Ultimate Prescription

Back Pain

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum

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Series Code: UP

Program Code: UP000081B


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.


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Revised 2016-11-14