How to Treat Your Own Back and Neck Pain

By Steven Visentin, D.C.
Many patients see me after ruining their chances for quick recovery from back and neck pain. They try to fix themselves at home using the wrong kind of care to help their spinal problems. They use heat, when they should use ice. They rest when they should move. Worst of all, they delay necessary care hoping their problems will magically disappear.
It's important to use ice early on in most cases of back or neck pain. Using ice from 5-20 minutes while protecting the skin with a soft cotton towel can provide quick relief. This is especially true if the injury is new or intense in nature. We see this care given to professional athletes everyday on TV. A football player will get ice immediately after an injury. Why not do the same for ourselves?
Later on, hot tubs or hot showers can be excellent for achy, old injuries and provide relief and increased mobility.
The old electric heating pad places potentially dangerous electrical currents near delicate injured tissues. Many scientists feel this interferes with the body's inborn healing potential. Heating pads temporarily mask pain, while prolonging the problem by disrupting the bodies bioelectrical repair systems at the cellular level.
Another old fallacy that prevents quick recovery is the idea that we must rest in bed when we have back pain. This myth is so entrenched, that even physicians who should know better, recommend bed rest. While this may feel good initially, it can lead to rapid loss of strength of the muscles around the spine that help keep it erect. Rapid de-conditioning leads to longer periods of intense pain and stalls the recovery process. Science has shown, that people who stay active with back pain, do better than those forced to rest in bed.
Of course the best way to mess your spine up and perhaps your entire life is to do nothing. Worry. Imagine the absolute worst as you let your spine deteriorate. Don't even consider calling a chiropractor that specializes in these injuries. Take ibuprofen and other medicines that undermine the integrity of the natural self-healing systems necessary for full recovery. Delude yourself into thinking "if one pill is good, many pills are better." Of course, this is a prescription for disaster.
It's shocking how often people don't use ice, remain active and avoid needless pain by calling a qualified doctor of chiropractic. Suffering prolonged back or neck pain due to the wrong kind of self-care is a tragedy that no one should endure.