"StandUpRight News" by Dr. Donaldson

Can Being Overweight Cause Your Back Pain?

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Herniated Disc Doctor writes: The answer is ... maybe. But the reason may not be as obvious as it seems. In nearly everyone who is overweight, losing body weight helps relieve back pain. This is because of the reduced force on the disc and joints. The more weight you carry, the more force is on the disc and joints. Then you have to use more energy to just plain stand up straight. That is the simple answer.

But for some people who are overweight it is absolutely crucial to reduce. If you are one of them you might have a lot of trouble healing if you don't lose weight. And it is not just based on how much overweight you are.

It depends on how sick your fat is.

That's right, there are different kinds of fat tissue in your body. Your body uses these different types of fat for different purposes. Some fat is used as a primary heat source for when you get really cold. This is a good kind of fat to have and it is usually the healthier kind.

The sick fat is the kind that is the problem. Some of the chemicals your body takes in either through food or air or skin are not the kind that the body uses for food or for building blocks. Eventually these chemicals may become stored in fat.

A small amount of this kind of fat is healthy. It is helpful as a storage depot for toxins that your liver has trouble getting rid of. Hopefully this is just a temporary situation until your liver can handle the load.

But over-feeding and toxic overload cause larger accumulations of fat tissue. This becomes the sick fat. It eventually becomes a source of inflammatory chemicals. This kind of inflammation is called meta-inflammation and is coming to be seen as contributing to many of the chronic diseases we get as we age. It makes everything more difficult to heal.

When there is chronic inflammation coming from places in the body other than where the injury in the back is, then it is harder to heal.

People who just hurt their back and unknowingly have this type of hidden meta-inflammation may become frustrated when it doesn't resolve the way they expect it to.

They heal poorly and continue to have pain long after the actual stress is relieved, the tissue stronger and the muscles strengthened. This is all due to the underlying low level or subclinical meta-inflammation.

That is why we sometimes have to recommend an anti-inflammatory lifestyle that includes weight loss goals to help you get over your back problem and back to a normal active life.

I suspect that there are many people who give in to back surgery who really didn't need it if they would just have reduced their chronic state of inflammation and stress.

Losing weight is good for many reasons, but you dont get healthy by losing weight, you lose weight by getting healthy. More on that next time.

If you or someone you know has lower back pain, sciatica or a herniated disc, call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs or request an appointment online.

How Does Stress Affect Back Pain

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Herniated Disc Doctor writes: Over the thirty years that I have been practicing chiropractic I have seen some pretty amazing stories of healing and recovery. But the ones that don't recover as fast or completely as expected stick with me just as long as the miracle ones do.

I consider every person I work with as hiding a puzzle that I am driven to solve. Since our procedures follow the basic laws of chemistry and physics applied to human physiology our results are quite predictable, and it is a surprise when we see a poor or slow response.

But it happens.

After thousands of cases and hundreds of thousands of spinal adjustments to solve the puzzles, I have noticed some patterns and have found ways to maximize our results so we can now achieve improvements that we weren't able to achieve twenty years ago, or even five years ago.

Human bodies are designed for being and staying healthy. Given the right conditions you can stay healthy indefinitely. But there are some basic principles that you must follow to stay healthy.

First, you need to realize what health really is. Is it looking good? Is it just feeling good?

Probably not!

Health is, by definition (Dorland's Medical Dictionary),

 "a state of optimal physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

See that? "Optimal" meaning as good as can be. And what comes first? Physical! Not Mental, not Social. But Physical! And that's for a reason.

You can't have a good mental outlook if your physical body is failing. Likewise you can't have a good Social life if you don't feel good.

Farah Fawcett and Patrick Swayze are a couple examples of people who looked good and even felt good until the disease that was eating away at them surfaced. When you get that ill you examine what is important in life.

I bet they would have paid any amount of money for the chance at a few more years on earth. How much do you think Steve Jobs would have paid for a couple more years with his family?

So, on what does optimal physical health depend? It depends on all the cells and organs working together in harmony for the good of the entire body. Every part contributes to the whole, every part is important to the whole body, an interdependent community of tens of trillions of cells all working together.

But it all works until there is some interference with how the parts relate to each other.

These interferences are stresses of various sorts. Most stresses fall into three categories:

Traumas like childhood injuries, car accidents, sports injuries, even postural stresses and other structural strains.

Toxins like BPA in the plastic in our food containers, Roundup in our lawns, Monsanto's Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in our corn, or drugs flushed into our lakes ending up in our drinking water. Even food can be considered toxin, anything we ingest that the body does not recognize as something it can use for fuel or building blocks, or that is in too large or too small an amount.

