Overcoming Neck, Back, and Sciatic Nerve Pain One Step at a Time!

Well, TuffGuy and I are back at it, dealing with neck pain, back pain, and sciatica one step at a time! We started walking a couple of days ago after taking the winter off.

Wow are my legs sore!

I tried to walk with the little guy a few times when the weather first started to change, but being a short-haired dog, a Puggle, TuffGuy just wasn’t suited for the cold. Add to that, the fact that the salt and ice were tough on his paws, and I quickly realized I had to rethink my exercise program.

I had lost my workout partner!

A funny thing happened on my way to overcoming chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica…I got my life back!

As I started feeling better and eventually started walking, then finally exercising, I also started to think about working again. Anyone who thinks retirement is a good thing is nuts! Between the pain and the boredom…I was going bonkers! But every once in a while someone would still say, “Oh, I would love to be in your shoes! I’d fish and travel and do all sorts of things!”

Not!

I remember one trip I took, the girls were still playing soccer. We drove from Ohio to North Carolina for a huge tournament, the Raleigh Invitational Tournament.

I thought I was in Hell!

Very few times in my life have I experienced pain like that and I swore I would never travel like that again.

Back to the sectional!

But I tried!

I really thought my life was over, that for the next twenty or thirty years I was doomed to a life filled with pain, boredom, and Law and Order reruns.

I couldn’t read! How could I?

Between the chronically acute neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, and the pain medication, I was lucky to be able to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes.

Read? Impossible!

One of the things I enjoyed most in life, after my family and my dogs, was reading. I hadn’t been able to read a book in years!

I really had no idea I would ever be able to work again!

Heck, I wasn’t so sure I would be able to walk more than a few feet without passing out ever again!

Exercise?

Work?

As they say in the movie Donnie Brasco:

“Fahget abaat it!”

Interestingly, as I first started walking, finally exercising, and then even jogging a bit, I began to believe it just might be possible to reclaim my life.

I imagine that? After 10 years of fighting for my life. Was it possible?

Over the past year I have come to believe it is not only possible and probable, in fact, it is a reality.

I can work again!

Starting slow, first helping others deal with the same chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica I was beginning to overcome, I branched off into other areas and, before I knew it I was busy again, making a living, rebuilding my life, building businesses!

However, when winter came and I lost my walking partner, combined with the demands of building businesses and rebuilding my life, I slacked off! In doing so, I gained back a few pounds…and so did TuffGuy!

TuffGuy & The Bad Back Guy: Shedding the Winter Weight!

I also noticed an achy feeling from time to time. No, nowhere near the acutely chronic pain I used to experience, but enough remind me that if I didn’t get my act together, get back in the gym, and start walking again, I would pay!

So, with the weather breaking and both TuffGuy and I in need a exercise…we have commenced to walk again. The first 2 nights we did 4.4 miles. Not bad for a guy who couldn’t get from the sectional to the bathroom without passing out in pain, literally, less than 2 years ago.

No kidding!

Permanently catheterized because my bladder didn’t work properly due to the pain, passing out daily and to the point that my wife was afraid to go to work and leave me, and taking enough Oxycontin and Fentanyl to kill a horse (hundreds of 80mg tablets and fentanyl lozenges prescribed monthly), I started by walking to the end of my driveway and back…with Connie’s help.

By the time the snow fell this past winter, TuffGuy and I were up to 7-8 miles a night; and, I was also working out, riding a recumbent bike and lifting weights (Yup!) in the gym every single day, six or seven days a week.

How great is that?

Interestingly, with the snow, the loss of my walking buddy, and the increasing demands on my time building my life, again, I started missing workouts at the gym. Walking was out, it was lonely without my buddy along side, and ultimately I was worried about taking a spill on the ice. As good as I was feeling, after a broken neck, 14 back operations, and a complete shoulder reconstruction (plates, screws, wires, the whole shabang!) , all it would take would be one fall.

So, ice skating, hockey, playing for the Cleveland Browns (well, maybe!), and eventually walking through the snow and ice were out.

I could have continued to go to the gym or even bumped up my workouts a bit…but I got busy, started seeing dollar signs, and forgot what had worked, what had been responsible for my ability to walk, exercise, and work again.

Dumb!

But we are all human, right?

