter was younger, lifting her up and putting her into her car seat would really hurt my back. My chiropractor explained how 30 pounds against your chest could be like 90 pounds away from your body. Then add twisting with 90 pounds, and you get the picture. Solution? I don’t know! You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do… Just try and avoid holding a lot of weight and then turning with it.

1. Digging
OK, this had to be the winner on my list… It was over 5 years ago that I was doing some landscaping and digging all afternoon. Then I felt a serious twinge in my lower left back. That was the beginning of my sacrum problems. Digging, especially forceful digging like I was doing, can throw your back out faster than you can say “Advil”. Solution? Stretch, take breaks often, and then alternate sides when digging. That said, if you have to dig like I had to…there may be nothing that helps avoid the inevitable back pull.

That’s my list…avoid these dangers and you might live to pick up your children another day. :-) If you think I missed something, then add it to the list!

The Patient

Don't Ignore the Warning Signs: Listen to Your Lower Back

If you're not familiar with Movie-a-Minute, they basically boil down a movie into a few lines. It's actually pretty funny to read some of them... Here's the gist of what happened to me recently in Movie-a-Minute style:

My back feels great...Thank you Dr. Pagano.

I naively believe my back is better than it is....

I neglect warning signs that my back is angry.

I don't go for an adjustment.

It gets angry.

I'm in a lot of pain now.

Hello Dr. Pagano.

Whenever I speak with people about my lower back, I'm always asked for advice. This is based on my success with finding the right chiropractor and knowing that my back is much better than it was prior to my first chiropractic adjustment. Well I tell you, this is a constant a learning experience for me.

Here's a good piece of advice based on my latest experience:

Listen to your body. It typically won't lie to you. :)

For over 3 weeks, my back was giving me warning signs that it was getting dangerously close to going out on me. And...I still didn't go for an adjustment. What types of signs?

Here are a few:

1. Twinging back pains. Nothing bad, but my back was letting me know that something was wrong.

2. Having some discomfort after working out (or even when I started working out).

3. My back was a little sore in the morning after waking up.

4. Slight pain when picking up my kids.

Notice how I said "slight" or "a little" or "nothing bad". That's what gets you...

So, if you have lower back trouble and start to feel the warning signs of an angry back, don't ignore them. Go for an adjustment. I ignored the signs, and it didn't work out too well for me. I'm getting better, but I'm not there yet.

The Patient

Steps I Take to Minimize Recurring Lower Back Pain

OK, so I threw my back out a month ago, and as you read in my last post, my back has bounced back very quickly. I feel great overall and I am even running again. I went for a 3 mile run yesterday through Pennington. When I woke up this morning, I did feel some pain again... nothing crazy, but my back was reminding me that it wasn't too long ago that I threw it out. So what is causing that slight, but annoying pain?

The Weight of 2 Quarters:
When I first visited Dr. Pagano at Pagano Chiropractic Center, he placed two quarters on my hand, which I could barely feel. He said that even the light weight of 2 quarters would cause the pain I was feeling (which was pretty bad at the time...) When your back goes out of alignment, nerves that are trying to fit into an already small space, might have pressure on them from the misalignment. That pressure, even if it's only the weight of 2 quarters, is enough to cause some serious discomfort. That's what I am feeling now...

Now that I've been going for chiropractic adjustments for the last 5 months and educating myself on what is going on with my back, I've come up with some things to do when I feel the first hint of pain in my sacrum (lower back):

1. Stop major exercise like running, lifting weights, etc. I might still walk and do some light weights, but I'm now wise enough to know when my back is telling me something...like STOP WHATEVER YOU DID TO MAKE IT ANGRY!

2. Watch how I lift things... even small and light items. As Dr. Pagano told me, when you are about to lift something significant, you stabilize yourself, which cuts down on injury. However, when you go to lift something light or small, you don't prepare yourself. This is when you can do some damage... So, I watch my alignment when picking things up (and I definitely try and use my legs as much as possible.)

3. Hot Baths - When I start to feel a hint of pain, I start taking hot baths each night. This loosens up my back muscles and really seems to help. Heck, it's also really relaxing!

