Stop Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatic Nerve Pain with 3 Simple Strategies!

I hope this short video helps you overcome your pain, regardless of the type of spine-related pain and severity. I have suffered from neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain for decades. However, I have learned to overcome it and life pain free. I am creating a new video and article series and it will be available throughout the summer…please stop back often!

If you need anything? Or would simply like to share your story? Please do so!

We can learn from each other, help each other and perhaps overcome our neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica together!

Contact me anytime!

John Zajaros, The Bad Back Guy
216-712-7004
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com

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Overcoming Neck, Back, and Sciatic Nerve Pain: You Too Can Reclaim Your Life!

After some time off, building a life and a business, TuffGuy and I, both a few pounds heavier than last fall, are now back on the road again!

Overcoming neck pain, back pain, and sciatica once seemed an impossibility!

Now?

I am living a miracle, a life I once considered over has been reclaimed…and it is wonderful!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What does that say about a video?

This video is long but I hope you will find it interesting and informative.

I finish up this video with a surprise, a related message from an amazing writer, a source of inspiration I discovered while looking for something else.

Isn’t that the way of things? We find messages and inspiration in the most interesting places, from the most unexpected messengers. I think this one ranks right up there at the top, one of the best books I’ve read…and I’ve read a lot!

Let me know what you think, leave your story, tell us all about your struggles, your life, the challenges you still face. I would love to hear from you. I am certain my other readers will too!

Thanks and remember, contact me anytime! If you need help or just need someone to share war stories with, contact me! Neck pain, back pain, and sciatica do not have to be a death sentence…you can reclaim your life!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros Sr. The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526 (home office)
440-821-7018 (cell)
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (personal email)

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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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Look Ma, No Back Pain…and an Apology!

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my absence over the last couple of weeks or so! I have been out and about, rebuilding and living my life for the first time in decades!

The title pretty much says it all, I have had an amazing holiday season and a wonderful neck pain, back pain, and sciatica free New Year…the first in decades!

Ultimate Bad Back Strategies and The Bad Back Guy were created over a year ago in order to tell my story, to share my knowledge, and to inspire others to take the first step towards a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica free life, as I have. It was my hope that in helping all of you, I would also put myself on the spot…and it worked!

The journey I started over a year ago, a journey towards a life free of neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica has been incredible!

The benefits I have received have been nothing short of miraculous!

My life from 1997 through most of 2008 was consumed by chronic and acute neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. My life long battle with neck, back, and sciatic nerve pain started in 1971!

In fact, by the year 1999 I spent all day, every day in a recliner we bought because it met my needs as someone who would live the rest of his life in it, 24/7. It was even electric because my legs were too weak to push down the leg/foot rest. I was about as close to an invalid as you can get, my wife afraid to leave me to go to work because I often passed out on the way to the bathroom, a combination of pain and blood pressure issues. I was also a type II insulin dependent diabetic, taking insulin 4 times a day and checking my blood sugar at least 5 times a day.

I had two diseases attacking my body simultaneously and both, separately and in concert, were quite possibly going to end my life!

In other words, I was a wreck!

I had thrown in the towel and felt doomed to a result heading towards me like a Mack Truck!

On top of it all, I was on massive amounts of prescription pain medication, enough to kill a large horse I was told repeatedly, medication that had eliminated my ability to concentrate, to read (one of my true loves), to learn, and to enjoy even the simplest pleasures of life (and we all know what that means!).

I was a Zombie!

Then “It” happened! I really can’t tell you what “It” is or was, other than to tell you one day everything changed!

I guess I got sick and tired of being sick and tired.

It was about that time I talked to a friend of mine who had discovered a product online that had put him on the road to a back pain free life. Granted, his problems weren’t as complex as mine, and he wasn’t fighting the diseases I was, but I thought to myself:

“If he can do it, maybe I can too!”

