by Lawrence Wilson, MD

BACK PAIN DURING NUTRITIONAL BALANCING PROGRAMS

Many people experience some degree of back pain after being on a nutritional balancing program for a few years or more. This is almost always due to several factors that are important to understand:

RETRACING OLD BACK INJURIES

This is extremely common. The old injuries stem from falls, mostly, or perhaps sports injuries or other traumas that occurred when one was a baby, a child or perhaps later. Most have been forgotten. However, the body carries the memory in the tissues and the bones, tendons and ligaments are not quite aligned properly. As the body heals, it has more energy with which to retrace and realign the spine and the rest of the bony structure. These subtle injuries that may never has caused much pain before are reawakened as they heal.

In many cases, it does not matter that one has had extensive chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation or other therapies such as massage, Rolfing or other body work. If the body is too tired, toxic or out of balance, these therapies can only do so much, in my experience. One may think that the structure has been corrected, and then one may be surprised when further healing occurs during a nutritional balancing system.

This process will go on, at times, until all the old injuries are healed. This can take years, however, as most people have quite a few of these injuries of which they are unaware. They may cause subtle problems such as knee pain, weakness or others. As they are resolved, the spine and the nerves leading to the legs begin to function better.

OPENING OF THE SPINE AND THE CHAKRAS

This is an amazing process that occurs often with a nutritional balancing program if one stays with it . It does not happen in the rest of the population, as a general rule, as they are too toxic and too poorly nourished.

Basically, as one heals in a special way, the seven major energy centers on the physical body, also called chakras in Sanskrit, begin to enlarge, spin more evenly and faster, and spin in the proper direction. As this happens, much more energy can move through the spinal column. When this subtle energy begins to move in this way, it can cause pain, soreness or even spinal misalignment to occur. This is a less common cause of pain for some people on nutritional balancing programs.

It is important to understand this cause of back pain because it will not usually go away with Aspirin or Tylenol, or even with more forceful medical methods such as back surgery. Instead, it requires careful chiropractic manipulation or osteopathic manipulation techniques to realign the spine, and relax the back. As with retracing old accidents and injuries, the opening of the spine will go on for years, at times.

It is as though it does not open evenly, so it gets ‘hung up’ at times and needs a little push or help from a chiropractor or other professional body workers. Be sure to avoid very rough chiropractic, as this is not needed and not helpful.

One can think of it as an unwinding process in which twists or tensions in the spinal column that go back years, in most cases, are slowly unwound as a new energy unleashes a force that pushes more energy through the spine, something like moving more electricity through a cable. If the cable is kinked or damaged, the electricity does not flow evenly and the kinked area may heat up or send out sparks. This is a crude analogy, but not a bad one.

In addition to manipulation of the spine, loads of rest, plenty of spring or distilled water and gentle exercise such as a daily slow walk are excellent to help with this process. Rubbing the feet, meaning foot reflexology and other simple methods may also be helpful. Other types of exercises may help, but one must go easy so as not to strain the back in any way. Strength training is not recommended as it may interfere with the free movement of the spine if overdone.

A good bed, perhaps an air bed, may help, as well, if sleeping is a problem. Companies that make air beds include Comfortaire and the Sleep Number bed. They are adjustable and some people find them better. Others like the memory foam beds, but the smell of these mattresses or mattress toppers is sometimes objectionable.

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