Read Below To Avoid Unhealthy Dependence On Pills & Painful Stomach Ulcers From These Drugs

By: Dr. Arnan Sisson, PT

April 12, 2024

For 9 years Nancy would wake up and take 3-4 Tylenol first thing in the morning for her back, and she’d take another 2-3 before bedtime just to cut down her pain from an 8/10 to a 6/10 at best. 

On a really bad day, she would take her Oxycodone or Naproxen, after taking a few of these she just felt numb. She would say she felt like a “zombie.” She was missing out on her grandkids and just an active healthy life in general.

Nany was beyond frustrated because she was glued to the couch, felt extremely unhealthy because of all the painkillers she was taking, and even developed 2 painful stomach ulcers from taking these pills.

The good news though was that Nancy was able to lose her pills and back pain. Not only that, but she was able to feel healthy again and be an active participant in life at the age of 60.

Nancy is a good friend and past client of mine. Below I’m going to cover the number one reason why these pills didn’t fix her back, and the 2 exact steps the reader needs to take to lose the pills and get back to an active/healthy life just like Nancy did.

Low-Level Physical Stress Causes

First things first, the main cause of back pain is physical stress to the back. Around 15-20% of my current clients have this stress from lifting something heavy, such as a big bag of groceries or a 30-40lb grandchild.

A majority though have a very low level of physical stress to the back over a long period. This stress adds up over time and can lead to back pain or even sciatica.

So, knowing this information explains 100% why your Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, and even Oxycodone never truly fix your back pain. It's because these are chemical solutions for a mechanical or physical problem.

Simply put, if you have the same stress day in and day out to your back. Most likely all of the medication in the world will never fix it long-term. It may bring down the inflammation or calm the muscles for a few hours. But the cycle repeats itself once the stress is brought back into the picture.

Get Out Of The Seated Position

So the first real step to actually losing your pain medications is below:

1. Set your phone on a 30-minute timer, place a sticky note next to your normal hang-out spot with the words “every 30 minutes,” or simply have a watch close at hand
2. Get out of the seated position every 30 minutes
3. Stand/walk for 30 seconds up to a few minutes (whatever your back can best tolerate)

This is a simple strategy that will begin the process to taking off some physical stress to your back. By getting up frequently throughout the day, you're cutting down the forward slouching stress to your back. This is the first key step to losing your Tylenol or Oxycodone.

Determine Your 3-4 Specific Stressors

The next step is to add in 3-4 additional key strategies to take off the other sorts of physical stressors to your back. These are all specific to each individual client based on their hobbies, work life, age, gender, and specific goals once they lose the pills.

To help any reader determine what these other main physical stressors will be specifically for them and determine the best strategies to fix them; we’re offering 4 Person Consultations with Our Back Specialists (20 Minutes) for free once the blog is posted.

These will be available on a first-come come first serve basis.