Hi everybody,
I'm seeking ways to loosen up my thoracic and lumbar spinal vertebrae without going to a chiropractor. At present, I go to a chiropractor every 2 weeks to get my back cracked with twists and pulses. These are done to deal with the adhesions that keep my vertebrae sticking together. On my own, I use a lacrosse ball on a multitude of trigger points on my upper back and twist side to side with a barbell. I've tried using a hard foam roller to crack things but it's not very effective at breaking adhesions down. My insurance coverage for chiropractic for the year is running out and I'm eager to find a way to simulate the cracking effect of being manipulated by a chiropractor. Does anyone have any equally or nearly effective substitutes for manipulation that I can do on my own? Thanks!

AFAIK "adhesions" are BS, just a way for the chiro to make money while doing absolutely nothing useful for you. Just stop it with the cracking and do ordinary stretching exercises. That's all one needs. If you want a strong, supple, and able upper back, lat pulls, vertical and horizontal, plus similar dumbbell work is the way to go.

AFAIK, subluxation does not actually exist.

Hi,
Thanks for responding. I have done the usual stretching exercises but without making things better. Subluxation isn't my issue so much as things simply being welded in place in my thoracic spine. So I'm hopeful of finding a way to simulate manipulation without a chiropractor. Do members of the forum have suggestions on how to do this?

I get good results from stretching over the largest size exercise ball.

Lay face up passive w/ arms out to the side, start at upper back, then the mid back but not too far into the lumbar area.

Agree w/ CFB - chiro is useful for acute situation but not as a long term treatment.

Back discomfort is difficult to resolve on our own. Been there, done that. Our shoulders aren't built to reach our own backs.

Best thing I can suggest is a heavy duty consumer grade kneading fingers massage doodad. One of my friends has a couple and they're wonderful. When I visit to cook for friends at her home I get to use the back massagers when taking a break. They're almost as good as the commercial grade kneading tables used by some chiropractors and massage therapists.

After being hit by a car while I was riding my bike this spring my right shoulder was broken and had a grade 4 separation. The left shoulder had a lesser injury, but I worsened it significantly by trying to massage my own right shoulder and shoulder blade. Pretty soon I had two useless flippers. I had to take it really easy for weeks to let the left shoulder heal.

I had a decent chiropractor after my previous serious back and neck injury in 2001. Personally I think most stuff chiropractors do is B.S. -- the alignment, clicky-pen thingie, etc. But this guy was powerfully strong, a former military special forces and lumberjack who got into chiropractic after being badly injured on the job. I mostly went to him for the back cracking, massage and neck manipulations. I wouldn't trust anyone else with my neck, but because he was so incredibly strong he could do subtle manipulations effortlessly. I think he'd have been just as good as a massage therapist, minus the chiropractic mumbo jumbo.

Unfortunately I haven't found another massage therapist as good. I know several folks who use massage therapists, but none of them is happy with their therapists. And I wouldn't choose a woman or man massage therapist who wasn't reasonably big and strong. I've had chiropractors and massage therapists who were women or small, slender men and they weren't strong enough to do the job.

Another problem is massage therapists are weird. Maybe it's the job, the intimate personal contact, and they need to develop some defense mechanisms that manifest in odd ways. But most of them seem to rush through, and get defensive if I ask for attention to a specific part of the upper back, neck and shoulders, and to skip the stuff that doesn't hurt, like the lower back. And I've known some massage therapists outside of their professional context -- as casual acquaintances, or on other unrelated jobs. They tend to be very adamant about not touching anyone unless absolutely necessary, and only as a paid massage therapist. It's like they're uncomfortable with physical contact, yet chose a profession that demands it.

And most chiropractors don't want to be regarded as "merely" massage therapists. So rather than use their hands to massage and manipulate, they'll use various devices -- kneading tables, electro-zappers that alternately contract/relax muscles (I like those but some folks find them painful) -- anything to avoid touching clients other than for chiropractor type manipulations and adjustments.

So I'm still looking for a good massage therapist.

Incidentally, rather than foam rollers I use something I already had -- a large, heavy marble rolling pin. It's mostly a kitchen decoration now, although I have used it for baking.

It's perfect for rolling out my thighs and calves after bike rides and workouts. It helps a little with my shoulders. And I can lay it on the floor and lay my back on top of it to roll around. It's a cross between painful and relaxing, but foam rollers just don't do anything for my knotted up back and neck. But I need to be careful to avoid bone contact -- it's easy to get bruised with a hard roller.

