Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000081B
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00:01 Welcome back to the program
00:02 I'm Nick Evenson here with Dr. Marcum. 00:04 And today we're discussing back pain 00:06 and in the first half of the show, 00:08 in case you're just joining us we talked about back pain, 00:11 and how it can be a issue that deals, 00:14 comes from posture 00:15 or maybe we'll lift something wrong 00:19 and often the nerves send signals 00:22 from our muscles to our brain, 00:23 telling us hey, there is a problem here. 00:25 And sometimes we don't listen. 00:27 And sometimes we don't listen, that's right. 00:28 And that's a bigger problem 00:29 and we're talking about pain all over the body, 00:33 in most of time, back pain is not life threatening, 00:36 like we see in chest pain, 00:37 but back pain is not life threatening, 00:39 but if it's not attended to 00:41 it can become a chronic problem which can be worse. 00:44 That's right. 00:45 And unfortunately too many people with back pain 00:47 don't rest and get the attention to 00:49 and at the cost, 00:50 so they end up on the medicine path. 00:52 Right. 00:53 They're on anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, 00:56 pain pills that really don't solve the problem 00:59 and there is still out working and doing things 01:01 where they just had some posture, 01:03 some exercises, some stretching, 01:06 maybe work on their nutrition, you know, for their muscles, 01:09 maybe work on some massage, maybe some heat, 01:12 maybe something else, then the problem would go away 01:15 but I've seen so many people with a little back pain 01:17 that the don't take it seriously, 01:19 they just take the medicines and it becomes big, 01:21 and before long, it is possible 01:23 to become addicted to these pain medications. 01:26 Right, yeah. 01:27 The narcotics, people start taking them 01:29 and then all of a sudden they had to have it to survive. 01:32 And that's one of the points we want to bring out 01:34 is be careful with the treatment for back pain, 01:36 because if you're chronic on narcotics, 01:38 this can be something that's addicted 01:40 and what you're gonna do Nick, if you're 30 years old, 01:42 and taking narcotics, 01:43 you're gonna take it the rest of your life. 01:44 I hope not. 01:46 So that's why you know we made the point is early 01:47 if you're having a little back pain 01:49 don't put it off, even though it's not life threatening 01:51 get it looked at now. 01:53 Learn the things and take the time, 01:54 take the time to learn how to stretch 01:56 to learn how to take care of your body, 01:58 and to eat a better diet so we get better blood flow, 02:01 to drink more water, so our muscles hydrated, 02:04 to stretch more, or if you're working at a desk, 02:06 every hour walk around your desk, 02:09 you know to stretch before you lift up things, 02:11 just throw something up if you can't do it. 02:14 Those are the type of preventive measures 02:16 that might save a serious problem down the road. 02:20 Now do we have some questions that have come in? 02:21 Yeah, yeah. 02:23 If you go to our website heartwiseministries.org 02:25 there's a number of things we want you to do there. 02:27 If you have a pre-request, 02:28 if you're experiencing back pain, 02:30 we want to hear about it and pray for you. 02:31 So go to our website at heartwiseministries.org 02:34 and ask for prayer there. 02:36 You can also ask the doctor for medical advice 02:38 and we encourage you to do that. 02:40 And we got a list of questions today 02:41 that have come from our viewers 02:43 and the first one is from someone who asks 02:45 what is a kyphoplasty, I don't even know, 02:48 what that is, I never heard of it. 02:50 What is a kyphoplasty? 02:51 I'm gonna sort of make it simple, 02:52 but sometimes as people get older, 02:54 everything in the body gets old at different speeds, 02:57 you know, some people. 02:59 My feet are getting older faster than the rest of me. 03:01 Some people unfortunately it's their brain gets older 03:04 and they have, you know, dementias, 03:06 some people their bones get older, 03:08 and some people, the bones of the back get old 03:11 and if we don't watch it, 03:13 if we don't take care of our back well with nutrition, 03:16 you know, sometimes if you heard 03:17 this term osteoporosis when the bones get old, 03:21 they get weaker. 03:23 In fact then when the bones get old 03:25 sometimes they can crack and they break, 03:27 and if they broken in the back, 03:29 that can be very painful. 