Wellness Wednesday is sponsored by Intermountain Health
The spine is an amazing part of our body. It’s our central bone structure. It’s a conduit for messages from our brain to our body. And it has taken a place in our culture as a metaphor for more.
In English idiom, people can be spineless, but not in medical science.
“Everyone has a spine. Everyone’s going to have neck or back problems at some point in their life, and understanding that these are common conditions that you will not have to face alone, I think is super important,” said Dr. Jeremy Shaw, a spine surgeon for Intermountain Health.
Shaw said the spine has three main regions.
“There's cervical, which is the neck, there's thoracic, which is kind of the upper back, and then there's lumbar, which is lower back. Most commonly people with a disc herniation or a disc degeneration in the neck will have neck pain, maybe shoulder or arm symptoms. People with thoracic, that presentation is perhaps the most variable. But a lot of people will have back pain, or my have pain kind of wrapping around their chest. And then lower back, that problem is going to most commonly cause leg symptoms," said Shaw.
There are ways you can help your body support the spine. Dr. Shaw likes lifting weights.
“Weight training and strength training is a whole spectrum. And so, for some people that could be getting in a pool and doing aqua aerobics. That could be doing bands, which I love. That could be going to the gym and lifting weights. You don't have to push the heaviest weight to get a great workout, said Shaw.
If you are feeling pain, don't go to the gym first. Instead, start at the doctor's office and they're likely to get you to a physical therapist or another expert, so your workout is really helpful.
“So we manage and treat a variety of spinal conditions non-operatively before we ever really talk about surgery,” said Shaw.
Surgery covers a wide spectrum of conditions.
“On the smaller end, it's things like microdiscectomy, and that's often for a condition like a disc herniation. The bigger procedures I do are mostly for things like spinal deformity that could be kyphosis where you tip forward, scoliosis where you have curvature of the spine,” said Shaw.
Words like spine injury and even back pain evoke fear of chronic conditions and loss of movement.
Fear is normal, but it shouldn't keep you out of the doctor's office.
“So, I agree. I think that having surgery is, is pretty scary,” said Shaw. “I myself have had surgery, so I do have a lot of empathy for my patients who are having surgery for the first time. I try to very carefully select patients who are going to do well with surgery. So, if we're talking about surgery, it's because we feel very strongly that you will benefit from that,” he said.
There’s an accepted medical term called “fear avoidance beliefs.” With back pain that means if people work so hard to avoid pain, they can make their condition worse because they don’t foster their body’s strength and flexibility. In other words, we all feel fear. But it is a mistake to let that rule your medical decisions.