Getting back to the story:

We have started walking again and, a guy who could barely make it out of bed two years ago, less than two years ago, went 4.4 miles his first night…little dog right beside me!

It felt great! Even the soreness felt great! Compared to chronic and acute neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, and all the complications that came with it, the soreness was almost as good as….

Well, almost as good as!

Finally, I want to apologize!

I know I have let my readers down and I will make it a point to keep you informed, offer tips and advice (anecdotal, of course), videos, and articles, here and at Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief Strategies to help you reclaim your life, as well. It is do-able! It can be a reality for you too! If I can reclaim my life after all I have been through, you can too!

If you need help, want to walk, or whatever…just ask!

Contact me any time!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526 (home)
440-821-7018 (cell)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (personal email)

CANI! Constant and Neverending Improvement!

For a year now, and with real intensity and focus since the end of June 2009, I have been attempting to help others deal with their neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. It has been my sincere desire to help as many people as possible overcome their neck pain, back pain, and sciatica and achieve real and lasting pain relief!

The last year has been as much of an education for me as it has been for those of you willing to read my articles and watch my videos…then applying what I have suggested into action.

I certainly hope I have helped at least a few of you achieve lasting neck, back, and/or sciatic nerve pain relief!

Why?

Well, for many reasons.

Yes, I will admit when I started with all of this I thought it would be a decent way to make a living and help people deal with their neck pain, back pain, and sciatica at the same time.

Now?

I have benefitted in ways I never could have imagined when I started this. Not only have I helped others, verified through countless emails, Skypes, and even a few phone calls…but I have also helped myself. In fact, I have helped myself in ways I simply could not have anticipated a year ago.

Ultimate Bad Back Strategies and The Bad Back Guy were perhaps not the best choices for names but they accurately described my condition and my mindset at the time.

And now, I would probably be better described as The Healthy Back Guy! Certainly, a much more positive description than the
former.

In either case, I have been fortunate to parlay my education as a physical anthropologist and my background as a strength coach and trainer of athletes into something useful. Along the way I have learned more about marketing, and I started my marketing career in 1974, so I am not a novice, and, I have learned a great deal more about computers and the Internet.

So, my education, while far from complete, has allowed me to prosper in ways I could never have imagined while helping others deal with their chronic pain; and, in particular, their neck pain, back pain, and sciatica.

I have also helped myself and relieved my own very acute and chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, as well as several other health issues, while I have been at it.

All of this started with a decision!

I got to a point where the pain of being in pain wasn’t as great as the pain of my life…so I acted.

I have never looked back!

CANI! Is a Tony Robbins concept and it means “constant and neverending improvement!”

CANI!, in one form or another, has been taught by the masters from the beginning of history. In fact, there are examples of a consistent and concerted effort overcoming great odds going back thousands of years!

Why?

Because it works!

Consistently applied, constant and neverending action focused on a predetermined goal has moved mountains, literally. It has led to constant and neverending improvement…CANI!

CANI! can certainly work for you in overcoming your neck pain, back pain, and sciatica.

It simply, or not so simply, takes a decision, an action followed by another action, one built upon the next in a consistent and constant manner until the outcome you
imagined, or couldn’t have imagined as in my case, changes your life once and for all.

There!

Did I say that in enough ways…enough times?

Ultimately? It is up to you!

One more time!

It begins with a desicision, followed by an action, and then repeated constantly and consistently over time. If you apply this concept to your life I can assure you of one thing, your life will be different, it will be better, and it will be amazing!

I guarantee it!

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad (Healthy) Back Guy
216-712-6526
216-539-7412 (bus)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, If you are ready for that first step, if you are ready for the New Year…to begin anew…with little or no neck pain, back pain or sciatica? Simply click this link and begin today!

Begin With the Foundation: Stretching, Walking, and Exercising…The Legs are the Foundation!

The legs are quite literally the foundation of any neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief strategy. I started with stretching and walking, slow and steady but adding a bit more each and every time over a period of days, weeks, and months…now, it is time for more!

This is a remarkable thing, that I am even able to speak to you about a workout I am doing for any part of my body…but especially the legs! A year ago, housebound, depressed, and suffering from chronically acute neck pain, back pain, and sciatica…I was The Bad Back Guy!