4. Go for chiropractic adjustments - When there's a sign that my back is angry, I go to Dr. Pagano and get an adjustment. There's obviously something off...and getting everything aligned is a no-brainer. If my schedule allows me to do so, I try and get in there asap.

5. Keep a log of what I did to throw out my back. I try and jot down all of the activities I performed the day before I feel my back start to hurt, which typically lets me know which one activity in particular pissed my back off! Then, I can always reference the list to remind me what I shouldn't do...I know it sounds weird, but when you are as competitive as me, you tend to do things that normal people wouldn't try!! And especially now that I'm getting older... Ouch.

I hope this list helps you when your back starts sending signals that it's out of alignment or just angry at what you did! If there is anything you do to help your back pain, please comment on this post...I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The Patient

4 Chiropractic Adjustments, 2 Weeks of Healing, and My Lower Back is Almost Ready to Go!

As I wrote about two weeks ago, I threw my back out again... This was mostly due to stupidly trying to kick a soccer ball as far as I could! Yes, I did something stupid like my chiropractor told me I would eventually do. :-) When I went back to Dr. Pagano after throwing my back out, he explained that my back should heal relatively quickly since I had been doing so well up to that point. Once again, he was right...

I've had four chiropractic adjustments since then and my back has been steadily improving over a two week period. Now I can cut down my chiropractic frequency to once per week and then hopefully get back to once per month. On that note, this time I will make sure to keep it once per month! I definitely pushed it last time and I paid the price!

Golf Season is Approaching
It's supposed to warm up again this week and I plan to start swinging my clubs (with Dr. Pagano's approval of course). If all goes well, I can probably head to the range to hit a bucket of balls. Golf season is right around the corner... and I've got a new Ping G5 Driver in my bag! Can you say "Boom".

The Patient

Throwing My Back Out Again - My Chiropractor Said I Would Do Something Stupid!

So most of you reading this post know that I've come a long way since I started going to Dr. Pagano, my chiropractor in Pennington, right? I've made great strides, my back has felt unbelievably well, and I've started exercising like I did in the past, including jogging. About a month ago, I was explaining to Dr. Pagano that I was really excited about where my back was, since the past 5 years of back pain have been troublesome... He quickly said, although you are doing really well, you will probably do something really stupid and throw out your back again! (of course this was said in a light-hearted way, but I could tell that he had seen this before...)

So here we are a month later and I had to rush to Dr. Pagano this week. Why, you ask? Well, I did something really stupid and threw out my back again! He was right after all... I was playing soccer with my daughter in the backyard and she thought it was really cool when I kicked the ball as far as I could (all the way across our lawn). So, I kept doing it, trying to kick it further and further... Not a good idea. I didn't feel any pain while kicking the ball, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to help my back. After about 9 or 10 heavy duty kicks, we went inside. It was the next morning that I felt a slight pull. Read on.

Traditionally, the bottom left side of my back was the problem. This time, I felt a nagging pain in the bottom right side. Nothing horrible, but my back was letting me know that it was a little angry. The pain was there the entire day. The next day, the pain was still there, but I decided to work out in the afternoon. I didn't jog, but I was using the treadmill as part of my circuit training. It was about 25 minutes in that I felt my entire lower back pull. It reminded me of when I first pulled my back 5 years ago. I stopped immediately, but knew I was in for a rough next week (or longer).

So I visited Dr. Pagano the next day and he aptly said, "I told you so!" (of course this was jokingly said again...) He performed a chiropractic adjustment and my back cracked like I never heard it crack before. He barely had to put any pressure and my lower back was popping and cracking like there was no tomorrow. Anyway, I am now stepping up my visits to him at least for the next few weeks. He believes that since my back has reacted so well over the past few months, that this back pull shouldn't last very long. I'm hoping to feel much better within the next 2 weeks. Let's hope that's the case...

The Patient

Common Concerns About Going to a Chiropractor?

I started going to a chiropractor about 4 months ago and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Just read my blog posts to learn more about my story, but I feel as if I have a new back, based on my treatments by Dr. Pagano. That said, I put off going to a chiropractor for a long time (almost 5 years), due to some concerns I had about chiropractic treatments. I think many people have the same concerns so I have decided to list some of them below.

