Ultimate Neck Pain, Back Pain & Sciatica Relief Strategies

Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Do NOT  Have to Be a Death Sentence…or a Life Sentence!

I have been thinking a lot about why people seem to lash out and cast aspersions when someone is sincerely trying to help, when someone is offering a better way to deal with some aspect of one’s life, and I finally got it!

I have been writing on a myriad of topics for a little over a year now, not only on subjects related to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica…but subjects pertaining to business, marketing, success, persistence, determination, and life, in general.

All the things I earned an honorary doctorate in while fighting for my life!

A little background.

A while back I wrote an article and did a video about how Tony Robbins had offered support at just the right time, in just the right way, and it made a huge difference in my life.

I was attacked for it!

I called him the “Crazed Canuck!”

The Crazed Canuck called me a scammer and attacked my personal and professional integrity. He also made mention of my background and questioned my success in life as related to my office furnishings.

Interesting, a bit amusing, and…

Incredible!

I have never made it a secret that I am rebuilding my life after a catastrophic illness(es) and that we are basically starting from scratch.

Had it not been for incredible friends and community support at just the right moment, we would have been homeless. Even after surviving the worst of it, getting a handle on my incredibly complex neck pain, back pain, and sciatica related issues, and beating a decade long addiction to Oxycontin and Fentanyl, legally prescribed, life, and my recovery, were tenuous for a time.

We were the poster family for Dire Straits!

Since that awful time, I have reclaimed and rebuilt my life, getting a handle on my neck pain, back pain, sciatica, and the underlying diseases that were are the root of my acute and chronic pain.

Anyway, back to The Bad Back Guy!

I started writing about neck pain, back pain, and sciatica to help others.

Then, I started chronicling my efforts using video, so people could see for themselves that I was really doing what I said they should do.

Seeing is believing and all of that!

Then, I started promoting a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief program I have used (see the postscript), and works, because people need an alternative to conventional and institutionalized treatment for their neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain, especially when the medical community has written, and ripped, you off…

As they had me!

But I kept getting attacked!

Tony Robbins said it is part of what makes some people tick. He and I follow each other on Twitter and I direct messaged (DM) him after I was attacked by The Crazed Canuck. Tony Robbins is no stranger to personal and professional attacks, and yet I know him to be an awesome guy with an amazingly big heart!

If Tony Robbins gets attacked, I figured I was in good company!

When I first started online and started trying to make a difference in the lives of people suffering from neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, I was taken aback by the venom in some of the attacks.

I would love to tell you I am used to them…but I think I understand them better.

I have continued to grapple with the reasons for the attacks.

Why anyone would attack someone who is simply trying to help others deal with neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica?

Then it hit me!

You see, I have been wrestling with this for a while now.

First, from a personal point of view as someone reacting to the personal nature of the attacks; and later, as an academic, one interested in what makes some people lash out like that.

Well, I was reading, I say reading but I was actually listening to an unabridged audiobook but Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensible? A great book, by the way, and it came to me.

Eureka!

The reason people get angry, the reason they lash out, is because they are afraid!

Well, not wanting to go purely on my gut, I started thinking about it more, started researching the issue, and talking to others who have been faced with the same terrible backlash.

To a person, everyone agreed!

It’s fear!

Now, when I talk about being afraid and fear, I am getting very deep into it and I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, I am a physical anthropologist. And, while I am very good with people and can get most people in an instant, the whole fear and self-image thing is not my specialty.

However, as noted above, I do understand people and I am a black-belt at what drives, affects, and motivates someone in pain, whether it is neck pain, back pain, sciatica or some other manifestation.

I have been there, done that…as they say!

Interestingly, as I talked to others, read more on the topic (and I read a lot!), and thought my way through the question, it all became clear.

Let me explain.

When we are in pain, and again it really doesn’t matter what sort of pain we are talking about, and when that pain has altered our lives significantly, in other words, when we are disabled as a result of the pain, either temporarily or permanently, we get stuck.

