Can Exercises Be Bad?

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

This article is going to be short and simple to make a direct point about exercises that are bad for many people with back pain.

I would estimate that close to 80% of low back disc pain patients, either with or without sciatica or buttock pain, have a flexion intolerant back. This means they have a disc injury which is exacerbated by bending the low back forward.

I’ve learned people often create or reinforce pain in their bodies performing incorrect or unsuitable daily movements. For those with flexion intolerant lower backs, they must avoid forward bending exercises in the early stages of healing. This includes toe touching, crunches, pulling the knees to the chest, laying on the back and twisting a knee to the side, sitting and toe touching. The absolute worst thing we do is sit too much.  Sitting IS lumbar flexion which can create the exact pain you are trying to rid yourself of!

Chronic Pain Part 2

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

As we saw in the last article, there are many causes of chronic pain from prescription painkillers to Lyme disease. Most chronic pain patients have no idea where to start to search for help. Unfortunately, most doctors are just as clueless.

A study of European and American medical colleges found that most undergraduate medical colleges have no mandatory courses for studying pain. Even the ones that do have compulsory courses, they represent just twelve hours of credit in the total six year program. Unfortunately, my quick review of chiropractic colleges did not show any better results. When physicians are presented with chronic pain patients, their first response is to resort to what they know: prescription drugs. We know from many studies and common sense that prescription pain killers to nothing to affect the underlying cause of chronic pain.