You May Get relief from chronic pain by walking

If you are suffering from chronic pain from fibromyalgia or another medical condition, you know the frustration that comes with the attempts to control pain. While medication and therapies are a key factor in pain management, exercise can also work to relieve pain and improve quality of life. Inactivity can lead to more pain – the more you move, the less you will feel your pain.

If you are suffering from chronic pain, begin introducing regular walking workouts into your daily routine. Walking is the most basic form of aerobic exercise. There are several benefits of aerobic exercise, including: building stamina, boosting energy and reducing stiffness and pain. Specific health benefits of walking for exercise include:

• Strengthening muscles – By strengthening the muscles in the feet, legs, hips and torso, you will increase stability of the spine. Spinal stability may reduce symptoms of chronic back pain.
• Improves flexibility and range of motion – With improved range of motion, you will be less susceptible to injury due to stiffness or awkward movements.
• Strengthening joints – A low-impact workout such as walking improves strength and flexibility of the joints, as well as muscles and tendons surrounding the joints.

Research has shown that low-impact aerobic exercise is most effective for improving chronic pain symptoms. It provides a means of relaxation for both the body and mind. Exercise in short intervals has been shown to be most successful in relieving chronic pain. For example, rather than going for one 30-minute walk each day, take three short, 10-minute walks instead.

In a study of 52 sedentary patients with chronic lower back pain, Dr. Michal Katz-Leurer and colleague Ilana Shnayderman found that a simple daily walking routine can improve chronic lower back pain symptoms. Katz-Leurer, from Tel Aviv University’s Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and Shnayderman, a graduate student at the Department of Physical Therapy and a practicing physiotherapist at Maccabi Health Care, published their findings in the journal Clinical Rehabilitation.

If you suffer from chronic pain, make a point to exercise daily. By exercising, you will help prevent muscle atrophy and decrease joint pain. Start with a simple 30-minutes of exercise each day, gradually increasing if you are able.

Consult with your physician before beginning any exercise routine.

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Herniated Disk in the Lower Back

Sometimes called a slipped or ruptured disk, a herniated disk most often occurs in your lower back. It is one of the most common causes of low back pain, as well as leg pain (sciatica).

Between 60% and 80% of people will experience low back pain at some point in their lives. A high percentage of people will have low back and leg pain caused by a herniated disk.

Although a herniated disk can sometimes be very painful, most people feel much better with just a few weeks or months of nonsurgical treatment.

Anatomy

Your spine is made up of 24 bones, called vertebrae, that are stacked on top of one another. These bones connect to create a canal that protects the spinal cord.

Five vertebrae make up the lower back. This area is called your lumbar spine.

Parts of the lumbar spine.

Other parts of your spine include:

Spinal cord and nerves. These “electrical cables” travel through the spinal canal carrying messages between your brain and muscles.

Intervertebral disks. In between your vertebrae are flexible intervertebral disks. They act as shock absorbers when your walk or run.

Intervertebral disks are flat and round, and about a half inch thick. They are made up of two components:

Healthy intervertebral disk (cross-section view).

• Annulus fibrosus. This is the tough, flexible outer ring of the disk.
• Nucleus pulposus. This is the soft, jelly-like center of the disk

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Spine Surgeon Fort Worth Texas, Spine Surgeon Tarrant County, Texas Back Institute, TBI, Shawn Henry DO

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Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Minimally Invasive Surgery:

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Recent surgical advancements have focused on performing surgery through smaller incisions, with less disruption to surrounding soft-tissues. The idea behind minimally invasive surgery is to perform the same treatment without damage to normal surrounding tissues. The drawback of minimally invasive surgery is that sometimes the underlying problem may not be adequately addressed because of an inability to get to the problem. Whenever a new minimally invasive procedure is introduced, there is almost always controversy as to whether or not the procedure is as good as traditional surgery.

Endoscopic Spine Surgery:

Endoscopic spine surgery uses specialized video equipment inserted through small incisions to see the structures of the spine. Similar to arthroscopic surgery of a joint, endoscopic surgery has advanced over the past decade from merely being able to look to the area of interest, to the ability to repair and reconstruct a variety of complex problems.The benefit of endoscopic spine surgery is the potential to address problems through very small incisions. By not damaging the muscles around the spine, recovery can often be much faster than with a larger surgical exposure.