By stuck I mean inertia takes hold.

The question is then a common one, a complex question with a very simple answer.

How can inertia be a factor when someone is in pain? Wouldn’t anyone suffering from acute and/or chronic neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica do just about anything to eliminate the pain, permanently?

The answer is actually surprising…because the answer is:

NO!

It was like a bomb went off, a moment of crystal clarity, the moment when every attack, and every attacker, came into focus and I got it!

You see, I had the same thing go on in my head, the same fear, the same reservations, and I reacted in much the same way….

Angrily!

Neck pain, back pain, and sciatica are terrible, horrible, life-altering, pick an adjective or a descriptive phrase!

And yet, we are familiar with the pain, with the life and the lifestyle it imposes upon us. We become accustomed to the pain, we get used to the routine, it is predictable and we know from day-to-day what will happen in our lives.

The fact is, there are very few surprises in life when one deals with chronic pain day in and day out.

We simply deal with the pain!

Enter The Bad Back Guy!

Here is a likely scenario:

One day while surfing the net, you run across this blog and you watch some crazy guy calling himself The Bad Back Guy and his little dog, TuffGuy, run up a hill!

What else can you do when you suffer from acute and/or chronic neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica?

There are only so many reruns of Law and Order!

Then you watch as The Bad Back Guy gets caught in a downpour, same little dog, 3am in the morning!

Why does he call him TuffGuy?

Doesn’t he know how to spell? It’s tough not TUFF!

Geez!

But you keep coming back!

Now he’s riding a recumbent bike and telling me I can do what?

Take back my life?

This guy is nuts!

It makes me angry!

I can’t get any better!

The best medical minds in the world have said I will have to “adjust my lifestyle to my condition.” They also said I will “never be able to do the things I once took for granted.”

They said I was:

“DISABLED!”

AND…I BELIEVED THEM!

Now?

Now there is this crazy guy, The Bad Back Guy, who I don’t know from Adam who tells me I can live pain free?

This guy who isn’t even a doctor of medicine? He’s an anthropologist, an academic, an entrepreneur, a whatever!

The Bad Back Guy isn’t an MD, a DO or even a DC or a DPM!

Heck, he isn’t even a veterinarian!

He’s just a physical anthropologist…and not even a “practicing” one!

There’s anger because, not only have you been lied to, you believed it, and it cost you days, months, and even years of your life. You trusted the medical community to give you the best they had to offer and they relegated you to the bench for…

THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

How uncool is that?

And you are angry at whom?

You are attacking some guy telling you that you can have a life?

You can get it all back?

You can get off the bench and get back in the game?

Why?

Because it’s easier…and it is natural!

You SHOULD get angry, I was!

Back to Inertia!

After the initial reaction, you begin to ponder what you have been offered, a life free of neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica and it frightens you.

It did me!

All of the sudden you begin to think of what is possible.

The next questions are:

After all this time, what will I do?

How will I make a living?

How can I take back my life…I have no life?!

The only life I know has been one consumed with neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica for the last ______ years (you fill in the blank).

Now?

Now this, this Bad Back Guy is telling me I might have to take a chance, thus altering my life once again?

What if….

WHAT IF!

The slogan for inertia is:

What if?

The anger returns, anger rooted in uncertainty!

If I do what this Bad Back Clown is saying I should do…and it works?

What the heck do I do next?

Yes, I suffer, I suffer every day, but this life is the one I know, at least I am certain of things, there are no surprises. If I listen to this guy and his little tough TuffGuy, I may end up…where?

I don’t know!

What if….

And so the anger returns again. It consumes you because you blame yourself, you blame the doctors, and…

You want to kill the messenger!

The messenger, The Bad Back Guy, is telling you you can have all the things “they” told you you couldn’t have, the things you would have to “get used to doing without!”

Now, The Bad Back Guy is saying take a chance, what do you have to lose but the pain?!