So, I borrowed it and quietly started applying the principles, along with the things I already knew about physical training and age-progressive phenomena that affect the spine and sacroiliac joint.

At first I didn’t even tell my wife what I was doing in case it didn’t work, I just didn’t want to disappoint her again!

Well, to make a long story short, I started seeing results and I started to experience something I hadn’t experienced in a long time…hope!

The hope and the results provided the impetus to keep going and to slowly but surely reclaim my life!

It has been a little over a year now and in that time I have gone from 265 pounds, and quite literally waiting to die, to 205 pounds and walking between 5 and 8 miles a day.

I have also started several online businesses, for a variety of reasons but mainly because as I started getting better I couldn’t find a job. With the huge gap in my “overqualified” resume, no one wanted to touch me!

Here I was a college professor, the winner of one of the most prestigious doctoral fellowships in the country, and I couldn’t get a job…I mean nothing, nohow, nowhere! Not even delivering pizza! It was the most humiliating part about getting better…I couldn’t find work!

So, I applied my education, started a tutoring business, online at first, at least until I could get my strength back, and then in the home…it was a way back, a way to apply my education and work with kids (another of my loves), and it worked!

When I look back to August and September of 2009, and those first tentative steps, I can’t believe I am the same person; it just doesn’t seem possible.

And yet here I am, quite literally a new man!

It is kind of ironic because now, as I tell my story and create videos and articles to inspire others, I am often attacked as a spammer and even as a scam artist!

Incredible!

If they only knew, if they could have seen me just a short while ago, I wonder if they would still be so quick to cast aspersions!

Well, I know one thing…there is nothing anyone can say or do that can be any worse than what I have already had to live through…and have overcome.

That being said, and I have said this before, if I can inspire just one person to triumph over their pain as I have, and reclaim their life, then I will have paid the kindness of so many wonderful people who helped me, and my family, get through the most trying time of our lives!

I will introduce more of my story over the coming months but for now I can tell you this, had it not been for my friend and that program, a program I recommend to this day, I would either be gone or still seated in that recliner…no future in sight but the ultimate future we all must face.

The difference?

I was ready, willing, and yearning for it…but no more! I simply took a chance on life. After all, what did I have to lose? Just the pain!

I have my life back and you can too! Because, if I came back from where I was at, anyone can!

Neck pain, back pain, and sciatica are in the past and I will help anyone who asks how to reclaim their life and live pain free! Once again, if I can, you can!

More to follow!

John

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

PS, If you want to take the first step and reclaim your life you can go about it one of two ways: 1) You can go to the http://TheBadBackGuy.net and begin there, it is only a beginning; and/or 2) You can contact me and I will work with you personally. In either case, I will be happy to talk to you, to recommend strategies, and to provide encouragement.

PPS, I am not a medical doctor, I am a physical anthropologist with a specialization in age-progressive phenomena affecting the spine and sacroiliac….what goes on with the neck, back, and hips as we age. I am a bone guy! The show Bones is a glamorized depiction of what I did. But, I guess it’s about as close as you can get outside of TLC or Discovery. So, my advice is anecdotal and is not to be construed as medical advice. There, now the government is happy!

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• 

Contrary to popular belief, while one of the primary causes of neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, primarily as we age, degenerative disc disease is not a disease, it is a condition. Degenerative disc disease is an age-progressive phenomenon. It’s actually several phenomena, meaning there are several age-related factors working against us, and our spines, all at once as we age!

Degenerative Disc Disease is Age-Progressive, Behavioral, and Preventable!