1. Does it really work?
Why go to a chiropractor when some people the treatments don't work, other swear by it, and there is generally a lot of controversy around the subject matter? Like many, I thought I could help my own cause. I stretched, worked out, stretched more, iced my back, used heat on my back, and probably did a dozen other things that had absolutely no effect. After a few weeks at the chiropractor, my back felt great. Go figure.

2. Will the treatments worsen my back condition?
Common misconception. You hear about the cracking and popping and start to feel concerned about what your chiropractor is actually doing. Are the treatments worsening my condition? No, on the contrary, the chiropractic adjustment can do wonders for your alignment... Believe me, I was all out of whack! I feel great now, experienced no pain from going to the chiropractor, and feel as if I should have made the leap a lot sooner!

3. Will I need to go for the rest of my life?
No, not if you have the right chiropractor! For example, Dr. Pagano in Pennington New Jersey, explained that I should go to him more in the beginning and then start to space out my visits based on how my back feels. I am only going to him once per month now, when in the beginning I was going to him a few times per week. If I keep improving, then I can probably space out my visits even more, maybe once every other month. If your chiropractor tries to lock you into 3 times per week for the foreseeable future, then walk out the door.

If you are thinking about going to a chiropractor and have similar concerns, do yourself a favor and stop thinking so much! Make an appointment with a recommended chiropractor and see if it makes sense for you. If you want to live in pain the rest of your life, then keep going over your concerns time and time again. If you want to help yourself and relieve your pain, try it out.

The Patient

The Common Pitfall of Chiropractic Patients - Don't Get Overconfident Says My Chiropractor!

I've been going to a chiropractor now for about 7 weeks and I must say that I feel great! My back is doing well, I'm working out, and I'm able to do things painlessly that once caused a lot of problems. I've been jogging, lifting weights, circuit training, etc. with no major problems. I'm blown away with the results of going to the chiropractor. So at my last visit to Dr. Pagano, I asked "Why do you think I'm doing so well so quickly?? My back feels incredible and I'm only 6 to 7 weeks in!" Dr. Pagano looked at me and said, "You are definitely doing well, but chances are that you'll do something careless as you test your back..." This comment stems from a lot of experience. So I asked him to explain.

Basically, as people start to feel better, they test the limits of their back, neck, or whatever problem they were once facing. Think about it, I'm doing it now. I've been increasing my running over the past few weeks along with weight training, I'm picking up my daughter more, carrying more weight, shoveling snow, etc. I wake up and feel great, but very easily I could wake up and not feel so great... Dr. Pagano knows that I'll do something in the future that doesn't agree with my back, so I shouldn't get overconfident. Good advice and I'll take it!

So for now, things are going extremely well. I'm going for a chiropractic adjustment every other week and will hopefully push that to once a month. That is, until I do something stupid!! :-)

The Patient

What to Look for in a Chiropractor

Once my blog went live, I have received several questions about how to choose a chiropractor. Since I was in that position less than 2 months ago, I thought I would write a quick list of items that I think are important when looking for the right chiropractor for you.

1. Complete Transparency - Up front and honest about everything.
After I threw my back out and decided to go to a chiropractor, I really didn't know where to start. I initially ended up visiting a chiropractor in my area that has been around for a long time. To make a long story short, he wasn't right for me. It had nothing to do with how good of a chiropractor he was, but had everything to do with how he ran his practice. Then I visited Dr. Pagano in Pennington and I understood the difference between finding a chiropractor and finding the right chiropractor. Within 45 minutes, we covered pricing, his philosophy about frequency of visits, he reviewed my x-rays with me, and we are all set for my first adjustment. This is the way I work in my business and it felt right to have someone treating me the same way that I treat my clients and customers. The core point to take away from this bullet is to make sure you feel comfortable with the chiropractor. Are they personable? Are they up front with their pricing? Do they seem honest? How many times do they want to see you? If they cannot answer these questions, run. :-)

2. Philosophy About Frequency of Visits
I briefly mentioned this in my first bullet, but it's important enough to have its own line item. I'm sure you have heard stories about people that start receiving chiropractic treatments and then find themselves going back time and time again for years. They don't have much pain anymore, but they still keep going! I didn't want to find myself in that situation. Dr. Pagano's philosophy matched my expectations. Once my back started feeling better, he wanted to me to visit him every other week. Then if that worked well, I could visit him once per month. Then if that worked well, I could probably come every other month. That made sense to me... Make sure you understand your chiropractor's philosophy about frequency of visits. If you don't, you may find yourself at his office 3 times per week for the rest of your life!