Well, I have a lot to lose if I take a gamble and believe this guy!

BTW, who the heck goes walking with their dog at 3 in the morning anyway…the guy is nuts!

And so on!

It was so clear, all the things you just read are emotions I have experienced in one way or another…and I am certain everyone reading this has too, friends and attackers.

I understand…and it is OK!

Just take a chance!

Life is amazing on the other side!

But you must take a chance, and that is not easy!

In fact, it darn right difficult. There will be days when you will want to send someone out to “whack” me! But if you stick with it I will promise you one thing:

Life can be amazing again!

And, if you take a chance, your neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica will diminish and it will become contagious; and, that sense of positive expectancy we all feel when we get caught up in something good, something exciting, something life altering is incredible!

Once again, life is amazing and I make you thins promise:

As long as I am on this planet if anyone ever contacts me and wants to talk about their neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica, or anything else for that matter, I will make myself available to you…for as long as it takes!

Finally, please do one thing for me?

Get angry! Get very angry!

Anger is the precursor to action, so let it run through your arteries and veins until you want to scream…and then SCREAM!

Then, get busy, take a walk, ride a recumbent bike, do something, anything, break through the inertia that binds you to this terrible condition and be free of your neck pain, back pain, and sciatica once and for all!

I wish for you nothing but the best! I wish you happiness, joy, and a pain free life…a life free of neck pain, back pain, and sciatica!

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, The program I recommend is at http://TheBadBackGuy.net and is one of the finest I have come across online and I use it myself!

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The 5 Factors, The 5 Effects, and The Second Effect: The Financial Effects and the Impact of Chronic Back Pain

The impact and effects of chronic levels of neck pain, back pain, and sciatica are myriad; and, the increase in pain is exponential as a result of one of the 5 factors feeding into another, and thus leading to certain effects we refer to as the 5 effects.

The 5 effects, impacting and affecting the chronic back pain sufferer, feed into one another and to the next…the pain level increases exponentially once again. In other words, with chronic neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain there is a compounding effect and before long there is no way out…or at least that’s what many would have you believe!

While seemingly without hope of a resolution to and relief from the pain, there is a solution!

The video below explains this far better than I can in print. I actually get a bit excited and start something of a rant (sorry!)…but it’s about time! And, it is necessary!

I also discuss a recently cited research study on exercise and back pain. I found the article in one of the more prestigious medical journals and it was also cited on Johns Hopkins website, so I trust it will be helpful for everyone.

Also, take the time to visit either my YouTube Channel or my other chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica blog, there is a ton of useful information on how to live a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica free life.

In other words, how to get your life back…a pain free life!

I believe it is crucial for you to understand what is happening to you and to your spine…and not just tell you anything in order to sell you something! It is imperative that you take an active role in your recovery so you can live a happy and healthy lifestyle.

It is possible to overcome chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatic nerve pain (sciatica). It is possible to overcome failed back surgery syndrome, and it is also possible to win the battle against long term debilitating pain and disability.

The Second Effect: Financial

The 2nd of the five effects is financial and the impact on one’s life can be profound!

The impact of the second effect, financial, often means everything from hefty medical co-pays and credit issues to bankruptcy and foreclosure, everything from loss of time at work to loss of employment and long term disability. The impact of the financial effects, and they are all inter-related, are physical, mental, and spiritual.

Financial stress feeds into psychological stress and both exacerbate your chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. The chronic pain level increases, then feeds back into the 5 effects and it starts all over again, a classic feedback loop. In short order, the entire organism, the entire system, our body is affected. The chronic pain sufferer then exhibits all of the consequences of the 5 effects of neck pain, back pain, sciatica.

The 5 factors and the 5 effects work against our recovery, so we must understand them and deal with them accordingly…one step at a time!

Contact me anytime. Watch the entire video, as it will give you a better sense of just how passionate I am about this topic and why you should be too! I know it went a bit long but there is a reason and I assure you it will be worth it!