Also to quickly relieve chronic daily pain, try the Stopain roll-on with menthol and MSM as a transdermal carrier. It's the best buy among similar stuff. Biofreeze and Blue Emu are good as well, but cost more. Unless the topical analgesic has a transdermal carrier (usually MSM, sometimes the chemically similar DMSO), it cannot penetrate the skin to relieve pain in joints and muscles just under the skin. And none of them will reach deep muscle pain. But Stopain has been great for my busted up shoulder and neck.

To reach my back without straining my good shoulder, I fasten the Stopain roll-on to a wand or handle (using a heavy duty rubber band). Much easier on my shoulders. A bamboo back scratcher, telescoping grabber arm used by disabled folks and seniors, or something similar would work as well.

Ted's Pain Cream works pretty well too but acts slowly, taking days to be effective. Stopain is immediately effective -- very cooling but not painful. Ted's is made like a fine skin lotion, with wintergreen, resveratrol and MSM as the transdermal carrier. I combine the two for longer acting relief.

What works for me are movements that provide traction. Sometimes merely lying flat on the floor is enough. From lying flat, drawing knees to the chest increases traction producing some relief. With knees drawn up to the chest, maintaining shoulders on the floor, rotating knees to the floor will also increase traction. I'm likely to hear and feel some popping at any point during these moves. Quite often, first thing in the morning, just bending over with hands on knees will produce enough traction to provide relief. I do lots of stretching, daily, as well as exercises to strengthen core muscles.

Do all of you who stretch and see chiropractors and massage therapists and use foam rollers and so on do so because of injuries? Asking because I've never stretched, etc., etc., in 50 years of riding.

For myself, I've always found riding a bike in a nearly flat-backed position leaves me as limber as I need or want to be. I do have an old lower-back injury that gives me problems every once in a while, as well as arthritis in one elbow that I broke twice, but the discomfort always goes away after a few days without my attempting to do anything about it.

I never stretched until, in my early 60s, I began to get bursitis in my knees. Stretching fixed that right up. I agree that riding a bike and working out at a gym does all that most people need in the way of stretching. I might be an outlier in needing to stretch my knee tendons. I've never seen a chiropractor, used a roller, had a massage, etc. I have had the occasional injury. Hiking has also been very good therapy for restoring strength and flexibility to injured lower body parts - hiking's really just a fun method of strength training.

You might consider the viewpoint that having attachments between the vertebrae are written in our DNA. It's supposed to be that way. Cracking one's knuckles does not improve finger flexibility or joint health. It's just a bad habit. Why should it become a habit? Hard to say. It seems like one gets a little emotional reward when that knuckle suddenly gives. Probably the same with your spine.

I couldn't agree more. These activities (along with maintaining a proper weight and nutrition) are the best ways to stave off, and even reverse, the ravages of aging. It really doesn't hurt to see a chiropractor once in a while, for adjustment and misalignment issues. They're not all charlatans, and some can work wonders especially after an injury. I do however, draw the line at needing to start a subscription in order to get treatment.


As for the massage -- get one. It may seem like a purely indulgent procedure, but I assure you it really does have many therapeutic benefits, particularly if you're active. Unless there's a special area of interest, I recommend at least a Deep tissue massage.

Just remember to communicate with your therapist, and let them know you're trying it for the first time. And of course, it goes without saying that not all therapist are the same, so it helps to ask around for recommendations.

Why would I do any of the things you recommend? If I had lots of money or were a racer to whom high performance was much more important than money, I might get a massage after a race to speed recovery. But I'm neither of those people. What's "misalignment?" What needs "adjustment?"

Because: 1) its good sound advice, 2) supported by the medical community, 3) helps with blood flow and circulation, 4) rejuvenates the body, 5) and aids in relaxation and the reduction of stress. So you see its not just my suggestion or something just for athletes.You never know. I too was a doubting Thomas until just by happenstance one of the therapist at the gym I was attending overheard my complaint to a mutual friend about a knot in my back and offered to correct it. Changed my whole opinion about the massage, how they work, and what they're good for. Don't knock it, until you've tried it.