3. Find a Chiropractor with Similar Types of Patients
I exercise a lot, from jogging to weight training to playing sports like baseball, tennis, and golf. Dr. Pagano has a background in training, so when I explained the back problems I was having after working out, he immediately could give me real world examples of how other patients in the same situation dealt with it and improved. This was important to me and it gave me confidence that my treatments would help my situation. For example, once I started feeling better, he gave me good recommendations for beginning to exercise again. He also explained how to start weight training again so it wouldn't affect my back, how to start running again, how to stretch, etc. This was extremely valuable to me, and should be to you.

4. A Chiropractic Plan of Action
After reviewing my x-rays with me and explaining what was wrong with my back, Dr. Pagano explained clearly how we were going to tackle the problem. This included explaining what a chiropractic adjustment was, which areas of my back we were going to focus on, how many visits it would take to get me on the right path, what my exercise schedule should look like, so on and so forth. If you cannot map out your plan, then your expectations may be improperly set, you cannot measure your improvement against the plan, and you may end up getting frustrated. This chiropractic plan of action is extremely important. Ask about it when you visit the chiropractor for the first time. If they don't believe in setting a plan, then I would find a chiropractor that does.

I'm sure I will add to this list later on, but it's a good starting point. Again, I was in your position 2 months ago and I would have liked to have seen a list like this. Good luck and ask a lot of questions. Find a chiropractor that matches up well with your needs and you'll be in good shape. No pun intended.

What is a Chiropractic Adjustment?

I've received a lot of questions about the name of my blog and what an actual chiropractic adjustment is, so I decided to address it formally in a post. First, I will explain my non-expert description and then I will give you a formal definition and some links to more reading.

A Chiropractic Adjustment from a Patient's Perspective:
When I went in to see my chiropractor for the first time, I was experiencing extreme pain in my lower back. I learned that your spine moves in three dimensions and that there are bundles of nerves that travel down and out the spine at various points. It doesn't take much pressure to cause pain, actually Dr. Pagano placed two quarters on the top of my hand and explained the slight weight I was feeling would cause the pain I had at that time... Any more pressure and I'd be in the emergency room!

So, when your spine is out of alignment, which can be caused by a number of factors, like trauma, stress, etc., you can feel pain. My trouble is in my lower back (my sacrum to be exact). In my x-ray, it looked slightly tilted. I need it to be straight, not tilted...so how do you accomplish this? Enter the adjustment. Through a series of manual procedures, my chiropractor aligns my spine with the hope that over time, the alignment will take hold. My muscles essentially are prohibiting my spine from staying properly aligned, since my back has been out of whack for over 4 years...

The adjustment doesn't take long, typically under 10-15 minutes and you will be amazed how you feel after it. Like I have said in previous posts, I get up and the pain is typically gone... It's not until some time later that it starts to creep back in, but again, it's going to take time for my spine to stay properly aligned. Yes, you here cracks and pops, and it's scary to hear that, but it's not painful at all. You definitely start to wonder what's going on, but after a few visits, you don't even think about it. I have seen incredible results so far and there is no way it could have happened without these manual procedures being performed.

Chiropractic Adjustment from a Professional's Perspective:
Here's a good definition I found on About.com:
An adjustment is a procedure performed by a chiropractor that "influences joint and neurophysiological function"1. An adjustment uses leveraged force, combined with direction, amplitude and velocity to effect a therapeutic change in specific anatomical regions, particularly spinal joints.

More links:
ChiroWeb Definition of the Adjustment:
http://www.chiroweb.net/chiropractic/adjustment.html

Wikipedia Entry for Spinal Adjustment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_adjustment

Answers.com:
http://www.answers.com/topic/spinal-adjustment