Again, contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526 (home)
216-539-7412 (office)
Skype: johnzajaros1
JohnZ@UltimateBadBackStrategies.com

PS, If you want to get started today on a program that will result in real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief, simply click the link here and you will be on your way to a neck pain, back pain, and sciatic nerve pain free life!

The 5 Effects and the 5 Contributory Factors Exacerbating Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

The 5 factors contributing to neck pain, back pain, and sciatic nerve pain or sciatica have been discussed at length, and yet bear repeating.

The 5 factors are:

Excess weight and/or obesity

Muscle weakness

Muscle imbalance

Inadequate diet and nutrition

Dehydration or inadequate hydration

The 5 factors lead to and exacerbate neck pain, back pain, and sciatica in most adults at some point in their lives; and, many children, as well.

The 5 effects are a bit different in nature but they are affected by the 5 factors in a myriad of ways and the 5 factors may in fact lead to many more than 5 consequences, as they have a compounding effect on an individual.

The 5 effects are:

1) Psychic or Psychological Effects. The psychological effects result in a myriad of consequences and/or affects. In many individuals, chronic and chronically acute neck pain, back pain, and sciatic nerve pain (sciatica) are responsible for a myriad of psychological consequences and diagnoses, to include depression and anxiety disorder.

2) Financial Effects. The financial effect and impact of chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica cannot be overstated. Not only is permanent disability a real consideration but the debilitating pain can also lead to a myriad of financial consequences. Additionally, financial effects include possible bankruptcy, as a consequence of long term medical care and the costs associated with such care. The costs associated with medical bills, lost income, and many other “hidden” costs cannot be hidden from and include doctor, hospital, and pharmacy co-pays, lost wages, and other associated and related expenses.

3) Physical Effects. The physical effects go hand-in-hand with the 5 factors. Significantly, the affect or effect of chronic pain, combined with the 5 factors and the other 4 principle effects, lead to an over physical deterioration of the neck pain, back pain, and sciatica patient. Such effects as ulcers, migraine headaches, colitis, and increased levels of neck pain, back pain, and sciatica have been reported. There seems to be a compounding effect on long term neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain sufferers. There is also a lot of data that suggests the neck pain, back pain, and sciatica may have a combined psycho-social affect.

4) Functional Effects. The body does not perform well under severe stress and when an individual is in chronic and/or acute levels of pain. Not only is bodily function impaired, the resulting functional affect may be devastating on the overall health of the individual neck pain, back pain, and sciatic nerve pain sufferers.

5) Systemic Effects. An individual’s entire body may be affected. Meaning, an individual suffering from neck pain, back pain, and sciatica may undergo a system-wide breakdown of the body. In such cases, many and often every aspect of an individual’s life is affected, long term.

How does an individual suffering from chronic to acutely chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica overcome such obstacles?

The neck pain, back pain, and sciatica patient must first deal with the 5 factors, while at the same time focusing on the overall impact of the 5 affects. This is by no means an easy task and the long term prognosis for chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica sufferers is yet unclear. Yet, one thing is clear, doing nothing will only contribute to the problem and lead to a more significant effects.

Ultimately, the choice is yours, the decision to take the first step is yours to make. But the alternative? Neck pain, back pain, and sciatica exacerbated by the 5 factors and leading to greater overall breakdown the entire system, in this case the human body.

Yours in health!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-539-7412 (office)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, To take the first step, to make the decision to deal effectively with the 5 factors and the 5 effects, eliminating neck pain, back pain, and sciatica is yours to make. Contact me if you need help any time, for any thing!

The Ultimate Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief and Treatment Strategies for a New You in the New Year!

Over the course of the Summer and Fall we have explored many of the ultimate in neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief and treatment strategies, in terms of self-administered treatment and focusing on:

1) The personal assessment, to include the visual assessment, measures with the tape and a scale, and chronicling the observations made in a journal and on a spreadsheet. By doing a proper personal assessment and then keeping track of the course of treatment, both in terms of results and setbacks, you will be able to pinpoint the areas needing attention and those areas responding to your neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief and treatment strategy.