Microdiscectomy, Microlaminectomy and Microforamenotomy:

All of these micro-surgeries are variations of standard surgeries used to take pressure off of the nerves around the spinal cord. Traditionally done through larger incisions, the micro procedures use smaller incisions and specialized surgical instruments to accomplish the same goals of traditional surgery.There is no rule on where the line between traditional surgery and micro surgery is drawn. To some doctors this means a smaller incision, to others it means the use of special surgical instruments. Many variations of a procedure could be considered micro surgery.

Laser Spine Surgery:

Laser spine surgery is a technique that uses a laser to remove damaged tissues. Because a laser can be inserted through small incisions, it can be used to cut away damaged tissues (such as disc fragments) without having to make a large incision.There is significant controversy about laser spine surgery as this technique has not been shown to have significant benefits, despite advertising that may make you think otherwise. Often marketed in magazines and the Internet, laser spine surgery has become the focus of some lawsuits formisleading patients about expected results from surgery.

Is It Better?:

Is minimally invasive surgery better? There are many ways to answer this question. The bottom line is that we simply do not know. There are theoretic advantages, and there are possible downsides. But there are very few studies that compare the possible risks with the potential benefits of minimally invasive surgery.The bottom line I suggest is to find a surgeon who, above all, is interested in fixing your problem, not someone who is selling you on a smaller incision. If the same benefit can be achieved without damage to normal tissues, then minimally invasive surgery may be a good option.

_Sources:

_{Mathews HH and Long BH “Minimally Invasive Techniques for the Treatment of Intervertebral Disk Herniation” J. Am. Acad. Orthop. Surg., March/April 2002; 10: 80 – 85.}

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Regenerative Medicine

Administering undifferentiated stem cells to an injured disc has made adult stem cell regenerative medicine in spine a reality. Adult stem cell regenerative medicine holds the promise of stabilizing or even reversing the degenerative changes associated with aging or following traumatic injury. Current clinical use of stem cells is very limited, in part by the cumbersome approval process. The use of concentrated bone marrow aspirate (BMC) as a “stem cell” preparation is currently the simplest and safest way of utilizing the regenerative potential for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to promote tissue regeneration. In fact, stem cells concentrated from bone marrow have been shown to stimulate the formation of bone, cartilage, ligament and tendon, and dermal tissues.

Conservative treatment options for lumbar and cervical pain associated with discogenic disc disease (Pfirrmann Grades 3-6) are limited. Treatment options include pain medication, steroids, physical therapy, and chiropractic care. Reversal of disc pathology has not been achieved with current available treatment modalities. Failure of these nonoperative treatments may leave surgical intervention as a treatment option.

The goal of utilizing MSCs is to not only potentially provide pain relief from the painful degenerative disc, but to reverse the degenerative process. There are three methods for placing MSCs into the painful nucleus pulposus.

The use of allogeneic mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs) is currently being evaluated as a part of an FDA Phase I clinical trial. Extracted from donors and expanded in number by tissue culture, this process isolates and grows the stem cells into pure MPCs which are injected into the nucleus pulposus. This technology does not have FDA approval.

Utilizing expanded, autologous MSCs for injection into the painful disc is the second method. Federal regulations require the approval of an Investigational New Drug application supported by prospective, randomized clinical trials for the use of expanded autologous MSCs. The FDA has not approved this technology.

The third method involves autologous point of care therapy. This technology does not require FDA approval. The patient’s own MSCs are directly injected into the nucleus pulposus of the symptomatic degenerated disc(s) using standardized two needle discography technique. This requires fluoroscopic visualization and 2-3cc of MSCs are slowly injected into the symptomatic nucleus pulposus.

Early analysis of the research data reveals the average lumbar pre-treatment Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was 56.5% and improved to 22.4% at three-month follow-up (P=0.0001). The average lumbar pre-treatment Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain was 7.9 (on a scale of 1-10) and improved to 4.2 at three months (P=0.0005).

There have been no complications associated with the iliac crest aspiration or disc injection. Thus far no patient in the study has undergone spine surgery following treatment. Results obtained with this technique suggest its potential clinical efficacy in the treatment of moderate to severe degenerative disc disease. These results require verification with longer follow-up and randomized prospective studies.

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Adult Stem Cell Therapy to Treat Back Pain, Stem Cell, Spine Stem Cells, Stem Cell Treatment

Adult Stem Cell Therapy that doesn’t require FDA approval to treat lumbar and cervical spine conditions resulting from injury or aging, and is also involved with an FDA clinical trial investigating the use of Adult Stem Cells.

Stem Cell

These stem cells are autologous – they are taken from an adult patient and returned to that same patient in a concentrated form to the damaged area in a 30-minute procedure. This type of adult stem cell therapy does not require FDA approval to administer.