03:31 Bone pain is some of the most terrible pain there is Nick, 03:35 it's just terrible pain, and if the spine has bone pains 03:38 because of osteoporosis, if we have a fracture, 03:42 some people, when they get older 03:43 they do get osteoporosis, the bones are weak. 03:45 So, it's just little movements, little trauma, 03:48 that normally they do fine with 03:49 can cause a micro fracture of the spine. 03:53 And if you have a fracture of the spine, 03:55 that's really painful situation. 03:57 Well kyphoplasty okay, is actually a procedure 04:01 where a radiologists or some type of interventions 04:04 will go in and help that fracture 04:07 by pointing sort of like cement, 04:09 like super glow so the bones, sort of, comes together. 04:12 So it's the procedure that can help really compression 04:15 fractures do a lot better. 04:17 But I want people not to have compression fractures 04:21 and I'm gonna ask a question, Nick, who do you, you know, 04:24 fractures that causes pain especially in the spine, 04:27 and I'm what animal you think has the most healthy bones? 04:31 I'm gonna say the elephant. Perfect. 04:33 Elephants have very healthy bones. 04:36 What did elephants do? 04:37 Okay, well elephants, 04:39 they had these big strong tusks, 04:40 they don't have fractures in their back, 04:42 they get out and exercise, they move. 04:44 They move all the time. 04:46 They drink lots of water, okay. 04:48 They eat lots of greens, calcium, and magnesium. 04:51 In fact they eat about 200 pounds of greens a day 04:54 and they get out in the sunshine, 04:56 vitamin D helps the bone, that's a prohormone. 04:59 So, those things keep the bones of the back 05:02 of an elephant well also helps the tusk and other things. 05:06 So, if it's good enough for an elephant 05:08 these are some things that people can do for their back, 05:11 that might prevent them in their lateral years 05:13 from having osteoporosis, and having a micro fracture 05:17 and having the knee for modern medicine 05:18 which could be a kyphoplasty. 05:20 But if you haven't done this, 05:22 and you had these micro fractures 05:23 and it might be genetic a kyphoplasty 05:26 is a place for modern medicine, 05:27 it's can help with chronic pain, 05:29 'cause we don't want chronic pain, 05:31 'cause it makes adrenaline, 05:32 and it makes inflammatory markers in cortisol, 05:35 which raises a chance of us having heart attacks 05:37 and weakens our immune system, 05:39 hurts our brains, effects our entire body. 05:41 So chronic pain is not good either. 05:43 So that's what a kyphoplasty is, big name, 05:46 basically thinking about putting glue, 05:48 glue the back together. 05:51 Super glue for the vertebra, huh? 05:52 Super glue for the vertebra so it doesn't hurt as much. 05:54 And really the procedure has very few risks, 05:57 so it's a good procedure. 05:58 Good, good. 06:00 We've got somebody else writes in, 06:01 "I have had two surgeries on my back 06:03 and now take chronic pain medications, 06:06 how can I get off of these medications?" 06:08 Well, first I want to applaud that person 06:10 for wanting to come off medications. 06:13 And chronic back pain is one of the worst causes 06:16 of chronic pain there is, 06:17 especially they've had couple of operations, 06:19 sometimes the cause might not have been addressed 06:23 whether that be nerve damage or vertebral damage. 06:27 And if that's the case sometimes there's scar tissue 06:30 that forms around the nerves and things hurt a lot. 06:33 But a couple of things you know 06:34 most doctors don't want you to be on narcotics forever. 06:38 And so if you're willing to do it, they say, 06:40 listen maybe you can try some physical therapy, 06:43 maybe there is a device that they put in the back 06:45 called a TENS Unit that's electrical stimuli 06:49 that takes some pain away from the nerves. 06:51 Sometimes it can do things like anti- inflammatories, 06:54 there's an anti-inflammatory that we can actually a cream 06:58 that we can rub on the back 06:59 and it doesn't get into the blood stream, 07:01 which make it less risky. 07:03 There are some foods that have anti-inflammatory properties, 07:07 you know, especially we heard about ginger, 07:09 they might be able to have improve back pain 07:12 by improving their blood vessels 07:13 by getting on a whole food plant based diet 07:16 get some greens which makes nitric oxide, 07:19 which makes our arteries bigger, 07:20 so they get a better blood supply to that area. 07:23 Right, yeah. 07:24 They might do some exercises with the physical therapist 07:27 or chiropractor that might help their back 07:29 and their doctor might be able to taper down some medications. 07:33 And I tell people sometimes 07:34 it's better to have a little pain 07:36 than have no pain and be on too much medication 07:39 'cause all the medicines you have to balance the risk 07:42 versus the benefit. 