As you progress, you must begin with machines rather than squats or lunges. The machines offer more control and a gradual approach is possible. Having suffered with neck pain, back pain, and sciatica for many years, the machines allow me to isolate certain body parts while minimally involving the synergistic and antagonistic muscle groups, this is safer and more effective as I begin.

You may be able to do the same thing, once you get to a certain level with stretching and walking and if, and only if, you feel comfortable in the gym or have someone experienced in neck and back issues to work with you.

I will go into greater depth on this topic but for now, I suggest you visit:

Ultimate Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief Strategies to review the subject, as well.

Watch the videos and read the articles, get an idea of what is entailed.

We will build from there in the coming days and weeks as we continue to stretch, walk, and exercise for neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief!

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526 (home)
216-539-7412 (business)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, If you are ready for the next step, contact me or go to http://TheBadBackGuy.net You have nothing to lose but the pain!

The 30 Day Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Challenge Coming to Close? The Beginning of Real and Lasting Pain Relief!

Over the past few months we have discussed the five factors contributing to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. We have also conducted two 30 Day Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief Challenges!

We have covered so much, I thought it best to let the video say it all. I hope those of you who have stayed with me throughout the Summer and now into the Fall are seeing what I have often referred to as real and lasting pain relief!

That is my hope for every person out there suffering from the sort of pain I know you must be struggling with!

Now?

Well, now it’s time to act!

If you haven’t put what I have been teaching, and doing, into action yet? Now is the time! If you apply just what I have been proposing from the outset, you will be on your way to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief.

The five factors are the hub, they are the linchpin at the center of the enter system…and it is through understanding and dealing effectively with these factors that we find real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief.

The five factors are, once again:

1) Excess weight and/or obesity. This is crucial! Excess weight, whether a few pounds of “baby fat” or a diagnosis of medical obesity, is a crucial factor and the main contributor to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica across all age groups and in both genders.

2) Muscle weakness comes with a sedentary lifestyle and being inactive results in too much weight, the first factor, and muscle imbalances, the third factor. Muscle weakness also exacerbates spinal curvatures and places undue stress and pressure on the connective tissue, the intervertebral discs, and the vertebrae themselves. Muscle weakness is also a crucial factor in overcoming neck pain, back pain, and sciatica.

3) Muscle imbalances are muscle arguments, muscle dialectics! The muscles argue with one another, one overpowering the other and resulting in a stressed musculoskeletal system generally, and a traumatized spine, specifically. By dealing with the first two factors and implementing a quality stratching progam, we are able to deal with our neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain, long term.

4) Diet and nutrition is the fourth of the five and, for many, is the most difficult. Not only does inadequate diet and nutrition contribute directly to your neck pain, back pain, and sciatica…it contributes to your pain level by not allowing the body to replenish and rebuild itself once injured and stressed. Inadequate diet and nutrition is a barrier to real and lasting pain relief.

5) Dehydration or inadequate hydration is not only a sign of the times, it is a major impediment to overcoming neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. Inadequate hydration also leads to age-related degeneration of the IVDS caused by dehydration and aging…it is one component of degenerative disc disease. The lifestyle we live and the beverages we drink only serve to intensify this issue and the dehydration creates even greater levels of neck pain, back pain, and sciatica across the board.

In dealing with the five factors as part of a total program, one that not only focuses on each of the five factors individually but as part of a whole, an entire life system designed for ultimate neck pain, back pain, and sciatica reliefl long term.

Over the next 40 days we will continue to build upon what we have started…and assist you in achieving real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief through stretching, walking, exercise, diet and nutrition, and adequate intake of fluids, the proper kind…in the proper amounts.

It is my hope that just as I have received emails, Skypes, and telephone calls each and every day from around the world from people who are taking control of their lives, that the neck pain, back pain, and sciatica education your have received here will help you too!

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, For a program for real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief, just click this link and begin today!

The 5 Factors Contributing to Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica: Dehydration or Inadequate Hydration

Understanding the 5 contributory factors, the principle causes of neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, is extremely important in overcoming and relieving our pain!

Returning to a “normal,” pain free life may not be possible if we are not aware of the contributory factors and how they affect our neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. It is crucial not only for our own edification but also for our overall understanding of how to construct and apply a real and lasting pain relief strategy.

Dealing with the 5 contributory factors:

1) Excess weight and/or obesity. By now you can see how that is linked to several of the 5 factors.