When it comes to stem cells, there is often a lot of mystique surrounding them.  We hear from the media that we can create a human being out of a bundle of cells, which is not necessarily true.  We also tend to look at embryonic stem cells as being the only type of stem cell.  With these types of embryonic stem cells, one idea is to be able to create a liver or kidney in a Petri dish, which is not controllable or feasible at this point, and the work being done by the BecomePainFree.com medical group.

When we look at stem cell types, we have embryonic stem cells on one hand and adult stem cells on the other.  The characteristics of each of these are not like other cells.  For instance, a liver cell can divide but it will only ever be a liver cell.  These stem cells, both embryonic and adult, can turn into different types of cells.  The embryonic stem cells can really turn into any cell type, but adult stem cells are limited as far as the cells they can turn into.  This depends upon environment or niche and what they are already programmed to become.  A lot of people think there is a lot of promise with embryonic stem cells and there is, although we are not quite there yet.

We are still at the forefront of stem cell technology and embryonic stem cells in particular. With those cells, we do not have the ability to control what types of tissue they turn into. For example, we could be trying to manipulate these cells to turn into kidneys, but they might start to develop as pancreatic cells, which is troublesome.  Another key with all stem cells is that they can proliferate quite a bit, usually at a higher rate than just a regular somatic cell.  Although this sounds good at first glance, the issue with this, particularly with embryonic stem cells, is we cannot control that division.  Hence, these cells can keep going and going without dying.  In the normal bodily process, cells are programmed to die after a certain time, but these embryonic stem cells can evade that action and continue dividing, which takes on the characteristic of cancer cells.  In some animal studies, an issue that keeps arising is development of tumors in some of these animals. It is difficult to predict if tumors are going to form when using some sort of embryonic stem cell treatment.  This is still a scary area through which we are still trying to navigate.

However, the focus of the BecomePainFree.com medical group is on adult mesenchymal stem cells. On the whole, the media does not give a lot of attention to these kinds of stem cells, as using them avoids any kind of ethical or controversial issues. There is a great amount of research being done on adult mesenchymal stem cells, however, because they are very powerful.

First off, we can control what cell type they turn into much more easily.  For example, the treatment used by the BecomePainFree.com medical group focuses on Mesenchymal precursor cells (MPC).  Mesenchymal means these cells are not going to turn into any kind of blood product such as a red blood cell or white blood cell, although they are derived from bone marrow.  The fact that they are precursor cells means these MPCs are only going to differentiate into one of a few cell types.  They are either going to become bone cells, i.e., osteoblasts, or chondrocytes, i.e., cartilaginous tissue such that we see in intervertebral discs and joints, etc.  All of that really depends on the environment in which we place these adult stem cells where it is well suited to do this.  For example, we can inject these MPCs into a bone fracture, and because the cells are surrounded by bone tissue, these cells will receive signals from the surrounding cells that tell them to turn into bone. However, the cells we use will be injected into a disc or joint, and the cells composing the disc and joint tissue will signal the stem cells to develop into similar tissue.  Again, there is no chance of any sort of pancreatic cell or nerve cell type spontaneously forming because we are using certain adult stem cell types, which are limited and cannot turn into anything like that.  In addition, as the tissue surrounding the disc and joint is relatively avascular, there is not really any worry of these cells migrating through the blood stream to somewhere else in the body and causing any sort of problem.  As far as the proliferation issue with embryonic stem cells, we have not seen this issue with adult stem cells in terms of dividing exponentially without ceasing.  There is almost a preset limit to how many times these adult stem cells will divide.

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Confusion about Spinal Fusion, Spine Fusion, Spine Fusion Surgery, Back Fusion Surgery, Back Surgery

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Spinal Fusion is used to treat spinal instability and alleviate chronic mechanical back pain but many people are unsure of what spinal fusion actually does.  Spinal fusion is surgery to permanently connect two or more vertebrae in your spine, eliminating motion between them.

Spinal fusion involves many techniques designed to mimic the normal healing process of broken bones. During spinal fusion, your surgeon places bone or a bone-like material within the space between two spinal vertebrae. Metal plates, screws and rods may be used to hold the vertebrae all together, so they can heal into one solid unit.

Because spinal fusion surgery immobilizes parts of your spine, it changes the way your spine can move. This places additional stress and strain on the vertebrae above and below the fused portion, and may increase the rate at which those areas of your spine degenerate.

