I am constantly queried from people around the world about their inability to resolve their pain and what my opinion is about their circumstance. Inevitably, based on the description of their symptoms and the diagnosis provided, I can almost instantly recognize that the diagnosis given could never create the symptoms being experienced. Stop and think about what that means. It means that as long as you are attempting to get treatment to resolve your pain, if that diagnosis is being treated, there is no chance that you will ever have your pain resolved. That is the primary reason so many of you end up in the typical situations that you find yourselves. Some of you are put on the pain medication train which leads to nowhere but addiction and continued pain. The latest and craziest trend is the use of radiofrequency ablastion (burning nerves) or rhizotomies (severing of nerves). If you can’t find the tissue eliciting the pain, just burn or severe nerves that supposedly act as the pathway to move the pain impulse to the brain I am guessing is their theory. There is of course that very sad group of you that because the medical establishment can’t identify the cause of your pain, you are told it is in your head. You are simply making this up and there is no physical reason for your pain. And finally, the rest of you who won’t adhere to one of these other groups, you are told there is nothing left to do for you and you will have to wallow in your pain for the duration of your lives.
You must understand that if the right tissue is identified and treated so there is no distress of the tissue remaining, the body has no need to elicit pain to create conscious awareness of the distress of the tissue and therefore the pain signal is ceased. THAT’S IT! With this understanding, it should be clear that your continued pain must be an indication that the wrong tissue is being treated. Some of the diagnoses being given by nature are simply invalid. They have no meaning and do not identify a tissue in distress eliciting a pain signal to create awareness of the distress. Here are 3 diagnoses that if given indicate a complete lack of understanding of what pain is and why it is elicited. These diagnoses present no legitimate tissue and therefore should be ignored. It is important to understand that the only true method with an understanding of how to interpret the body’s presentation of symptoms is the Yass method. It is the only method in a position to identify all potential causes of pain. Trying to get the right diagnoses is paramount or you will end up in one of the groups I discussed above. If you are given one of these three diagnoses, I would strongly recommend you find a way to use the Yass method to get the right diagnosis, treat the right tissue and end your pain quick and effectively so you can get back to a fully functional lifestyle.
1. SCOLIOSIS- This is certainly one of the most peculiar diagnoses for back pain I can imagine. The premise of scoliosis is that somebody is found to have a misalignment of the spinal vertebrae. They shift to one side or the other. Typically it is associated with the thoracic or lumbar spinal sections. The premise I imagine is that if the vertebrae are not in alignment somehow that makes the vertebrae elicit pain. The problem with this theory is that it makes no sense. I have no idea why bones that are misaligned would cause the bones to elicit pain. Let’s look at this from the Yass method perspective. The Yass method states that pain is elicited as a result of a tissue being in distress and the pain is elicited to create conscious awareness of the distress so it can be resolve. If we are discussing scoliosis then we must be talking about bone as the tissue. As far as I am concerned the only reason a bone would elicit pain and being in distress is fracturing. I am not aware of any patient I have ever treated with the diagnosis of scoliosis having fracturing of the vertebrae. This is why the diagnosis as a reason for pain is simply meaningless. A better way to look at scoliosis is to see it as a symptom just as the pain being experienced. They are symptoms of a muscle imbalance causing unbalanced forces on the vertebrae. This leads to altered forces on the vertebrae and the muscles will strain eventually creating pain at the connection of the muscle to the bone. The pain is not actually being elicited from the bone itself but from the connective covering of the vertebrae that the muscle is attached to. Correction of pain relates to treatment of the muscle, not the bone. Getting a rod put in the spine or being forced to wear a back brace for some ungodly length of time is not the proper path. I highly recommend against any action being taken for the spine when the diagnosis of scoliosis is given.
2. HERNIATED DISC- Let’s keep this one pretty simple. Intervertebral discs and the meniscus of the knee are made of fibrocartilage. This tissue does not have pain receptors in them. So quite simply, they can’t elicit pain on their own. They can certainly herniated or be pushed to impinge on another tissue but on their own, they can’t elicit pain. Just think about the logic of having pain receptors in these tissues. Every time you take a step, the intervertebral discs and meniscus are compressed and then expand acting as shock absorbers for the spine and knee. You would literally have pain every step you took if these had pain receptors in them. Makes sense, doesn’t it? For every person who has been told that a herniated disc causes back or even worse, sciatica, rest assured, this is a meaningless diagnoses and it should be ignored. By the way, a quick study for you, over the age of 60, 90% of people with no back pain were found to have bulging or degenerative discs.
3. NEUROPATHY- One of the great generalities perpetuated and yet I see no indication that this diagnosis relates to the symptoms people are experiencing. It works only because the world’s population for 30 years has been culturally misled to believe that pain only comes from nerves and therefore a focus for looking for pain should occur with the spinal cord and nerves. So if you ask most people if they are having pain what tissue they think is the cause, most will say nerves. Let’s shed some light on this diagnosis. Neuropathy when broken down means neuro- nerve and pathy-pathology. The implication with the diagnosis is that there is a pathology of a single nerve. This means that a structural variation has occurred within the nerve. This simply doesn’t make sense to me. What would cause a singular nerve to suddenly have a structural variation. There is certainly systemic disease entities that cause mass destruction of nerves; but one nerve? In my mind this simply doesn’t pass the smell test. By the way, the diagnosis is always given by who; a neurologist. Here are some facts for you. nerves are not the only tissue that can refer symptoms; muscles can. How do you know this to be true? What are the symptoms of a heart attack? Pain at the left chest and arm. There is nothing wrong with the arm. The heart, which happens to be a muscle refers the symptoms to the arm. In fact, muscles that make up the rotator cuff of the shoulder or some of the shoulder blade stabilizing muscles can refer symptoms down to the arm and hand. Another important point to understand is the fact that muscles don’t run in tunnels isolated from other tissues. They actually run near and through tissues like muscles. So if a muscle were to strain and thicken, the muscle can impinge on a nerve and elicit a neurological symptom. In this case, you have a muscular cause and a neurological symptom. Sciatica is the greatest and most often misdiagnosed “neuropathy”. It is the result of a muscle in the gluteal region called the piriformis muscle impinging on the sciatic nerve after it has strained in trying to compensate for a strained hip muscle called the gluteus medius. So if somebody gives y0u the diagnosis of neuropathy, I would take note of who is giving the diagnosis and consider whether the diagnosis even makes sense.