2) Muscle weakness. As we deal with this we will affect changes in our body that will lead to muscle strength and thus less neck pain, back pain, and sciatica.

3) Muscle imbalances. As we deal with our imbalances and our muscle weaknesses we deal with the other factors, too.

4) Diet and nutrition. As we educate ourselves concerning diet and nutrition, we set up a number of changes and make many more possible.

5) Dehydration. Or perhaps more accurately inadequate hydration. This has a profound effect on disc health and consequently on neck pain, back pain, and sciatica.

Dealing with the 5 factors will put us on the road to permanent neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief!

While we have discussed the 5 factors over the past several months, we have gone into detail over the last few days. It is my hope that you will achieve real and lasting relief as a result.

The fifth factor, dehydration or inadequate hydration is vitally important, as our intervertebral discs or IVDs are made up of primarily of water, in fact they are 85-90% water in a healthy individual. We lose water daily and our ability to replenish our body’s water supply is seriously jeopardized by our habits and our intake of various fluids know to be diuretic in nature.

The video below will deal with this in greater depth.

We will wrap up tomorrow and then move on to a new, neck pain, back pain, and sciatica treatment and relief exercise strategy that will help anyone willing to apply it…long term!

It is important to remember that it is not that we are drinking fluid, it is the kind of fluid and the amounts we are taking in that is vital to long term neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief! Simply drinking fluid, with little or no attention paid to the amount of water we are taking in, will set our spine up for degenerative disc disease, age-related dehydration, and a number of other neck pain, back pain, and sciatica related issues.

I will wrap this up in the next video and article. I hope this series has provided you with a base on which you can build an effective, long term neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief strategy.

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, For real and lasting relief from neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, begin with this program. Simply click here and start today!

The Recumbent Bike is an Awesome Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Exercise Tool.

The recumbent bike is a low-impact device almost anyone can use with very little risk of injury or chance of exacerbating a current spine-related condition. Not only is the exercise itself extremely beneficial, it is a year round, all-weather exercise strategy.

When beginning a neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica relief strategy the recumbent bike offers some real advantages over just about any other form of exercise.

Not only is the recumbent bike simple to operate, it is relatively inexpensive, much cheaper than a year’s membership at the local health club, and a whole lot more convenient. Given today’s easy financing, even the more expensive models are easily within reach for most people, and certainly cheaper than the lost revenue associated with neck pain, back pain, and sciatica.

When considering medical co-pays, lost time at work, diminished standard of living, being in pain day in and day out, the recumbent bike is a great deal!

My purpose is not to sell you a recumbent bike here, my purpose is to make it clear that this is an affordable neck pain, back pain, and sciatica exercise method that is within reach…and it works!

The best part about using a recumbent bike for your neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief and treatment exercise strategy is that if you find you are having difficulties that day, feel some slight discomfort while exercising, or you’ve just reached your tipping point for that day, you can simply climb off and, if you are home, jump in the shower and go on with the rest of your day, or if you are at the gym, simply jump off, jump in the shower, and go home to begin again the next day.

How great is that?

It’s not like walking or running where you might be several miles from home and have to call someone to come and get you, if you have watched my previous videos and read my previous articles, and have made sure to have an emergency kit with you on your walks or runs…to include a cell phone!

The recumbent bike, whether using one in your home, which is optimal, or at the gym, like I do, makes it possible to say, “That’s it for today!” and not have it be a major hurdle…like if you are 2 miles from home when you find you have had enough!

The recumbent bike is a low-impact neck pain, back pain, and sciatica exercise tool that works, enhancing aerobic fitness, dealing with muscle weakness and imbalances when applied along with other methods we have and will continue to discuss, and allows you to deal with the number one reason most people have and continue to have neck pain, back pain, and sciatica: excess weight and/or obesity.

20-30 minutes on the recumbent bike 3-5 days a week will enhance aeoribic fitness and muscle strength, while at the same time dealing with muscle imbalances, when used in conjunction with the proper stretching routine, and will ensure weight loss. In fact, using a recumbent bike just 30 minutes a day 4 days a week will lead to rapid and permanent weight loss…provided you continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise, in the future. The increased activity, particularly if you have been sedentary for an extended period of time, will lead to rapid weight loss and the resulting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief will be immediately apparent and, quite frankly, a welcomed change!

