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Identifying the Pain in the Back & Neck

What is Back and Neck PAIN?
Well, there are no concrete agreed upon answers to this question and medicine models will grudgingly admit so. 95% of all back and neck PAIN has no “identifiable” physical cause and yet the interference and damage the PAIN creates in peoples’ lives only progresses over time for the majority of cases. Clearly, understanding about this pain could be helpful.

Not only is it helpful to understand about the PAIN of back and neck pain conditions, it is imperative. Long before any diagnosis or possible treatment of a pain-causing Condition, or for testing and treatment of underlying metabolic impairment – identifying and treating the PAIN is the most important part of healing.

It is estimated under-treatment of pain is a significant, if not the main, reason for the high disability numbers associated with back and neck pain. It is also proposed to be the main contributor in the development of the dis-ease of pain Maldynia. It is why pain researchers are now recommending the immediate and complete resolution to “Pain” as soon and as completely as possible.

Improper diagnosis of “The Pain” itself also leads to the improper use of dangerous man-made drugs. These drugs can and do lead to other metabolic imbalances and contribute to the development of other dis-eases.

Hundreds of Names for Back and Neck Pain
There are so many names to define pain. Some define the “type” of pain as “acute”; some define conditional pain as “discogenic” (pain from discs). There is even a name doctor’s use when they believe the pain is “all in your head” and does not really exist.

The “new science of pain” also keeps changing the terms to define pain. It’s all just too confusing and pretty irrelevant to the pain sufferer. WHO JUST WANTS THE PAIN TO GO AWAY!

“Naming the Pain” is Still Important
We try to keep things as simple as possible and so you will find we rarely use any of these normal orthodox medical terms for PAIN. To help the person suffering from back and neck pain better understand the “New Concept” it is still necessary to give PAIN some names. We generally discuss PAIN using only two newly accepted scientific terms. “Eudynia” and “Maldynia.”

1. Eudynia (Greek for GOOD pain) being pain linked to normal tissue damage (includes damage from autoimmune conditions)
2. Maldynia (Greek for BAD pain) the dis-ease (disorder) of pain that has NO involvement with normal tissue damage – it is pain created by the body.

We agree with “the new science of pain” that neither should have a link to a period of time. We also agree there may be a problem with using just these two defining words.

Here is the Problem
It used to be that “Acute Pain” (good pain) was (or could be) expected to last from 1 day to 6 months. That was reduced to three, then 1 month. “Chronic Pain” was the label used after these times of acute pain had expired. The implication was - because pain had lasted longer then these arbitrary times assigned to acute pain, a person now had chronic or “ONGOING” pain. But, this did little to explain WHY the pain was still hanging around. Was it simply ONGOING acute (good pain) resulting from tissue damage such as arthritis? Or was it chronic pain from the dis-ease of pain, Maldynia?

Importance of Discovering Maldynia
Over the past few years a great deal of research and study has gone into the subject of PAIN.

What they discovered was that acute or good pain could become Maldynia (bad pain) at any time – in less than 24 hours. But more importantly, Maldynia was the result of physical remodeling within the Central Nervous System. This remodeling of the CNS is the dis-ease of PAIN and it does not depend on any identifiable tissue damage, which would normally be the cause of pain.

Science is still trying to identify all the remodeling changes that take place. They still don’t know exactly why this remodeling happens, they only know – IT DOES HAPPEN. Once these remodeling changes occur, no one knows how to reverse them.

So, does this mean that all those people who suffer daily with ONGOING back pain have the dis-ease of pain, Maldynia? NO, it does not. Many people have ongoing (chronic) pain from degenerative dis-ease processes, which orthodox medicine does not know how to cure or reverse. These types of conditions result in PAIN from ONGOING tissue damage. The body responds to this in exactly the same way – it creates GOOD pain. It just happens that the pain goes on, because the dis-ease goes on.

Here is where it gets a bit tricky – some of these people ALSO have Maldynia, or are in danger of developing Maldynia at any time. The two types of PAIN can and do co-exist.

For this reason we urge caution for those persons with ongoing Eudynia Pain due to Degenerative Joint Conditions of the spine. A determination that the pain suffered is strictly due to Eudynia (good pain) may be very incorrect. That person may have also developed Maldynia and can be suffering from both types of pain. That person would now require different treatments for each type of pain.

How important is all this “Naming of Pain?” It’s only important so that pain, the type of pain, how it occurs and behaves is understood and used as an aid to find ways and means to control or eliminate it. The name of the game is to GET RID OF PAIN. And to understand that under-treating PAIN is a contributor to the development of Maldynia, the development of other conditions, worsening of existing conditions, and heightening the level and experience of the PAIN itself.

The message is: Treat the Pain, any pain, immediately if not sooner and as completely as possible. “As completely as possible” means achieving a level of pain that does not constantly creep into awareness or impede necessary normal activities. This can ONLY be defined by the
person in pain, not by the doctor.

• Please, don’t forget how effective our Heat Treat Backpack is for dealing with PAIN, INFLAMMATION and STRESS. Inflammation and stress turn out to be two major consequences and complicating contributors to an increase in pain. We are proud our product can do all this and more for people.

The Dangers from ONGOING Eudynia Pain
Even when there is no development of Maldynia, ongoing PAIN causes very significant metabolic changes within the body and accelerates premature aging leading to all the life threatening dis-eases facing the people of westernized nations.