Thoughts are stresses too. Work, family, financial situations lead to stresses that activate the brain to flood the body with nerve chemicals. Too much of these stresses, especially when conmbined will lead to a breakdown in health.

The people that get the best results from our care are those that address as many of these interfering barriers to their health as possible. Someone who keeps the spine as functional and strong as possible, keeps a healthy immune system by eating good whole food, includes lots of vegetables, gets adequate protein, minimizes junk food and someone who is active in handling their stresses will get better faster than someone who doesn't.

Whether you have a recent onset pain problem, like a work or auto injury or herniated disc or if you have a chronic health problem, there is a reason your body is not as healthy and painfree as it should be.

That's where we come in. When you need to figure out which of these barriers are interfering with your recovery and why you are not healing as well as you want to, then we can help you find the most likely interferences and make a plan for how to remove them.

Whether it is a spinal rehabilitation plan for restoring the curves in your spine, a weight loss plan to reduce the weight on your spine and improve your metabolism or a nutritional program to handle stress and increase your vital reserves we are happy to see you.

And we're especially excited to see you become a healthier you.

If you or someone you know has lower back pain, sciatica or a herniated disc, call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs or request an appointment online.

Enjoy A Pain-Free Summer Vacation!

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Herniated Disc Doctor writes: Summertime. Seems like everybody is going on vacation.... somewhere. It should be fun. Well, it should be. But it's sometimes one of the most stressful times of the year.

Along with Christmas and tax day in April more people come in with back complaints during the summer vacation season that most other times of the year.

But it's not because they overdid their vacation. Most of the time it happens before they even leave.

It's not uncommon for people to come in with back pain and say that they're leaving for vacation in three days and want the miracle cure. I used to think it was just a coincidence, but it happens too frequently around holidays and special events for it to be just coincidence.

The trigger in many cases is stress. One benefit of vacation is to unwind from the stress of work. But when an already stressed body is over-loaded with the increased anxiety of planning and preparing for a trip, it can be just too much for the adrenal glands and the sympathetic nerve system to handle.

Then the muscles can weaken, the pain threshold lowers and the natural anti-inflammatory chemicals aren't produced as well. Weaknesses in the spine then become magnified. That old arthritis flares up, the bulging or herniated disc that used to give you leg pain starts to become a problem again. And you end up in my office with back pain even before your vacation starts.

Don't wait until just before your vacation to come for a check-up. You'll enjoy your vacation more if you are painfree when you leave instead of having to nurse a bad back while driving halfway across the country. And you won't be needing the miracle cure.

If you or someone you know has lower back pain, sciatica or a herniated disc, call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs or request an appointment online.

Do You Need a Back Brace?

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Herniated Disc Doctor writes: A lumbar brace is a wrap-around or strap-on device that goes around the body to support the muscles and bony structures of the lower back. It may be called a lumbar brace, a belt or a corset. The purpose usually is to restrict the mobility of the spine. There are two basic kinds of braces, soft ones and rigid ones.

Soft braces are usually made of elastic or neoprene. They provide some degree of muscular support but mainly serve as a reminder to not move beyond a comfort range. They may help with better body mechanics and remind a person to stand upright but really do not aid in lifting ability or strength at all. People with arthritis or mild instability of the lower back may benefit from this type of brace.

Most spine problems are not the kind that need to be immobilized. The tissue heals better and faster with movement of the right kind. Excessive use of this soft type of brace does weaken the body's built-in muscular corset. We do not recommend the use of this type of brace for daily continuous use, even for weight-lifting. It may be used for specific tasks that may place you at risk of spinal injury by overloading the spine or putting you in a compromising position that might weaken your spine. Once that task is complete then the brace should be removed.

The rigid type of brace was made of plaster or stiff fiberglass in the past but modern ones are made of lighter materials like nylon, fiberglass and velcro. This allows greater comfort, better fit and adaptability.

There are certain circumstances when wearing a rigid belt is not only helpful but important. When the trunk musculature has been weakened to the point that it is unable to support the weight of the upper body, even normal motion can be damaging to the healing tissue. Immobilizing the spine becomes necessary until the muscles can regain enough strength and coordination to resume their normal role. We sometimes recommend the use of a rigid lumbar brace during the recovery period for people with herniated discs, degenerative discs or spinal stenosis in their lower spine.