The recumbent bike is not the be-all-to-end-all but it is the single most important tool I use for overall fitness and for neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief. Using the recumbent bike allows for a spillover effect into several areas of my life and the overall improvement in quality of life is immediately apparent. Given just one neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica relief and treatement strategy for exercise? I would pick the recumbent bike…

“Feets down!”

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, If you would like to start today, start with a firm foundation and build accordingly. Proper neck pain, back pain, and sciatica treatment and relief begins with a single click to TheBadBackGuy.net!

Stephen King is a master storyteller, almost everyone will agree with that…whether a fan of the genre or not. Stephen King has a way of telling several different stories simultaneously, engaging his readers thoroughly, and then finally bringing the various storylines together into a fully involved tale!

The result of Stephen King’s method of storytelling is magical and the formula has made Mr. King a wealthy man and has earn him popularity around the world.

I am a fan of Stephen King’s and have read most of his novels and almost all of his nonfiction works. In fact, some of King’s best writing is nonfiction! King’s book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft provides a very special look into the mind of this literary genius and how he developed his craft.

I have been thinking about Stephen King’s method for quite some time now, as a matter of fact I have shown some of my notebooks I use during my
walks at night in previous videos and the ideas regarding the author’s method and style are in those notebooks several times…it is that constant and consistent a thought.

You see, Stephen King’s method for telling a story is also a template for success…in life, business, overcoming back pain, losing weight or whatever!

The reason I say that?

Glad you asked!

Stephen King recognizes that to fully engage his audience he has to link them emotionally to his characters and to what happens to them. In other
words, he has to make us care about them…or at the very least be intrigued. He engages his audience, pulls us in, and then begins to tighten the story, and the noose, or hang man’s knot as he might say, and bring the various characters into focus…and into each other’s lives.

The authors of popular fiction tell a story in a certain way, making all of the various characters and story lines come together into a cohesive whole, one that not only makes sense for us but works for the story, as well. Stephen King is a master storyteller because of his ability to bring several threads together and make it all understandable.

Dealing with life and with health issues like neck pain, back pain, and sciatica works much the same way. Unless you deal with all of the threads, all of the factors affecting and aggravating neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, bringing them together into a cohesive treatment strategy, it is impossible to make sense of the components and equally impossible to understand the impact of the parts on the whole and vice versa.

An effective long-term neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief and treatment strategy must address all of the factors or the overall effect will be next to nothing.

Dealing with weight loss, muscle weakness, muscle imbalance, inadequate diet and nutrition, and dehydration as part of a comprehensive strategy is necessary for real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief.

To spend time attempting to deal with the neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica without paying attention to all of the threads is futile, the story incomplete, the end result more pain. In order to effectively relieve neck pain, back pain, and sciatica?

Deal with all the threads in the story, the 5 factors leading to neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain:

1) Excess weight and/or obesity.
2) Muscle weakness and a sedentary lifestyle.
3) Muscle imbalance.
4) Inadequate diet and nutrition through proper meal planning and dietary intake.
5) Dehydration by way of adequate fluid consumption (water).

By dealing effectively with all the characters in the story, your life will have a happy ending…at least where neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief are concerned!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
866=835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, The ultimate program for neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain relief is here! Just click this link and begin today! An awesome work of nonfiction leading to your own successful autobiography!

The Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief and Treatment 30 Day Challenge!

This is where you find out the secret to my neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief…guaranteed and in the form of a free trial!

This video will take you to a program of relief of neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, often in a matter of days. I have used these strategies and I purchased this program, it works! Not only does this program take you through assessment and implementation of your neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica relief program step-by-step…it is 100% guaranteed and offers a free trial, as noted above!

If you want the physical version, which is the only the way to go frankly, you may have to pay for shipping and handling but it is only a few bucks and well worth it to get the workbook, the DVDs, the assessment guide, and all the rest.

It’s great!

So, all you have to lose is your pain! Good luck to you and don’t forget, you can contact me anytime!

Once you join, I will send you my personal email address, the one I check 2-3 times a day. And, you will also have access to me via Skype IM too!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, You can go to http://TheBadBackGuy.net to begin the next step, your journey towards a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica free life!