07:43 I don't know if any medication or procedure 07:47 that doesn't have at least some risk. 07:49 And you have to balance the risk versus the benefit. 07:51 So it sounds like, 07:53 if we do things like the elephant, 07:54 get some light, eat foods 07:57 that don't increase inflammation, 07:59 these are lot of things that are found 08:00 in God's original design for our lives, right? 08:02 Yup, and guess what, more people than ever 08:05 are sitting at computer desks, 08:07 more people that ever have these cell phones 08:09 and are doing this. 08:10 And they're bending over, and as they put strain 08:13 on their spinal cord 08:14 and on the muscles of their back, 08:15 they're gonna have chronic back pain. 08:18 And then if they don't deal with it so much better 08:20 to nip it in the bud and not let it progress. 08:24 But I see our society doesn't do things 08:26 that promote back health. 08:28 So we're gonna have more problems 08:29 and that's why it's so important 08:31 to educate on prevention 08:32 as well as what to do in emergency. 08:34 Right, we got someone else who wrote in and asks, 08:37 "Is there a difference between Oxycodone and Fentanyl?" 08:40 Yeah, those are both narcotic pain medications. 08:43 Okay. 08:44 And those are used for extreme pain, 08:47 and both of them have 08:49 their very effective in taking away pain. 08:51 Fentanyl was one that can come in a patch, 08:54 so you don't necessarily have to swallow it, 08:57 Oxycodone is a pill. 08:58 But they're both very strong narcotic pain medications. 09:02 And if you are on those, 09:03 hopefully your doctors talk to you 09:05 about how to take them correctly 09:07 about the risk and benefits. 09:08 But these are very strong pain medicines. 09:11 We frequently see them used in people with bone pains, 09:14 people with advanced cancers, 09:17 people with pain that we can't do anything with. 09:19 And in that case, sometimes these narcotics, 09:22 the benefits are worth the risk. 09:24 Yeah. 09:25 Because sometimes the pain is so bad 09:27 and the stress from the pain is so bad 09:29 and damaging to the body 09:31 that is worth taking the risk with these pain medicines. 09:33 Right. 09:34 So there's some people that benefit from them. 09:35 Now there are other new classes of the medicines, 09:38 I don't know if you heard for chronic cancer pain 09:41 some people around the world are using marijuana now, 09:44 some people are using other deep breathing techniques. 09:47 So there's other ways to look at it 09:49 and you have to talk to your provider 09:51 and who knows your whole medical history 09:53 and they will decide 09:54 what is the best regiment for you 09:57 and if the risk is worth the benefits of each of these 10:00 powerful pain pills. 10:01 Yeah. 10:02 You know we have somebody else write in and ask 10:04 about the side effects. 10:05 "What are the side effects of these narcotic medications?" 10:07 Yeah, and there are many. 10:09 Okay, I had someone come to me 10:11 that's been on some narcotics for a long period of time 10:14 and now he's having bowel problems, 10:16 the bowel slow down the bacterial floor 10:19 has changed, he subject to more infections 10:22 like diverticulitis, the bowels can slow, 10:25 you can just get a small bowel obstruction 10:27 it can depress your respiratory system, 10:30 okay, so you don't breathe as well, 10:32 some people that are on really, really high doses, 10:35 can actually quit breathing. 10:36 It effects your brain Nick, 10:38 Narcotics effect the way you think 10:40 and everyone that's been on narcotics, 10:42 you know, even if they're just done little bit 10:44 it does affect the way you think. 10:45 And mix and match and it can effect, 10:47 it lowers your blood pressure, it slows your heart rate down, 10:50 it slows that and sometimes 10:52 another thing about narcotics is 10:54 if you have pain from another source, 10:56 that you need to recognize, 10:58 all the sudden you say, I don't recognize it, 11:00 because you're on pain medicines. 11:01 Covered up. 11:03 Yeah, like, if you're on so much pain medicine, 11:04 guess what, you have a heart attack 11:05 and you might not notice it as much, 11:07 'cause you're on so much chronic back pain medicine. 11:09 So that's another thing that's a risk, 11:11 but these medicines have risk, I'm not saying 11:13 that they never should be used. 11:15 But we should be smart about and if we can get it the cause, 11:19 and use less of that 11:20 and if there is other modalities natural remedies, 11:23 different diets, we can induce to use as little as possible 11:26 that I think is gonna be the best plan. 11:29 And as you know what, 11:30 there are a lot of people out there 11:31 that are in chronic pain. 11:33 That their pains never gonna go away 11:34 and that they do need to take these medicines 11:37 and that's why I'm so glad that we can have a healer, 11:41 we can have a relationship with Christ 11:43 who will bring us to healing in our lives. 