Degenerative Disc Disease: Excess Weight and/or Obesity

In fact, degenerative disc disease is a natural, albeit somewhat preventable, age-progressive phenomenon that occurs as we age and our muscles, connective tissue, intervertebral discs (IVDs), and vertebrae weaken. As we age, we tend to put on and carry excess weight, some people becoming obese. The added weight places additional stress on the curvatures of the spine, particularly in the cervical (neck pain) and lumbar (lower back pain) regions. However, the thoracic and sacral regions will also experience stress, creating the related upper and middle back pain, as well as lower back pain and even sacroiliac joint dysfunction (a somewhat related condition). Overall, excess weight is the biggest single contributor to back pain of any kind, and particularly lower back pain and sciatica. As we gain weight, and as the various curvatures experience greater stress, the muscles, connective tissue (especially the ligaments), the intervertebral discs, and the vertebrae have to do more work and the once healthy back will begin to become stressed, its balance no longer sustainable, and as a result we experience neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica…depending on the level most affected.

Degenerative Disc Disease: Muscle Weakness

As we gain weight, and as the curvatures of the spine are adversely affected as a result of additional weight, the muscles weaken, particularly the core muscles of the spine and abdomen. The abdominal and back muscles weaken as a result of the additional strain placed upon them and because of the sedentary lifestyle usually associated with weight gain…and aging. The weakened musculature, associated with inactivity, lack of exercise, and weight gain, will create a shift in the stress handling mechanisms of the spine, thus transferring much of the work usually done by the muscles of the spine and abdomen to the ligaments, intervertebral discs (IVDs), and the vertebrae. Consequently, as a result of the added weight and/or obesity, combined with the loss of muscle tone and strength, the stress transfers and the spine is more vulnerable to insult and injury, as well as “normal” age-progressive phenomena, such as degenerative disc disease.

Degenerative Disc Disease: The Spinal System and Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

As you can no doubt see by now, the entire system in interconnected, one component dependent upon the next and the overall health of the spine affected by a breakdown at any one level (curvature) or by one component (muscles, connective tissue, IVDs or vertebrae). A breakdown at any point makes the entire system more vulnerable to injury or degeneration…with the resulting neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica.

Degenerative Disc Disease and Connective Tissue: The Ligaments

The next spinal component at risk is the connective tissue, the tendons and ligaments, and particularly the ligaments of the spine. The two major ligaments, and there are far too many to cover all of them in this article (e.g., the anterior costotransverse ligaments and the interarticular ligaments, to name just two more of many), are the anterior and posterior longitudinal ligaments. The anterior and posterior longitudinal ligaments are very important and are central to the overall health of the spine for a number of reasons. The ligaments provide stabilization and strength along the entire length of the spine. As their name implies, they run longitudinally from the cervical region down the entire length of the spine to the sacrum and connect one vertebral body to the next via the intevertebral discs. The makeup of the anterior and posterior ligaments are somewhat different; and, they have a complex structure and a variety of functions. However, they are crucial to the overall health of the back and, when they are stressed, either as a result of a single event or as the result of excess weight, muscle weakness or muscle imbalance, the entire system is at risk. A loss of strength and/or stabilization may have an immediate and far reaching impact on the spine, resulting in neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica.

Degenerative Disc Disease and Intervertebral Discs: IVDs and Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

The intervertebral discs, IVDs, or simply discs are the next major component in the spinal system affecting and affected by a breakdown in the system, either as a consequence of aging generally or excess weight, muscle weakness, muscle imbalance, connective tissue issues and stress (including various stress-related injuries, trauma, ossification and calcification), specifically. The intervertebral discs are made up of approximately 80 to 85 percent water. The IVDs are also the spine’s shock absorbers, also responsible, along with the anterior and posterior longitudinal ligaments mentioned above, for stabilization and strength. The IVDs are made up of two parts, the annulous fibrosus and the nucleus pulposus, a cartilaginous outer ring system and a center gel-like substance. The IVDs have been referred to as a kind of jelly donut, with the gel in the middle being held in place by the outer cartilage and responsible for much of the impact absorption. They are also responsible for the height of the spine, maintaining a set distance between vertebrae, which allows the spinal nerves to leave the spinal canal without injury or stress. It is the intervertebral disc, its height, resilience, and strength, all related to disc health, that directly impacts and affects the presence and level of neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica.