I am almost 49 years old and pretty flexible for my age and I never stretch...The only time of my life when I stretched a lot was when I was 14-17 years old because I was doing some martial arts at that time and stretching was a big part of it, but then I stopped and never stretched since then...I find that doing strength training and conditioning workouts, riding my bike, walking and being physically active is enough to maintain my flexibility....I've never been to a chiropractor or a massage therapist, in fact I haven't even had a medical check up for the past 22 years.

Do something about that, soon.

I got so wrapped up as a caregiver for two consecutive elderly family members that I neglected my own health for most of the past 20 years. Other than treatment for injuries (hit by cars in 2001 and again this year), and an ER visit for pneumonia after I'd apparently become unresponsive at home, I didn't get any regular medical attention. I exercised, rode my bike, ate properly, and figured it would be good enough.

It all caught up with me this year, now that I'm 60. After I was hit by a car this spring the ER discovered my thyroid problem was much worse than expected, when they did a neck X-ray. It's so swollen and distorted it's shoved my trachea and esophagus an inch or two sideways and constricted both to the extent I can barely swallow, and it's hard to get enough air during hard exertions. I hadn't taken thyroid meds for years and it suddenly failed over the summer. For the past couple of weeks I can barely walk some days due to exhaustion and dizziness. I'm needing to repeat a biopsy because they can't determine whether it's also cancerous.

Fortunately I'm eligible for VA medical care and they got me registered and set up for medical appointments pronto, including another thyroid ultrasound this weekend. I'd avoided using the VA for years because I'd heard they were so overloaded they couldn't handle disabled combat vets -- I have no combat related disabilities and didn't want to burden the system. But our region is well staffed and equipped and nobody is being turned away or under-served.

But if I'd gotten started with the VA a year or so ago I might have avoided some problems.

And, back to the original topic, I can also get treatment for chronic pain related to a 2001 accident that broke my back and neck. Most of the back pain has eased up but I still have chronic neck and shoulder pain and stiffness.

I've been using an inversion table and it seems to work well.

Hi,
What do you mean by a kneading fingers doodad? I've seen devices that seem to be vibrators but not kneaders. Kneading would be excellent for breaking up trigger points.

My friend has an older model Brookstone shiatsu kneading massager like this one. Hers is a little different, but close enough. I don't see this model in the current Brookstone catalog. The massager doodads move around in an elliptical pattern. Very effective. I need to get one for some knotted up places between my shoulder blade and neck.

IME going to the gym and doing about an hour of varied and strenuous upper body work, full range of motion and at least 12 reps, fixes me right up. Loosens, stretches, feels good after, plus I get fat loss and muscle growth. What's not to like? You don't get the same response? I might say that if one hasn't done a lot of that kind of thing, starting with sets of 30 reps is a good idea.

A typical workout would be 3 sets of: lat pulls, seated rows, back machine, shrugs, cable curls, concentration curls; super sets of dumbbell raises: side, front, back; seated dumbbell presses, knee raises on the Roman chair. That's back and arms day. I also have a chest and legs day. 2 days/week at the gym seems to work for me.

I need both. I go to Planet Fitness specifically because of their massage chair. It delivers the next best thing to a custom massage (you can adjust the intensity, pulsations, etc.) for the price of admission. Between the two I have relieved my back issues by 50%. No doctor, potions or pills necessary. I'm not saying I'm cured, but it is significantly better.

Yeah, exercising used to be enough to work out the kinks, but not after getting hit by cars twice since 2001. By the time I'd regained enough mobility from the broken neck and back vertebrae in 2001 to do any significant exercising the muscles were permanently knotted up. Feels like knotted heavy duty rope in there, between the right shoulder, shoulder blade and neck. Never eases up.

I've tried massage therapists and chiropractors but nobody wants to work hard enough to get to deep muscle problems. My dad suggested Rolfing, said it worked for his chronic deep muscle tension. I never got around to trying it.

The advantage to serious massage machines -- which some chiropractors do have -- is the adjustable pressure. I usually preferred it at or near maximum pressure. Same with their EMS type machines that cause muscles to contract -- I preferred the higher settings. Those little battery operated TENS units aren't the same -- supposedly they just stimulate the nerves just enough to fool them for awhile into not hurting, but it lasts less than an hour. I get more relief from Stopain roll-on topical analgesic.

The Brookstone kneading fingers shiatsu massager doodad shown above has only one setting, but the pressure can be controlled just by how heavily the user leans into the machine. Easily done with an adjustable recliner, or using pillows, etc.