While the brace can be uncomfortable or inconvenient, it is necessary to use for best healing. When you need it, you need it. And the time when you need it is when the spine needs to be immobilized to allow healing. Even in these cases the use of the brace should not be prolonged. Although a brace may require you to restrict some activities or form different habits, the support that a brace provides will speed your healing and may prevent further injury. It will be used during the treatment program and will be weaned when the muscle strength and coordination is rehabilitated.

So should you be wearing a brace?
The goal is to use the brace as little as possible but as much as is necessary. The muscles of the trunk are a built-in brace that makes the best support most of the time.  Adding an external brace to this complicates the motion pattern and may weaken the muscles. It is best in most cases to minimize the use of the brace so the muscles do not weaken.

Testing can show muscle weaknesses which can then be addressed. We will help determine if you will benefit from a brace and if so, which one. Then we will help you learn how to fit it comfortably and how to use it properly.

If you or someone you know has lower back pain, sciatica or a herniated disc, call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs or request an appointment online.

Stressed Out? Take a Deep Breath and Stop Rushing Through Life

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Herniated Disc Doctor writes: Living too fast? Try this with a friend.

Get a watch with a second hand. Have your friend time you. Close your eyes. Open them in exactly sixty seconds. How long did you make it? Most people only get to 20-30 seconds. This is a sign of how fast we live. No wonder most people can’t relax and remain stressed all the time.

Stress contributes to most health problems. Shallow breathing patterns and muscle tension are signs of stress. There is a direct relationship between non-diaphragmatic, shallow breathing, and tense neck & shoulder muscles, and consequently headaches.

Most Americans breathe with only one third or less of their lung capacity.

But you can create a stress relaxation program in your brain by consciously changing your breathing pattern. Here’s an exercise to help with that.

Sit up comfortably straight. Breathe in to a count of 4. Then hold your breath for 7 seconds. Then breathe out to a count of 8, and pause again. Or modify the numbers so you are breathing out for twice the amount of time that you inhale in order to fully empty your lungs. Repeat this for three repetitions.

Consciously feel your breath to help become aware of the respiratory muscle motions. Then calmly and patiently "let go" fully while exhaling and allow your body to receive a breath of fresh air with each inspiration.

Become aware of the pauses between the inhale and exhale. You will be amazed at the change in your breathing rhythm after just a few of these guided breathing exercises.

So, it doesn’t always ‘take a lot of time’ to become healthy. You just have to be willing to slow down, notice how you’re breathing and breathe differently.

Just commit to doing this breathing break at least once a day and you will shortly notice it is easier to allow yourself to relax more completely. And you’ll enjoy more of the good things in life.

If you or someone you know has lower back pain, sciatica or a herniated disc, call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs or request an appointment online.

You'll Love Our No-Appointment-Needed Office

Milwaukee Board Certified Chiropractic Orthopedist and Herniated Disc Doctor writes: When was the last time you arrived for a doctor appointment and were able to see the doctor at your scheduled time? From what we hear, it doesn't happen very often. And what about when you get caught in nasty weather or traffic, arrive twenty minutes late and are told you missed your appointment? Frustrating.... and a waste of your time either way.

That's why people appreciate our No-Appointment-Needed policy. 

Over the years we have fine-tuned our office procedures so that our schedule is sometimes more flexible than yours. No longer will you have to worry about getting caught in traffic and missing your scheduled time, and you won't have to arrive at our office and find out that we are running so far behind that you could have stayed at work another hour. 

You don't need an appointment to come in during our open hours. And that applies to anyone you want to refer here for their first visit.

We find that we can do this because of the nature of the treatment we do. We can always be ready for you. The most you should ever have to wait is five or ten minutes maximum and that just gives you a bit of time to relax from your drive.

Of course there are a few situations when you may want to schedule an appointment. If you have a new injury that may take some more time, you can call ahead a bit so we have time to prepare for your visit.

Best yet, this allows you to just drop-in for a visit whenever you think about it, like on your way up North this summer or right before you leave for the golf course. 

So, no need to call, no need to schedule, just come on in.

The only exceptions to this policy are spinal decompression visits and special exams which require a scheduled appointment. 

PS. Want to really impress a friend? When you are referring your friend in for an evaluation, just tell them you are one of our VIPs and we always schedule your referrals within the hour for the Red Carpet service.

If you or someone you know has lower back pain, sciatica or a herniated disc, call us at (414) 355-0433 to schedule a Complimentary Consultation with Dr. Donaldson to find out if you qualify for one of our StandUpRight Spinal Disc Decompression programs or request an appointment online.