The organs, emotions and the body’s connective tissues including bones, muscles, ligaments are all neurally connected both way. In my 25 years plus of teaching experience I have found that exercise, pilates, yoga, and movement will really help some clients with back pain. However, if the pain continues to reside, there is a bigger picture on health, lifestyle and organ health that needs to be addressed.
If you ever email me to enquire about gaining core strength, reducing back pain or flattening your abs. I will always ask you about your gut and organ health. That unremitting lower back pain you have just won’t go away. You’ve tried almost everything from joint supplements to Chiropractic but the relief is only temporary and comes back sometimes with a vengeance. You’ve almost decided that pain medications and a mental acceptance of the pain will be the way you have to live the rest of your life. This pain takes a toll on your quality of life and ultimately changes you. There may be an answer that can help you alleviate that pain and allow you to return to your life without pain. This is viscera calling for help. This is why I offer a selection of consultations so you get to chose whether you want to treat symptoms or root cause.
The organ connection
This is nothing new and has been around for years yet somehow gets forgotten as so many of us feel that muscles and organs are not linked. “It’s only muscular skeletal “ clients tell me. We are all a system of cybernetic systems, everything connected and interrelated. Chinese medicine recognized this years ago. Look closely at the diagram below. We also know that pain in one disc can reside four discs in either direction.
When we do things that we enjoy or like our brain produces feel-good neurotransmitters. It’s an incredible force that comes out of that three-pound organ the brain. We are taught from school that the brain controls and does everything, but guess what, we have a second brain – “the gut-brain’. This organ in our body also has the facility to control. Hence the saying “gut instinct”.
Gut microbiome
If you go to a functional medicine doctor with back pain or any symptom. They will always ask you if you were born through a C-section or vaginally. This is because we are made up of 90% bacterial cells and only 10% are human cells. It’s the microbes from our mother’s bacteria that make up an invisible organ called microbiome. When we are born through the vaginal canal we get a natural splattering of bacteria that creates a natural immune system. If we are born through a c-section unless we ask the midwife to splutter some of the mothers waste juices across the child’s face, our immune system will consist of the hospital’s bacteria as the first point of call.
This is not to say that C-section is wrong in any way, this method saves lives every day. Caesarean sections can be absolutely essential. Sometimes, for the safety of the mother and child, surgical birth rather than a vaginal delivery, is the only option. But there is mounting scientific evidence that C-sections come with a hidden cost.
Many studies have found that infants born by C-section have an elevated risk of obesity, diabetes, and immune systems problems like allergy and asthma. By skipping the trip through the birth canal, they miss being dosed with health-stimulating good bacteria that reside there – their mother’s “vaginal microbiome”. These are just the facts presented. The highest number of C-sections in the world are in Brazil. Adults born from a C-section have a 25% chance of an increase in inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, asthma. immune system disorders. Our microbes in our gut are like the Amazon rainforest. They produce hormones, respond to medicine and infections, control, blood sugar, and cholesterol. Our gut brain can change our behavior. this is an incredible discovery. The brain and intestines are linked via two way lift called the vagus nerve. The brain has 100 billion neurons, the gut has 100 million neurons. Any disturbance in the gut can affect not only surrounding tissues but every cell in the body, hence our constant back pain that won’t go away.
The gut is responsible for 90% of serotonin production and our brain only 10% serotonin production. Again, this is why I insist on looking at organ health in correlation to back pain, or any pain for that matter. Our gut bacteria can control the way we think and behave. Modern diet and lifestyle change our gut bacteria resulting in more chronic disease. Gut microbiomes can help and feed the gut, providing we eat the right foods. The use of some prebiotic foods will be a great start.
As human beings, we need to take responsibility for ourselves by educating our choices and eating gut-friendly food.
Bibliography
“Fully functional gut” – Emma Lane
