BY DR. ARNAN SISSON

December 8, 2023

There are a lot of special gadgets, pills, creams, and even foods that people will claim to fix back pain for good. Unfortunately, often times when you use these sorts of things they just don’t hold up. As the weeks pass on by, a cold hard truth is apparent. Your still popping multiple Tylenols, still can’t bend over to tie your shoes, still can’t get on the floor to play with the grandkids, and you’re still suffering for 8 hours each and every day at the office.

Today though, we’re going to talk about something that actually does work. It’s something that I’ve used in practice for years and has recently be proven with some fairly strong research. This tool to help fix back pain is none other than…..music! Not just any kind of music, but gentle calming music.

Dr. Tasha Stanton from Australia just did a big study that looked at folks with severe stiffness and aggravation in their backs. She had them all lay down, and in the study, they used a machine to slowly put pressure to the back and read out how stiff it actually was. Afterwards the folks did a questionnaire where they could state how stiff and tight their backs were.

Half of the group had a screeching sound as the machine when down. The other group had either a calming noise or had the screeching start to lower as they did the test.

The group that had the calming noise, during and afterwards reported that they were much less stiff in their backs. The machine also showed a big drop in lower back tightness.  So the test confirmed that tightness and stiffness of the back..which is one of the primary complaints in my back pain clinic ; Was much lower after a specific sort of music was played, not just that, but the improvements lasted.

This makes sense to me though, because I say from my own experience that having relaxing music up front in my practice while in the waiting room does help clients become more comfortable. And when paired up with my other indirect treatments (lighting, scents, coloring of the walls) and direct treatments (exercise medicine, hands on work, education) stiffness and pain can be drastically reduced in as little as 60 minutes.

You may be asking how to use this at home. A great start would be this, If you have a sudden ache or  stiffness in your back its always a good rule to go for a short walk, do some gentle movements, or even some self-massage work. But pairing this with light calming music can be a strong unlikely complement to making you feel better. This can be done through having an iPod play during your walk’s all the way to getting the radio going in the house with calming music.

So feel free to try those tips out if you or a friend is suffering with awful back pain. That’s it for today, everyone. Remember knowledge is power!

P.S. Want me to look at your back for free? Call us today at (804) 493-3256 to set up your 100% free discovery session with me. During the session I can give you a good idea of what’s causing your troubles and come up with a program to help you become active again and lose all the medication. We only have 1-2 openings for this service a week, so call soon to get your slot!