I have had bad lower back pain for years. Stepped into a hatchway on a dark and stormy night at sea. It was particularly bad a couple of months ago just before we were leaving for 3 weeks travelling. My doctor suggested and performed acapuncture. 4 needles in my right ear, and more in my lower back and upper bum. By next morning the pain had completely dissapeared and I had no more pain for 6 weeks. Last week we were at our daughter's place inland from Coffs Harbour. Woke in the morning and couldnt get out of bed. Had to call an ambulance, shots of morphine and off to Coffs hospital for the day. Got me stabilised enough for a really painful trip home the next day. Had to stop at the Gold Coast at a mate's place to off load half a ute load of wood we had picked up from the local timber mill. He only got out of hospital for open heart surgery last week so we had the pleasure of standing idly by watching the women unload wood lol. Got home and two more bouts of acapuncture have me nearly pain free again. So for the many of you who have back pain this may be worth a try. It works for me the biggest sceptic under the sun, so it just may for you... cheers pete
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If there is such a thing as a tourist season.... why cant we shoot them?
I used to make this Ointment for the guys when I lived on Cape York, and we were hundreds of K's from medical treatment of any kind. They used to keep coming back for more, so I asumed it worked. It's very simple to make.
Juniper Berry Massage Ointment.
1/2 cup Juniper Berries. 1/2 cup Sesame, Olive, Sunflower etc. Oil.
[ Which-ever you have or prefer. Olive Oil makes a good base for Ointments I have found.]
Soak Berries in a small amount of water O'nite. Drain. Mash Berries a bit. Simmer in Oil approx. 30 Mins. DON'T BURN. Strain. Add Rosemary Oil, and melted Beeswax.
There is a Pain Treatment called Prolo Therapy. My friends are having it, and say it is very good.
The Practitioner they use, is going to start specialising in that very shortly. You can check it out on Google. It is a natural therapy, involving injections. [Non-drug.]
The Dr. bulk-bills, so they don't have to fork out cash every time they have a treatment.
These treatments only work if there is tissue damage, not arthritis or bone damage. I have severed disc degeneration, arthritis and facet joint damage. Physio is loosening things, but surgery is my ultimate treatment to pry the vertebraes apart and implant a spacer between them where the disc used to be. I've tried them all. Pain takes up a lot of brain space and can be debitating. At the moment the pain is winning despite weeks of physio on my lower back. This week it's the upper back's turn. Since surgery in 2006 I don't have the pain down the legs anymore. You're lucky the treatments help.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
Yes,I agree acupuncture gives fast relief from back pain...It is the best solution for the treatment of any kind of joint or muscle pain.Acupuncture is the ancient therapeutic technique,it is very simple technique.It reduces the chronic pain and back pain.Acupuncture therapy povide more strenghth and stability on entire body and decrease stiffness and weakness of the muscles.
The subject of pain is very interesting. There is a lot we don't know about it.
The two basic types of pain: acute and chronic.
Acute pain is actually useful and in our interest. It helps to know that resting one's hand on a stove is a really bad idea, as damage will result.
Chronic pain is different. It often persists AFTER the source of the pain is removed, for example, the infection is over or the injury has healed. This means basically, that the body pressed the RESET button, but it did not work. The reasons why not can be complex.
We cab start with a simple model of the nervous system as a "wiring harness". if you want to cut the current to a part of your rig, you can flip a switch, or disconnect a plug, or in more dire circumstances, cut the wire. No circuit, no signal.
Interestingly, evolution has already "thought" of this scenario. Human beings and other complex animals are "expensive" to "build" it takes 9 months for a human baby to be born, and two years for an elephant calf. Plus, in both species there is an extended childhood to learn the ropes of survival and culture. But it would not do if we could just flip the pain switch off. We would continue to walk with a badly sprained or broken leg, thus compounding injury or even increasing the likelihood of death. So not good for an expensive piece of kit.
On the other had, suppose you HAD to "get out of Dodge", despite your injury. You partly crushed leg may still be physically capable of helping you to move, if you suspect another landslide, or that Sabre-tooth tiger is sizing you up as a meal prospect.
Enter the magic land of endorphins, and epinephrine. If the stimulus is serious enough, your brain dumps these chemicals into your blood-stream, which may temporarily reduce or even eliminate the pain. Thus you are able to move, or escape to a place of less danger, and hopefully heal.
Indeed, athletes are very familiar with this phenomenon. Your get through the pain barrier, not because the lactic acid has been cleared from your muscles, but because natural opioids have cut the pain circuit, or at least, turned down the "rheostat".
The implications of this is that pain is to some extent, can be under conscious control, and is not totally automatic. meaning there is a psychological aspect to the perception of pain.
It is also an explanation of the placebo effect, and its "evil twin", the nocebo effect. The placebo effect is the psychological trick of distracting one from pain, and the nocebo effect is the opposite.
One of the most interesting things to come out of recent research is that, contrary to previous opinions, the placebo effect can work without deceit in some circumstances. In other words, patients KNEW they were taking placebo [usually plain sugar] pills, and still, got some pain relief FROM CHRONIC PAIN WHERE THE SOURCE OF THE PAIN WAS NO LONGER THERE. [An injury that was totally healed, etc].
This is, I think, how things like acupuncture works, because studies have also shown little if any relationship between where the needles actually go, and hitting an "off-switch" or "cutting a wire".
Keep in mind this has no effect on acute pain, and probably not on chronic pain where the injury or infection is still causing physical problems.
And I have by no means finished-far from it. Because our immune systems are tied in with out nervous systems. And it too can have problems resetting after a trauma or infection.
And lastly, I am making no "value judgements" here. I am not saying that some people are brave and others wimps. Because it is clear that their are natural variations concerning pain perception, and besides, is would be an ******* thing to say.
In fact, the message is upbeat. Placebo therapies are a useful adjunct to regular medications. For one thing, if we can harness the placebo effect more, it may be possible to reduce doses to gain the same effect, and certainly the more powerful drugs do have the risk of side effects including dependence and addiction, not to mention financial costs, to both the consumer and the health system.
Disclaimer: I am NOT a doc or pain scientist, just someone who reads science as a hobby.
So if you believe acupuncture works for you, go for it. But also don't get conned. And I would not rely on it totally. But it is worth trying to look at things as objectively and openly and analytically as we can, which may be difficult if we are in the midst of chronic pain. As I said, pain is complex, with lots of components and individual variations. Use proscribed drugs, if they help. And the medical/legal system is loosening up a little over things like cannabis for certain conditions.
