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

2 Hilarious Medication Warnings : Ambien and Veramyst

OK, so this doesn't have much to do with lower back pain or chiropractors, but it's worth mentioning here since it's medical-related. I recently saw two advertisements for medications on TV (that's not the hilarious part). Once they started rolling into their warnings, which they are required to do, I couldn't believe what I heard.


1. Ambien- The voiceover says, "Sleepwalking and eating or driving with no memory of the event have been reported."

Uhh, what?? Are you kidding me? Ambien might result in someone sleepwalking and then eating and driving? Then they won't even remember they did that?? Who ends up finding you? I guess the McDonalds drive thru cashier! If you think that's bad, read the rest of the Ambien warnings on the official site.

2. Veramyst - In the commercial, there is a graphic that states, "The way this drug works is not completely understood."
Really? So, the drug has been tested, approved, and launched without being completely understood? So, if someone sprays this stuff up their nose and all of their hair falls out and they sneeze for 24 hours straight, there's nobody to blame?

"We really didn't know how the drug works, so we cannot confirm that your hair falling out is from Veramyst."

Whatever.

You can't make this stuff up! Makes me want to throw out any medications I have at home...

The Patient

Holding Children and Nerve Damage - Is Their a Connection?

In my last post, I mentioned how my wife needed to go see Dr. Pagano at Pagano Chiropractic since she was experiencing a lot of pain in her upper back. Even in the short time she has been going for adjustments, she is feeling much, much better. Actually, as of today, she has almost no pain in her upper back...

It ends up that she was holding our baby a certain way while feeding him over the past 6 months, and over that time, she irritated the nerves in her neck. Since it was over 6 months, it really started to cause some pain. So, a mixture of getting chiropractic adjustments over a two week period and starting to hold our son differently made a huge difference. She is now a believer in going to the chiropractor...

When it comes down to it, over years of exercising, walking, lifting your kids, bending over, sitting at your desk, etc., you are bound to throw something out of alignment. And if you do, and you don't get that corrected, then you could be in trouble down the line... If you are having back trouble or shoulder trouble, it's beyond worth it to go to a chiropractor...at least for an initial consultation. Just find a chiropractor that you are comfortable with and I'm confident you will agree with me! :)

The Patient

Getting to Your Chiropractor Quickly Can Lead to a Fast Recovery

During the entire summer, my back has been in great shape. I credit my chiropractor, Dr. Pagano for that... I've been golfing, running, working out, etc. without any major lower back pain. So, when I started to feel some pain on Saturday, I wanted to do something that I rarely had done in the past...move fast! In the past, I would let the pain get worse thinking to myself that it would go away on its own. Wrong! It would eventually go full blast and I wouldn't be able to walk...then I would go to my chiropractor...but it was too late.

Moving Fast - Getting to the Chiropractor in a Hurry!
So, on Monday I went to the chiropractor (only 2 days into this latest episode) and explained what's been going on. Basically, I worked out a lot last week (4 out of 5 days), which is a lot considering I have 2 kids. :) I also have a 6 month old so carrying him around, picking him up, and also picking up my 3.5 year old probably caused some alignment issues.

Pagano to the Rescue
Anyway, Dr. Pagano performed a chiropractic adjustment and I waited to see how my back would respond. Well, it responded extremely well. The next morning my back was about 50% better than the day before. I was able to work out that afternoon with little back pain. Then, by Wednesday, my back was at 95%...and I worked out again. Today is Thursday and my back feels very little pain. I'll probably go back for another adjustment on Monday, but I'm well on my way to feeling 100% again.

Learning from your mistakes:
This time I acted quickly...definitely a change from my previous behavior! :) By acting quickly, my chiropractor could align my back and get me back to near 100% in just a few days.

On a somewhat different note, my wife started feeling some pain shooting down her arm recently. She went to visit Pagano Chiropractic today, based on how well Vito has helped me over the past 6-7 months! More on this developing story in my next post.

The Patient

2 Months Later...My Back is Still in Good Shape

OK, so I haven't written a post in a while...almost 2 months to be exact. Why, you ask? I haven't had any trouble with my back at all since Dr. Pagano fixed it in late May. This is truly amazing, given I'm golfing more this year and I have two young children that I pick up all the time. With all of that, I still feel great.

I will be going to Pagano Chiropractic either this week or next week for more of a maintenance check than anything else. I don't want to go too long without having an adjustment. If all goes well, I may actually keep the one visit every other month routine. It seems to be working fine for me.

More to come after next week's adjustment.

The Patient