Besides the possibility that Pain can lead to the dis-ease of pain, pain has many negative health consequences including, but not limited to: increased stress, metabolic rate, blood clotting and water retention; delayed healing; hormonal imbalances; impaired immune system and gastrointestinal functioning; decreased mobility; interference with appetite and sleep, and needless suffering. Chronic pain also causes many psychological problems, such as feelings of powerlessness, hopelessness, low self-esteem, and depression.

Identifying the PAIN is important knowledge. More importantly, if there is to be real resolution and relief of back and neck pain, an accurate diagnosis of the pain-causing condition and any possible underlying cause must be found (the metabolic imbalance) and treated. IN ADDITION, the Pain must be treated as a separate part of the equation. It takes time to accurately determine the sum of this information, and it is extremely important that all during this time, your pain is controlled. We hope we have helped with the understanding that:

PAIN won’t wait.

If you think its OK to “tough out the Pain” - Please, think again.

We would not have the staggering numbers of people, now included in that awful statistic of 70 MILLION people suffering from Chronic Pain, with many of those functionally disabled (US STAT).

We are not aware of any studies evaluating the numbers suffering from Maldynia – but there are some who believe it is quite high. It is also believed many of those who currently suffer with Maldynia remain undiagnosed and untreated.

A good number of the total disability numbers are back and neck pain sufferers. These are unnecessary numbers. We have much greater control of this then we are led to believe.

The rate and ratio of low-back pain (the area of the back that pain occurs in most frequently) has changed little over the years, but the associated disability has increased FOUR FOLD since the 1970s. Reasons for this are mainly due to the under-treatment of pain and failure to locate and treat both the correct pain causing condition and the real underlying cause(s) that may be responsible for the pain.

Treatment Models
Our research shows that the Natural and Orthodox Medical Models are beginning to move closer in working together to finding and treating the real causes of pain. Also, in identifying the real underlying causes of dis-ease, disorders, and all other processes that cause pain. Partnering in this search has led both models to concentrate on the reasons why the body develops metabolic imbalances and does not hold its homeostasis -

Natural Medicine has always approached patients from a homeostasis point of view. It took the body millions of years to develop sophisticated checks and balances to maintain health (life) using “tools” nature provided. Thankfully we now have greater understanding about many of the causes of interference with the body’s checks and balances and the significant role these play in the development of dis-ease, which include the many degenerative conditions responsible for 90 – 95% of all back pain.

Testing for various metabolic imbalances gives us the opportunity to eliminate or correct them. As the body “rebalances” it regains it’s “natural state of health” and disorders and pain heal. It is very important to us to help “eliminate” back and neck pain and to find a ways to do it without creating greater problems, which too often seems to be the rule and not the exception. The new concept discussed on this site has a greater potential to achieve this then ever before.


Further Suggested Reading:
“Interesting and Helpful Symptoms” looks at some of today’s most ignored early warning symptoms of developing dis-eases. It explains what appears to be the most significant underlying cause of today’s life-threatening dis-eases and explains how those “early warning symptoms” are tied to this underlying cause. It gives a condensed summary of what science now thinks about those dis-eases and their underlying causes. It is an easy to understand article for those not too interested in reading some of our other, information-heavy, more scientific articles. Those articles provide in-depth proof of the scientific data that went into the new concept and how it effects back and neck pain sufferers. “Interesting and Helpful Symptoms” might enable you to identify where you may be at this moment, in relation to any underlying metabolic imbalance and potential dis-ease progression. It may even convince you to read some of our “information-heavy” articles.

The article, “Identifying the CAUSE of Back and Neck Pain” (one of those “information-heavy” articles) discusses the important differences between back and neck pain causing Conditions, currently used to decide treatments - and the importance of evaluating all the other causes including any underlying cause. It looks at the truth (real numbers) about how many people actually “recover” from their back or neck pain episodes and the main reasons for the high failure rate to help eliminate back pain and how this knowledge can be used to shape your pain relief and long term health.

We can only pass on the information to help you to achieve the goals you wish. In the end, the responsibility for achievement is entirely up to you. First, to correctly identify and treat your PAIN, second to correctly diagnose and treat the pain causing condition – third, to determine any underlying CAUSE adding to your “pain-causing” Condition. Lastly, deciding which medical model or combination of models you believe can best help you.



REFERENCES:
NEUROBIOLOGY OF PAIN, D.Z.FULGOSI, MD, FRCP(C). http://www.medicalmasterclass.com/pain.%20Fulgosi.htm

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Study Links Chronic Pain to Signals in
the Brain http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/news_article_chronic_pain.htm

Wall PD, Melzack R. eds. Textbook of Pain. 4th ed. New York, NY Churchill Livingstone, 1999

Fields HL, Heninricher MM, Mason P. Annu Rev Neurosci 1991;14: 219-243

Millan MJ. Prog Neurobiol 2002;66: 355-474

Scholz J, Woolf CJ Nature Neurosci Suppl 2002;5: 1062-1067

JiR_R, Woolf CJ, Neurobiol Dis 2001;8: 1-10

Woolf CJ, Costigan M. Proc Natl Acad Sci 1999;96: 7723-7730

Liebeskind, J.C. "Pain Can Kill." Pain, Vol. 44, No. 1, January 1991: 3-4.

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. "Scientific Workshop

Summary: The Neuroscience and Endocrinology of Fibromyalgia." July 1996. Bethesda, MD