11:45 So we always have that hope 11:46 that no matter how bad our pain is, 11:48 no matter how bad our suffering is, 11:50 that some day that will be better. 11:52 In fact, you know, 11:54 I think of the study in the Bible about Stephen, 11:57 remember him? 11:58 Okay, at the end of his life they were stoning him, 12:01 and I don't think he was feeling a lot of pain, 12:04 because his worship was so good, okay, 12:06 he up shifted his brain 12:08 turned down some of those inflammatory stress mediators 12:11 triggers of pain, 12:12 so I definitely think everyone in chronic pain 12:15 needs to be on a good worship regiment. 12:18 And I think I can make an argument 12:19 that worship is a great treatment 12:21 for chronic pain. 12:23 whether that worship be enviable study and prayer 12:26 by singing and praising God, by serving other people, 12:29 there's many ways to worship. 12:30 But I think worship should be 12:32 a treatment of every chronic pain, 12:34 especially back pain regiment. 12:36 Yeah. 12:37 Now if people want to learn more about that idea of worship 12:40 and maybe nutrition, 12:42 and other things that are from the Bible. 12:44 What's your thoughts on that? 12:46 I know you have new program called Biblical Prescription. 12:47 Yeah, we had just finished Heart Wise Ministries, 12:50 a new seven week Bible study program 12:53 called Biblical Prescriptions for Life. 12:56 And what we do is we take the biblical prescription, 12:59 we find the science behind it, 13:01 and teach people how to apply it to their lives 13:04 one step at a time. 13:06 And a biblical prescription of life 13:08 will help every chronic pain, 13:10 you know no matter where it's from the body, 13:12 because it treats every cell, it improves every cell. 13:15 And we talk in that series about how to drink water, 13:18 and then we focus on living water. 13:20 But the exciting thing is at the end, 13:21 we show the physiology of worship. 13:24 How worship independent of anything else 13:26 changes the brain, turns down inflammation, 13:30 turns down adrenaline, and things that cause pain 13:32 and help create us a new mind 13:34 which can retrain neuron- pathways, 13:36 that maybe deal with pain better. 13:38 So I think it's a great series 13:40 for people that have pain in the back, 13:42 that have pain anywhere. 13:43 Now acute pain in the chest, 13:45 we know we get the help right way, 13:46 then we fall back but chronic back pain, 13:48 for chronic anything pain, 13:50 this is another treatment regiment 13:52 that I think is very valuable. 13:53 Yeah. 13:54 Doing these lifestyle changes 13:56 and doing them not just for ourselves, 13:58 if we're doing them, 13:59 because this is the way that God designed us to live 14:01 and we want to honor him, 14:02 that's the best path to heal, anyway. 14:04 Yeah, and I think, you know, yes it is the best path, 14:07 and getting back to original design, moving, 14:09 if we do have back pain, 14:10 get it treated right away, get it evaluated, 14:12 if you need special testing, do that, 14:15 and if we do that early on 14:16 we might save ourselves some grief down the road, 14:19 I think it's very important. 14:20 Well, Dr. Marcum, thank you for sharing. 14:21 My pleasure. 14:23 If you have questions, please visit our website 14:24 at heartwiseministries.org 14:26 where you can learn more about 14:27 Biblical Prescriptions for Life, 14:29 you can request prayer, 14:30 and you can ask your health questions to the doctor. 14:32 We'll be back in just a moment. 14:44 I hope no one out there is having a back pain, 14:46 but if you are get treatment early, 14:48 get some help 14:50 and try to do some of the natural things 14:52 you heard about today 14:53 to maybe not need as much medication. 14:55 Let me pray for you right now. 14:57 Father God, we want to pray for all those that are in pain, 15:00 whether it'd be the back pain or anywhere else 15:02 that you'd be close to them 15:04 and enhance their worship Father 15:06 because worship is a treatment for pain. 15:09 Be close to them Father 15:10 and thank you for your promises and for being our friend. 15:13 These things we ask in thy name, Amen. 15:17 Well, if you have more questions about pain, 15:20 I want you to go to our website heartwiseministries.org 15:24 wishing you the best of health. |
Revised 2016-11-14