Degenerative Disc Disease: A Constellation of Behavioral Factors

Significantly, as the system begins to break down, as described above, or as the result of a single stress-related injury, the disc may undergo significant change. The changes in the disc over time, as a result of aging combined with excess weight, muscle weakness, muscle imbalance, loss of connective tissue strength and stability, and two additional factors, inadequate diet and nutrition, and inadequate hydration or dehydration may cause the intervertebral discs to break down, resulting in neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica. The combination of aging and the constellation of other contributory factors leads to what is commonly called a disease, in this case degenerative disc disease. Interestingly, degenerative disc disease is not a disease but a combination of consequences, all but one traced back to behavior.

The age-progressive nature of degenerative disc disease is related to the following:

1. As we age, we generally gain weight, some of us becoming obese.
2. As we age, and we generally gain weight, some of us becoming obese, and our muscles weaken due to inactivity and/or a sedentary lifestyle.
3. As we age, and we generally gain weight…and our muscles weaken due to inactivity…the connective tissue breaks down as our muscles can no longer do the job alone and thus the stress is transferred to the connective tissue.
4. As we age, and we generally gain weight…and our muscles weaken due to inactivity…the connective tissue breaks down as our muscles can no longer do the job alone…stress is transferred to the connective tissue…the stress is then transferred to the intervertebral discs which break down due to the stress from the above mentioned factors and due to muscle imbalance, inadequate diet and nutrition, and inadequate hydration and/or dehydration.

Interestingly, I am certain I could probably stretch the above 4 points out to between 10 and 12, perhaps even more, before even starting to stretch things. But I hope you get the overall message here, that degenerative disc disease, while associated with aging, is actually linked to a constellation of behaviors; and, it is the behaviors over time that lead to the degeneration of the IVDs and not a disease process. The degeneration of the discs over time results in the entire system being more susceptible to insult and injury…and not a disease process but a behavioral constellation of factors.

Does degenerative disc disease lead to neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica?

Certainly!

Degenerative Disc Disease and Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica: The Prognosis?

Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Treatment and Relief!

However, the impact of the process we call a disease can be overcome to a great extent, depending of course on how much damage has been done prior to starting the right sort of treatment strategy; and, it can certainly be slowed down, if not halted entirely, through behavior modification combined with an intelligent, overall program of diet, exercise, and treatment. If applied properly, a neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica relief and treatment strategy can offset, alleviate, and in many cases even eliminate many of the consequences of degenerative disc disease.

In the second part of this article we will explore the other factors responsible for degenerative disc disease and some of the neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief and treatment strategies many have used to find real and lasting pain relief.

Do you want to start right away? Are you ready to be rid of your neck pain, back pain or sciatica? Do you want to find real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief? Just click this link and start today!

Or go to my other neck pain, back pain, and sciatica blog and follow us, join us, as we create a new future in time for the New year…one without pain, one with real and lasting pain relief!

Have questions, comments, feedback? Leave it here or contact me directly!

John

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

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The Beginning: The 30 Day Walk Away from Back Pain and Sciatica…A Challenge and a Huge Success!

Now We Continue: How to Overcome Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica: The 30 Day Challenge Part II!

Start the Holidays and the New Year Out Neck Pain, Back Pain and Sciatica Free!

Over the past 108 days, since June 28, 2009, I have been on something of a quest to help others overcome their neck pain, back pain, and sciatica through a very simple and straightforward set of pain relief strategies. The response has been amazing, people all over the world have sent me emails, called me on the phone, and added me to their Skype contact lists in order to tell me they had started to walk again, were once again beginning to take control of their lives…any achieving real neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief for the first time in years! Still other people, some suffering with chronic neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica for decades were contacting me via YouTube, on Facebook, and even on Twitter. The feedback has been extremely gratifying and has kept me going with this much longer than I had originally intended…at least in any sort of a public manner.

Millions are Affected by Chronic Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica!