Understanding neck pain, back pain, and sciatica is a crucial as our treatment is often dependent on the ability to describe both the location of the pain and what kind of pain…and its intensity. In order to fully comprehend, treat, and recover from neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica, we need to seek medical treatment early enough after the first expression of neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica and we need to take an active and involved role in the treatment strategy before, during, and after formal medical intervention and treatment.

The Types of Spine Pain (also referred to the general types of back pain)

Back pain is known by a variety of technical terms depending on the location and severity. Neck pain is also known in medical terms as cervicalgia. Neck pain or cervicalgia may vary from dull and aching to chronic and acute and is often associated with pain in the shoulder and tingling and numbness in the arms and hands. Upper back pain, also known as thoracic pain, is also referred to as middle back pain depending on the location. Thoracic pain, like to neck pain, may range from dull to acute and chronic. Lower back pain, also known as lumbago, affects the lower back, as the name indicates, and ranges from dull, localized pain to acute, chronic, and widespread. Lower back pain or lumbago may also be associated with the final classification of back pain, known as sciatic nerve pain or simply sciatica. Sciatica, also known as sciatic neuritis, is often classified as a lumbar radiculopathy (the distinction is beyond the scope of this article). Sciatica, as with the other expressions of spine pain mentioned above, may range from a dull and aching pain, to acute and chronic, many times associated with pain across the buttocks and into the legs. Sciatica may also present with weakness, tingling, and numbness in the legs, feet, and toes.

Describing and Quantifying Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

One of the most difficult tasks when it comes to back pain, in any of its expressions, is to describe the type and intensity of the pain. Because neck pain, back pain, and sciatica vary from patient to patient and incident to incident, and because pain is an abstract concept, not easily identifiable or quantifiable, ranking neck pain, back pain, and sciatica on any sort of a scale is at most minimally helpful and, in many instances, totally ineffective in treating the condition. Because pain is the ultimate symptom of an underlying condition, it is crucial that a medical practitioner be consulted as soon as possible after pain presents itself.

The Etiology and Treatment of Spine Pain

The etiology (cause) of spine pain may be difficult or even impossible to properly identify, particularly if medical treatment isn’t sought immediately. Several studies indicate that the sooner an individual seeks medical attention for their neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica, the better the prognosis. Significantly, one of the biggest challenges facing the medical community, particularly when it comes to spine pain complaints, and I am referring to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica when I refer to an overall category like spine-related pain, is that patients do not seek medical attention early enough, leading to an exacerbation of the underlying condition.

Treatment and Relief of Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

There is encouraging data from several studies that would seem to indicate that approximately 3.5 to 4 in 10 chronic back pain patients, that’s pain lasting more than 90 days, recovered within a year. However, that still leaves a sizable number affected by chronic pain long term. The numbers seem to improve with exercise and there are many studies that seem to indicate that low-impact, supervised exercise is the best overall strategy for chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief. Treatment for acute spine-related pain, meaning pain lasting more than 24 hours but less and 2 weeks, generally requires a different but linked strategy. Overall, early treatment focusing on proper diagnoses and neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief includes ice, use of anti-inflammatories (sparingly), and physical therapy. Bed rest is almost always counter-indicated and may exacerbate the problem.

Pain is Difficult If Not Impossible to Describe and Quantify!

Acute and/or chronic neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica are even more difficult to describe and diagnose because the spine is such a complex system. Only through immediate consultation with a medical practitioner, combined with a comprehensive and individualized neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica relief strategy can one hope to achieve a pain free life once again.

The answer?

1) Get a proper medical diagnoses.
2) Get active as quickly as possible.
3) Follow up with your medical practitioner at regular intervals until pain free.
4) And, most important of all, get involved in a comprehensive neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica relief program.

How to Overcome Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica: Finding Lasting Relief

Ultimately, make sure any neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica treatment and relief program includes stretching, walking, and low-impact exercise (particularly at first) to strengthen the musculoskeletal system as a whole, and the spine in particular. Focus on the 5 factors and you will be on your way to a pain free life: lose weight; strengthen your core muscles, specifically, and your musculoskeletal system, generally; work on any muscle imbalances you may have; get adequate nutrition, through proper diet, to ensure your body has the nutrients to rebuild; and finally, take in plenty of fluid to ensure intervertebral disc health (IVDs are 85% water).