2) The proper equipment to implement your program. This not only includes the proper gear but the best exercise facility and a trainer suited for someone with neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica. Also get proper shoes, socks, ice-compression braces for the cervical and/or lumbar regions, and related materials and equipment for your walks, workouts, and for your day-to-day life. DO NOT SKIMP! You will pay the price if you do. Just think about how much you have spent on medical bills, co-pays, prescriptions, and lost wages! Also carry with you an emergency kit for your walks and workouts, so if something should come up, you are prepared.

3) This also includes the best medical practitioner, one sensitive to your needs as a patient and as a person attempting to reclaim their life. I feel this is crucial! Do not accept someone with a fatalistic approach! You are not doomed to have neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica for the remainder of your life. If you have a medical practitioner who tries to get you to go along with that mindset…fire him or her at once! Keep in mind another thing, the best available at the present time, does not mean it will be the best available 6 months, a year or 5 years later. So never give up…and never give in!

4) The proper program! This is crucial. I’m afraid there are gaps in almost every program out there. Not only does each and every program have gaps, they all have their particular biases. Remember, what works for one may not work for the next, so if something doesn’t match up well and workout to your satisfaction, after a proper trial, of course, then move on. But never give up or give in! There is a program for you…or another coming down the pike in the next few months! (Guaranteed!)

5) Get active! Make sure you begin with stretching and walking, then build up to exercises designed to make the most of your time and situation…while still dealing with you neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. Make sure you don’t over do it at first but make sure you maintain an active lifestyle, and do more each and every day.

6) Remember CANI! Tony Robbins’s “constant and never-ending improvement!” Only through consistent and constant action, building one day upon the day before, can we ever hope to achieve our goal…in this case neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief long term.

For the remainder of the steps we have taken, just look back over the past 5 months, here and at The Bad Back Guy’s Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief Blog!

The video below includes a description of the next 40 days, in very broad strokes. I hope you will stay with me for the next 40 days, as we enter the New Year…a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica free New Year!

Take a look back to June 30, 2009, by then I was well on the way to a new life, a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica free life. However, you will see a different person than the one looking back at you from the video below. I did that in less than 5 months! I can help you do the same…if you will allow me into your life just long enough to help you change it, to get it back, to find real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief!

I look forward to serving you, if you will let me! Neck pain, back pain, and sciatica do not have to be a reality…and neither do any of the 5 factors:

1) Excess weight and/or obesity.

2) Muscle weakness.

3) Muscle imbalance.

4) Inadequate diet and nutrition.

5) Dehydration.

After 14 spine operations, a complete shoulder reconstruction, and a number of other injuries and medical issues, including 2 crushed vertebrae in my neck, I am no stranger to pain, to surgery, or to rehab. My military background, my background training top-level amateur and professional athletes, and my education as a physical anthropologist, winning one of the most prestigious doctoral fellowships in the country at the time, and focusing on age-progressive phenomena affecting the spine and sacroiliac joint, put me in a unique position to not only help myself…but to offer my assistance to those who need it, if you want it!

Once again…neck pain, back pain, and sciatica do not have to be a death sentence…or a lost-life sentence! There is a way out and I can help!

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, For the best program online at the moment, and a great first step to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief…click here!

Stretching is a crucial part of any neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief and treatment exercise program.

Begin your routine slowly and you will be amazed at the results!

I have made the video below with two stretches I do often, several times a day as a matter of fact. They help relieve tension and they help to alleviate stiff and tired neck and back muscles.

For those just beginning a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief and treatment exercise program, these stretches will be immensely helpful!

Contact me anytime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

PS, For a wonderful program that will get you started in the right way and lead to real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief…just click here!