Spine Health

University of Massachusetts circa 1985. I was at the top of the key guarding my opponent in a basketball pickup game. Back in the day, weekend hoops on campus at UMass was a spectacle. All the serious players would show up and staying on the court by winning was the goal. I was guarding at the top of the key when my opponent cut to my left to drive to the basket. As I turned to guard him, I suddenly felt an incredibly sharp pain in my low back and immediately thought “who would bring a baseball bat on a basketball court and moreover, why would they swing it full force into my back? “...It was at that moment, at 18 years old, that my personal adventure with back pain began.

What had happened (there was no bat) was that I ruptured my lowest lumbar disc at L5 /S1. The pain and disability were enough that I was forced to miss the remainder of my freshman year at school and return home to recover. In those days the standard of care was complete bed rest (with a bedpan) for 6 weeks. It was thought that my spine was so unstable I could not move.  Imagine a fit and active 18-year-old lying in bed for 6 weeks.  Fortunately, we have come a long way to understand back pain and I have, coincidently or not, dedicated my personal and professional life to understanding and treating spine pain. We have indeed come a long way towards understanding back pain since my adventures in the eighties but there is still far too much misunderstanding and back pain remains an epidemic. Over 85% of all Americans suffer at least one episode of back pain that is disabling with 30 % of these people going on to have chronic pain. Think of this: Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide.  Surgery is almost never the answer as recent studies have shown that most spine surgeries are not necessary. I agree with this, and I have witnessed this for over 25 years of practice. However, treating and managing spine pain remains haphazard and inconsistent. My mission is to change that and that is the topic of this newsletter. 

Managing my own spine pain and treating patients for over 25 years has taught me many valuable things, the most important thing being that almost all back pain can be successfully treated conservatively.  What’s more, and this is what we take full advantage of in my practice, is that conservative treatment for all spine complaints is an excellent entry into our overall health, fitness and wellbeing. Finally, I want to emphasize that we don’t want to nor should we wait for pain to begin to train our spines. I will be offering this fall not just for people with back or neck pain, it’s for all of us. Training our spines with an emphasis on posture, movement, breath, and awareness creates the perfect program enhancing health and wellbeing.

Just recently I had a new patient come in presenting with acute low back pain. Ben is a 41-year-old surfer and father of three young boys. Ben works a professional job which typically and unfortunately means sitting at a computer far too much. During his treatment Ben mentioned that he was referred to me by a previous patient who is, self admittedly, and Ben confirms, a very critical person. It was because of this that Ben decided to come in for care. It must be good if his friend swears by the care.  During the treatment Ben was continuously complimentary – as people often are when receiving care- but as Ben spoke, I continuously found myself thinking (as I have for years): “Yes, thanks, I agree this is good care, but I know we can do it so much better”. This is so much better.  I know that we can set the standard for spine care and beyond that take the opportunity that is presented and develop an all-inclusive approach to spine care that can only enhance our overall health and wellbeing.

Beginning on October 1st I will launch my Spine care master class in which we will:

• Begin with a 30-day spine fitness challenge where I will post our daily exercise, stretch, lessons, encouragement, fundamentals of treatment, feedback via Instagram and our website.
  
  
• Begin our weekly in-house live group master class taught by Both Kent and me- this will be limited to 10 participants as we have very little space.
  
  
• Finally, I want to offer private one-on-one sessions with myself that will include both treatment and training.

Look forward to my next blog for more details. This will be fun and valuable for all of us.

In health,
Dr. Steve