Low back pain affects nearly everyone at some point in their lives. Medical researchers have long known that most cases of low back pain self-resolve after a couple of days with rest and palliative measures such as application of hot packs and cold packs.
But for some, low back pain returns, and eventually becomes chronic. “Chronic” means that pain has reached a level where tissue healing has for the most part completed, but there is recurring pain. Chronic pain is usually characterized as dull, persistent pain; as opposed to the sharper acute pain, which is the type of pain associated with recent injury or major aggravation of a previous injury; characterized by heat, redness and swelling. Chronic pain is believed to be central nervous system driven; meaning that some of the pain signals are emanating from brain and spinal cord neurons as opposed to nociceptors, the special pain-sensing fibers found throughout your joints, tendons and muscles.
If you have acute low back pain– again, from a recent injury, or aggravation of a previous back injury resulting in swelling and pain, the standard protocol agreed to by most orthopedic specialists is rest, ice for the first two days, followed by an optional hot pack for the next 3-4 days. “Rest” doesn’t mean bed-ridden. When used in this context, rest means no heavy lifting, bending at the waist, or activities that place undue pressure on the spine such as running or jumping. However, you should move your body in ways you can; i.e. do not mentally “catastrophize” it because studies show that this mindset can actually lead to poorer outcomes, such as taking a much longer time for the pain to resolve, and atrophy of the back muscles which reduces support to the spine and therefore predisposes it to further injury.
If you have chronic low back pain, the goal is to manage it so that it has a minimal effect on your activities of daily living– standing, sitting, walking, bending, and other activities that require similar use of the spine. If your chronic pain is mostly central nervous system in origin, it would be worthwhile to practice mind-body techniques. This includes yoga, meditation, and practices of that nature. Having control of your thoughts can be helpful in controlling chronic pain. It’s not all about ignoring your pain, but rather, not amplifying it by mentally embracing and validating it. The best approach is to continue as best as you can with your regular life activities– the things you did before the injury event. Modify them to accommodate any physical limitation, if necessary. For example, if you used to run, try speed walking. It’s less jarring to the knees and low back, and you burn the same number of calories. What’s most important is getting out there and staying active; i.e. “move through the pain.”
You can of course try to alleviate acute or chronic low back pain by using certain modalities. The ones I recommend are red light therapy and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. Red light (emitted by a light emitting diode, or LED) has a wavelength range of around 660 nanometers. It is electromagnetic energy at a wavelength that can influence biological activity in a positive way. Studies show that light at this wavelength gets absorbed by cell mitochondria, which respond by becoming more active. Mitochondria are the parts of a cell that extract energy from ATP, the molecule synthesized from glucose (sugar) in the diet. A recent study showed that applying red light to your eyes in the morning can even improve eyesight. If you have an injury and/or inflammation, red light therapy can be helpful in accelerating the healing rate.
If the original injury event was within a year, it is possible to eliminate your chronic pain and have it never come back again. You see, in some cases of ongoing pain, it could be that your injury still has the potential to completely heal but it just needs a boost on energy. Cells are dormant or at a low energy state and there is not much activity going on; i.e. protein (collagen) synthesis and cell division/ new cell creation. Here’s where Pulsed EMF can help. Pulsed EMF, known as “energy” medicine, is the only modality that works by increasing the action potential of cells. Like voltage that drives electrical current, a strong action potential across a cell membrane will enable the cell to improve its metabolic rate. Nutrients and oxygen will move across the membrane into the cell, while waste products and CO2 will efficiently exit the cell through the membrane. When the cells are more energized, their healing capacity increases.
To further enhance healing of an old injury, apply 30 minutes of Pulsed EMF twice a day, followed by ten minutes of red light therapy. What’s great is that you do not need to be a licensed doctor to acquire these modalities. They are safe enough to use at home and there are no studies that show a harmful or negative effect in the use of these machines. If you wish to get out of pain sooner and in the long run, you can’t go wrong with Pulsed EMF and Red Light therapy. When combined, they serve as a powerful treatment for injuries and pain.
Pulsed EMF and Red Light also can serve as maintenance therapy for those who have no health issues. Living in a modern society, our cells and tissues are constantly exposed to unnatural and even harmful electromagnetic fields from things like cell phone towers and powerful transformers in buildings (Pulsed EMF generates EM fields with the same frequency and wavelength profile as those naturally produced by the body itself, at higher amplitude). This saps our energy and weakens and drains cell energy. Applying pulsed EMF re-energizes the body very much like how you recharge your cell phone battery every day. Your body will feel the difference with the energy boost Pulsed EMF provides.