The fact is, millions of people around the world are affected by neck pain, back pain, and sciatica; and yet, most of them have no idea how to deal effectively with their pain. Back pain is the number 6 reason in the entire world why people see a medical practitioner, with millions visiting medical practitioners daily, seeking pain relief! Most people suffering from chronic pain, and as I mentioned above, some for decades, have simply resigned themselves to the fact that neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica is part of their life.

This does not have to be the case!

I actually get angry, infuriated, when I think about how many years, decades, I threw away because of this false notion. Unfortunately, there are millions of people living their lives under the assumption that they are doomed to a life of chronic neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica!

Nothing is further from the truth! You don’t have to live in chronic pain!

But you must take control of your life, and of your destiny, or you are doomed to a life of chronic, debilitating, and ultimately disabling pain!

So, how do you take control when you have had surgery, been through every “alternative” pain relief method under the sun, and have been living with your neck, back or sciatic nerve pain for years?

The Primary Causes of Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica!

Well, there are 5 contributory factors involved in either the onset of neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica, its continuation, or its exacerbation. I have spoken of these 5 factors in previous articles, videos, and blog posts and we will touch on them briefly here.

Excess Weight, Obesity, Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

The first of the 5 factors contributing to or exacerbating neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica is excess weight, meaning either excess weight or obesity. The excess weight and/or obesity issue is a problem throughout most of the modern world and is becoming an issue in developing areas of the world as well. Excess weight is particularly problematic for individuals susceptible to or experiencing spine-related pain of any kind…but particularly lower back pain and sciatica. We will discuss why excess weight and/or obesity is the number one issue affecting people with neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica in upcoming videos and articles over the next 30 days.

Muscle Weakness and Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

The second issue affecting neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica is muscle weakness. Muscle weakness, like excess weight and/or obesity, is often an age-progressive phenomenon. By this I mean that as we age, we are more susceptible to the effects and the consequences of muscle weakness. Muscle weakness has a ripple effect throughout the entire body as we age, often affecting the connective tissue and the skeleton adversely. As muscles weaken, the stress is transferred to the intervertebral discs, the ligaments, and to the vertebrae themselves. As the body attempts to handle the stress once taken on by the muscles, there are a myriad of consequences and conditions that emerge. Again, we will address the area of muscle weakness and how it impacts neck pain, back pain, and sciatica in the coming days and weeks.

Muscle Imbalance and Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

The third issue affecting and often exacerbating neck pain, back pain, and sciatica is muscle imbalance. Muscle imbalance is the least understood of the 5 factors affecting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica. Unfortunately, muscle imbalance is not addressed in medical school and only briefly covered during medical training for any of the other disciplines, sub-disciplines or alternative medical treatment strategies. Muscle imbalance often plays a significant role in neck pain, back pain, and sciatica…and its relief! We will cover this area in depth in upcoming videos and articles. Understanding muscle imbalance is central to any long-term pain relief strategy.

Diet and Nutrition and Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

The fourth area of concern and one with as much misinformation, and just plain bad information, as any of the others, particularly when it comes to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, are the linked and interconnected areas of diet and nutrition…really one in the same. However, diet and nutrition…or nutrition and diet…it’s really a chicken and egg thing, are crucial to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief. If the body can’t rebuild itself, you are in for a long haul when it comes to chronic pain. Additionally, if you body is in a weakened state due to inadequate diet and nutrition, you are more susceptible to stress-related injury and insult (i.e., trauma related neck and back injury).