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Laser Spine Surgery Does it Work?, Laser Spine Institute, LSI, Laser Back Surgery, Laser Spine Work

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A board certified typically does spine surgery and or fellowship trained spine surgeon to relieve pain and other symptoms by decreasing the pressure on a compressed nerve or by stabilizing the spine.  In the case of a herniated or ruptured disc area, a discectomy may be done to remove the damaged portion of a disc in the spine; or a laminectomy may be done to remove bone spurs or other spinal growths. In cases where the spine is very unstable, a spinal fusion can be performed to secure together two or more of the vertebral bones so that they “fuse” together.  These surgeries are now often performed using minimally invasive techniques that minimize damage to the surrounding tissue and allow for a faster recovery with much less blood loss. Laser spine surgery is often promoted as being minimally or even noninvasive and risk-free.  However, these laser spine procedures do require incisions and the laser itself can result in many serious complications.

Laser

Laser spine surgery or Laser Back Surgery has never been studied in a controlled clinical trial to determine its effectiveness. Marketing pitches for spine surgery performed with a laser often make bold major promises of pain relief for chronic neck and back pain and a quick return to normal life; sometimes in a matter of days. What is often not clear from marketing hype is that laser spine surgery or laser back surgery done at such places as the laser spine institute does actually involve surgery.  An incision is required to allow access to the spine area in need of care.  A focused beam of light (laser) is then used only to remove the soft tissues over the spine.   Bone and ligament are then removed in order to free the nerve from compression using small instruments.  The laser in laser spine surgery or laser back surgery actually plays a very minor role in the total surgical procedure of the spine.

Lasers are certainly not new technology by any means.  Lasers have been available for use in medicine since 1973.  However, they have not been widely adopted as a tool to be used in spinal surgery ever.  The fact is that most neurosurgeons do not use or recommend the use of lasers for any spine surgery because there are no clear benefits and there are other well-established and documented studies proving the effectiveness of more modern and established spine surgery techniques.

The Importance of a Proper Diagnosis of you Condition

It is important to have a proper diagnosis of your problem before deciding to undergo spine major surgery.  Most cases of back and neck pain are muscular in origin and do not require or benefit from surgery. Unless severe pain or muscle weakness is making walking or performing daily activities extremely difficult, surgery is rarely the first line of treatment ever. Anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy and exercise, lifestyle changes and other noninvasive treatment modalities such as therapeutic massage are often successful at resolving back and neck pain.

If conservative treatments fail to reduce back pain, then surgery may be necessary, depending on your current diagnosis. For example, if you have a herniated disk with leg or arm pain as a major symptom that hasn’t been relieved with other treatments, discectomy may be appropriate. If surgery is recommended, get a clear explanation of your diagnosis and how the surgery will help relieve your symptoms.

Traditional spine surgery has been tested in numerous clinical trials.  The major vast majority of patients who undergo discectomy for treatment of a herniated disc experienced relief from pain and other symptoms.  In elderly patients diagnosed with spinal stenosis, laminectomy is also a highly effectively procedure. Very few neurosurgeons regard laser spine surgery as a viable alternative to conventional spine surgery techniques. BecomePainFree spine surgeons do not use or recommend laser spine surgery or laser back surgery such as the ones done at the laser spine institute.

Mayo Clinic Opinion on Laser Spine Surgery

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Laser Spine Surgery, Laser Spine, Laser Back Surgery, New Back Surgery Procedure

What is Laser Spine Surgery from BecomePainFree.com

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Laser Back Surgery or Laser Spine Surgery is the perfect new alternative to conventional open spinal operations. In this new process, a laser is used for the removal of bone spurs so that no injury is caused to the soft tissues in the surrounding spine areas. The use of cutting-edge technology such as nerve monitoring and computerized navigation ensure the surgery is executed in a safe and smooth manner. Unlike traditional spinal surgeries, with laser surgery the patient is not made unconscious. On the contrary, a local anesthesia is done coupled with IV sedation which means the patient remains awake and totally comfortable when the surgery is performed. Moreover, since it involves the use of laser, the need for large incisions can be clearly avoided.

With our laser back surgery or laser spine surgery procedure, you do not need to stay in the hospital for a prolonged period of time from this Laser Surgery Procedure. The laser surgery is completed, in many cases, within an hour and the patient can even return home within hours after the operation.

There are a number of factors that work in favor of Laser Back Surgery or Laser Spine Surgery from https://www.becomepainfree.com/:

• Minimum blood loss from your body
• No major scar marks after
• Low infection risks
• Less intrusive procedure
• No need for lengthy hospitalization and bills
• Faster recovery time
• Improved mobility post-surgery and back to life

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