If you follow the above mentioned pain treatment and relief strategies you will be on your way to neck pain, back pain, and sciatic nerve pain (sciatica) relief in no time!

If you ever have any questions, I would be happy to discuss them with you!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, There is another, more in depth article on the subject of the types of spine pain…to include neck pain, back pain, and sciatica at Ultimate Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief Strategies! Just click here!

PPS, For a comprehensive program tailored for neck pain, back pain, and sciatic relief, begin your new life here!

How to Find Permanent Relief from Chronic and/or Acute Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica!

Well, it has been just about two weeks since I announced the latest Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief Challenge and the response has been quite good. People are stretching, walking, and exercising their way to pain relief and a new life! I have quite literally received emails, Skypes, and telephone calls from all over the world…how incredible is that?

The challenge is a take-off on Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret, and if you don’t know what it is or haven’t taken the 32 minutes you need to listen to this amazing recording, I will put the link blelow. It has been a part of my personal library for more that 30 years now, closer to 35, and I still listen to it whenever I get a bit off course…in any of life’s arenas! Earl Nightingale’s 30 Day Challenge has inspired me to do great things in the past because, after all, who can pull themselves up and go all out for 30 days?

And, the most amazing thing of all? Once you have done it once, you will find yourself doing it again and again. You see, you can apply it to virtually every area of your life and get amazing results.

I usually break my 30 day challenges down ever further and challenge myself each and ever day. This mindset, this technique has worked for everyone from 12 steppers in the various addiction programs to Tony Robbins’s students integrating CANI! into their lives:

Constant and Never Ending Improvement! CANI!

The fact is, we all have a sort of socio-cultural ADD/ADHD, in that, with so much going on in our lives and around us, it is often difficult to stay focused on a single task for very long, at least until we find out whether it works or not. Once we know it will pay off, it is usually a no-brainer…but until then it is often difficult to stay focused. Or, in my case, to keep people focused long enough for them to see for themselves that they can change their lives and achieve real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief by applying a few sound principles and pain relief strategies.

Over the past 4 months, if you have been following along, you have experienced a profound change in your life.

Not only will you have experienced neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica relief, you will have experienced a new energy level, new focus, newly found optimism, and an enthusiasm for life you may have thought was gone forever!

The momentum that comes from taking one day and building upon the day before, taking small and gradual steps, integrating one strategy and then another until you begin to experience a new and exciting life is contagious; and, the enthusiasm you experience spills over into virtually every area of your life!

I have lost weight, lost inches, found new energy and vitality, my neck pain (2 compressed vertebrae and one surgery), back pain (13 surgeries and everything from T12 to S1 is fused), and sciatica (see above!) are a thing of the past, and I quite literally have a new life!

All of the changes in my life, all of the improvements came as the result of a single step, a single decision I made to change my life!

The greatest things about my transformation and my neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain relief? I can do the following:

1) Pick up my granddaughters and hold them without having to be seated first!
2) I can walk my dogs and enjoy the outdoors again!
3) I am once again dating my wife, even making it to an Indians game this summer…for the first time in years!
4) I can live for more than a few hours without thinking about when my next pain medication dosage is!
5) I can drive and travel more than a few miles without being in agony because of the back pain and sciatica!
6) I can work in the yard!
7) I can read! Something I had all but given up because of the combination of the pain, particularly in my neck and back, but also because of the pain medication and its effect on my concentration.
I can work out again! Something I had all but written off and missed terribly!
9) I can jog…yes jog! The proper shoes are crucial for this and don’t do this too soon!
10) I can be intimate with my wife!!! I am not going to draw you a picture but the combination of the pain and the pain medication was a definite libido killer!

I could go on for pages!

Ultimately, it is up to you, you can either continue as things are and forget about the rest of your life…or you can make a decision and put a plan into action!

I did and my neck pain, back pain, and sciatica are a thing of the past, they are no longer a factor in my life. I now follow a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief and treatment strategy daily and it works. My life is my own once again, you can have yours…it is up to you!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, Don’t forget! It all begins with a single step. Neck pain, back pain, and sciatica can be a thing of the past…just click this link!

PPS, Nope! I didn’t forget, here is your link to The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale, and it is amazing!

A Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Update from Our Spot!