Dehydration and Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica

The fifth area, dehydration or simply inadequate hydration, is one of the least understood of the five factors leading to neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica. Relief from chronic, intractable, and debilitating neck and back pain may be a drink of water away! Interestingly, inadequate hydration and/or dehydration is the one that is most easily remedied. The intervertebral discs, IVDs or discs are made up of approximately 90% water…some say 85% and some as high as the mid-90s. Regardless of the exact number, there can be little doubt that an inadequate amount of water means the IVDs cannot replenish the most important component in their makeup, and thus repair and rebuild themselves. Coffee, diet pop (or soda if you prefer), tea, energy drinks, and alcohol are all diuretic, meaning they promote the loss of fluid, water, and as a result lead to disc degeneration and the possibility of injury. The resulting neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica may be exacerbated by a lack of this most plentiful or all pain relief potions…H20!

Where do we go from here? Real and lasting neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief!

Finally, over the next 30 days we will dig deep into the ultimate bad back strategies, the pain relief strategies you must engage in, and the habits to develop, if you are to lead a neck pain, back pain, and sciatica free life. In the last 108 days many have started down the path to real and lasting pain relief. I hope you will join me, and the others already engaged in the process of taking back their lives, pain free lives! Join us as we overcome neck pain, back pain, and sciatica once and for all, and just in time for the holidays and the New Year!

Start at:

The Bad Back Guy’s Program for Ultimate Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief: The First Step!

Watch the video below and then take action! I will be there with you every step of the way!

John

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

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The 5 factors, taken as a whole or in part, lead to and/or exacerbate neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica in millions of people in the USA alone every day. Neglect in properly addressing each of the 5 factors leads as many as 6 million to seek the assistance of a medical practitioner each and every day.

The factors contributing to the back pain complex are:

1) Excess weight and or obesity
2) Muscle weakness
3) Muscle Imbalance
4) Diet and Nutrition
5) Dehydration

Taken individually, the 5 factors comtributing to what I have referred to as the back pain complex can lead to an increased incidence of, and higher levels of neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica. However, when taken as a whole, the results are often debilitating and disabling.

As we age, the 5 factors that contribute to neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica become even more of an issue.

With each successive decade we:

1) Put on excess weight, perhaps becoming obese
2) Our muscles become weaker and
3) Muscle imbalances occur
4) We don’t eat right, so nutrition and the body’s ability to repair itself becomes a problem
5) We drink far too many caffeine and sodium rich beverages and they act to dehydrate, rather than hydrate the body; and, consequently, the intervertebral discs.

The spine is a complex system and, just as our behaviors affect the various regions and structures of the spine, the spine reacts in very specific ways to the stress and trauma we place on it on a daily basis. If the spine is not a healthy system, meaning if the 5 factors aren’t in balance and properly addressed, the spine’s health suffers and the result is often neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica; or, we set ourselves up for stress and trauma-related injury and the resulting neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica.

Dealing with the 5 factors in a holistic manner, meaning that we work on all aspects in concert, we can reduce the chance of stress-related injury and the associated neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica…what I call the back pain complex.

The best overall program desinged to take an individual from the beginning through complete and total neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica relief can be found at:

http://TheBadBackGuy.net

John

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

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The Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recently reported, and John’s Hopkins Medical Center concurred, that a supervised program of exercise, particularly for chronic lower back pain sufferers who had experienced chronic lower back pain for 3 months or more, and as part of a total program, received greater back pain relief, faster, than a control group who just received exercise advice, without a supervised, long-term, and lasting exercise program to follow.

The results validate what I have been saying for the last few months, and what other researchers around the world have also discovered, that neck pain, back pain, and sciatica respond faster and the pain relief is far greater, for individuals in exercise programs, particularly supervised exercise programs.

For many years, it was considered gospel that the best way to treat neck pain, back pain, and sciatica was with bed rest. We have since demonstrated through research instituted, and followed up on, by some of the finest medical institutions in the world, among the authorities and institutions of note are the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, Duke University, and Johns Hopkins Medical Center, these institutions, and a myriad of others, have demonstrated that the worst bad back strategy, the way to increase neck pain, back pain, and sciatic nerve pain levels, is bed rest…the most effective pain relief strategy is exercise! Not just exercise, but low impact exercise conducted in a supervised environment and/or as part of a total neck pain, back pain, and sciatic nerve pain relief strategy.

Once again, the data is conclusive! If you want to reclaim your life, a neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica free life, exercise must be an integral component of a supervised, and if possible individualized, program of pain relief…a bad back strategy that works!

For the best individualized program available today, one that can be integrated into a supervised program (call me for details), go to:

TheBadBackGuy.net will change your life!

Wishing you a pain free life!

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

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How to Overcome Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica: A 3am Walk and What Difference a Year Makes!

Imagine it is 3:15am and you have 45 minutes before your next pain meds for neck pain, back pain or sciatica! Now imagine you are able to go for a walk with your dog instead!

At the end of June I started a 30 day challenge to overcome my neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, to finally get real and lasting pain relief. Well, this morning, on my usual midnight walk with TuffGuy, I was struck by the fact that I was just minutes away from the time for my usual pain medication dosage…a dosage no longer necessary.

Real and lasting pain relief is possible, I no longer experience the sort of neck pain, back pain or sciatica that had once debilitated and disabled me, leading to depression and a loss of hope and complete despair.

Now? I walk my dog at 3am and love every minute of it. I don’t have the neck pain, back pain, and sciatica that used to make me so dependent on narcotics for relief that I literally counted the minutes between dosages.

No more!

You can have that sort of reality too!

http://TheBadBackGuy.net

John

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

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3 Major Myths Concerning Exercise and Back Pain: Neck Pain, Back Pain and Sciatica Relief Strategies!

3 myths relating to neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica and exercise may actually be exacerbate pain, hurting rather than helping the patient, they are pervasive, and wrong!

There are many myths when it comes to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica; and, particularly the exercises that are “good for” people with a bad
back.

There are three myths relating to neck pain, back pain, and sciatica which are particularly problematic. The three most pervasive, and
damaging, are:

1) Swimming is a great exercise for people with a bad back
2) That situps are also good for strengthening the back muscles
3) That abdominal crunches are great for developing adominal muscles and for strengthening the back

Swimming, as an exercise strategy for those suffering from a bad back, and particularly from neck pain, back pain, and sciatica has been around for a long time. President John F Kennedy may have had an impact on the pervasiveness of this myth, as it was said that he swam daily, part propaganda and part true…more propaganda. The fact is, swimming, especially early in the exercise process, may actually exacerbate not only back pain but neck and sciatic nerve pain, as well.

Sit-ups were thought to be a great abdominal exercise for years, one also thought to help people suffering from back pain too. Sit-ups have now been relegated to the obsolete exercise category, although the myth that they are a good abdominal exercise persists, particularly among the uninformed. As with swimming, sit-ups may actually exacerbate neck pain, back pain, and sciatica.

The third kind of exercise that falls neatly into this category is the abdominal crunch. The abdominal crunch, or just crunches, came along and replaced the sit-up as the next-best thing for abdominal development, the King of Ab Development. Crunches are also supposed to help with core muscle development; and, neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief through increased and directed muscle development. The fact is, like the two above, the crunch may exacerbate neck pain, back pain, and sciatica! The crunch should never be used early in a neck pain, back pain or sciatica relief exercise program. Perhaps after an individual has progressed a bit, but never early on.

Overall, the 3 exercise strategies above may do more harm than good, mainly because so many, even among the medical community, still believe in their efficacy. However, these strategies, and their ability to help a person suffering from neck pain, back pain, and/or sciatica, must be viewed as nothing more than uninformed anecdotal gossip…or as outright myths with very little basis in scientific or medical fact.

When commencing a neck pain, back pain and/or sciatica program, start slow, begin with low impact exercises, and above all begin with a program that is designed specifically for neck pain, back pain, and sciatica sufferers…if possible by neck pain, back apin, and/or sciatica sufferers.

http://TheBadBackGuy.net is just such a program for neck pain, back pain, and sciatica relief!

John

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

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