WHY DO I HURT AND HOW DO I FIX IT?

“WHY DO I HURT
AND HOW DO I FIX
IT?”
DR BILL JANESHAK
PAIN, PAIN GO
AWAY
I hate pain, I always thought to myself, “What’s this all
about”, “Why does this always happen to me?” Until I really
started to study the body and how it works. God created us
to have an alarm system, something that would warn us
when there was something amiss in our lives.
When I ran across this quote from noted speaker Pema
Chodron, “Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what
we need to know”. Now, I’m not sure, but I’m willing to bet
that she was talking about emotional baggage or an
unwelcome mother-in-law and not the physiological affects
of pain.
However, me being a little narcissistic I like to look at quotes
and see how they pertain to me. Since I’m a Chiropractor
and I deal with people everyday that seem to be
complaining of the same aches and pains every time I see
them because they keep doing the same wrong things over
and over.
Now, I don’t mean that they are doing these things on
purpose (although some people think that I have some secret
This is exactly why we need to understand pain, and not just react to it. Pain is there for a reason and, like the quote says, it
won’t leave until we find out why its there.
Pain is like an alarm to the body, something needs your
attention...NOW! Pain can vary from mildly annoying, like a
hangnail or mind bending pain like a heart attack or stroke, you
will use your good judgement on what actions to take.
If you noticed I said “actions to take”, that means that you need
to do something, even if that something is just stopping what you
are doing. The goal after reading this wonderful piece of literary
genius is that you will have a better understanding of what you
should do and why.
“Do over” button that I can push to make them feel
better so they can repeat the process). What I mean is
that they are not fixing their problem, they are just
temporarily palliating themselves while their condition
(cause) worsens.
This is why in our office we look for the source of the
pain and not merely the location. What I mean is that
the location of the pain and source of the pain are not
necessarily the same. Have you ever wondered why
someone having a heart attack gets pain in the left arm
and jaw? What if you were taken to the hospital with a
heart attack and the doctors would only examine the
left arm and jaw...because that’s where the pain was? I
bet you’d be pretty pissed off, wouldn’t you?.
Now, most pains or discomforts that you feel don’t require any
outside help and there are many quick, easy, and cheap ways to
take care of yourself at home (just visit our website for a free
download on our home pain remedies), and I always recommend
them first before you take the time and expense of seeing a doctor.
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Don’t Take a Gun To a
Knife Fight
While I want everyone to have a little more respect for their personal alarm system, I don’t want you to let every little ache and
pain paralyze your life. After all, isn’t one of the main reasons
that you ultimately want to be pain free is so that you can live
your life to the fullest? If it’s not, you might want to reevaluate
your goals.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Respect your Body but Don’t Over React either
❖ Use Common Sense when evaluating Your Pain Level
and Reason For the Discomfort
❖ Don’t “Test” the Injured or Painful Area To See if its
Getting Better, You’ll Know With Normal Activities.
❖ Remember the “3-Day Rule” for Aches and Pains
❖ If You Always Seem to Hurt the Same Area, Get
Checked out
❖
If you’ve been working in the garden all day preparing your
spring veggies and at the end of the long day you have that “aching back”, don’t go thinking its a herniated disc. If your feet are
sore after an epic Costco shopping trip it’s probably not a diabetic neuropathy from the free samples of cheesecake (more
likely it was the terrible concrete floors and long lines). Also, if
you have a blinding headache after an all night wine tasting it’s
probably not a tumor.
I have a 3 day rule for aches and pains, if, after 3 days, you don’t
see continued natural improvement or resolution seek some professional help (loading up on Advil and other pain medications
doesn’t count). In addition, if the same pain goes away and
comes back with your “normal” activities get it checked out thoroughly.
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Know Thy Enemy
There are many “types” of pain as you may well know. There is
achy pain, sharp pain, gas pain, heartache, spasm type of pain,
and the list can go on and on. The more you know about what
structures cause what type of pain you can help yourself make
better decision to treat at home or what type of doctor you
should see to help. This alone can save you weeks of time and
hundreds of dollar$. There is nothing worse for someone in
pain than waiting.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
If You’re experiencing Chest Pain Always Rule Out
Heart Problems
❖ Burning ,Tingling and Numbness are Most Likely
Nerve Pain
❖ Muscles, Ligaments, and Tendons Will Hurt More
With Movement
❖ Disc and Joint Pain is Relieved With Motion
❖ Ice Acute Injuries for the First 48 hours
❖
First things first, if you even remotely think that you are having
a cardiac pain or if you just feel that something is seriously
wrong stop whatever you’re doing and get to the Emergency Room. This was one of the very first things that I was
ever taught in evaluating patients and it has served me well over
the years and probably saved a couple lives. Now, I’m not talking about aches and pains like I was in “Don’t take a Gun to a
knife fight”, I’m talking about chest pain, shortness of breath,
and arm pain (just to name a few). While its true many things
can cause those exact symptoms you have to rule out any life
threatening problems, you may not get a second chance.
Ok, now that we got that out of the way, the next thing that you
must know is what is the character or personality of your pain.
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What I mean by this is what does it feel like? And when?
Here are some common traits of pain. Let’s make a game of
it and see if you can find yours :)
(and related structures) but it may progress into a more serious and systemic problem called “myofascial pain syndrome”.
Nerve pain: Nerve pain is often described by burning, tingling, and numbness. This type of pain is usually not relieved
by position or rest. Also, nerve pain will often radiate down
the limbs and around the rib cage. A good example of this
would be Sciatica or brachial neuralgia. This can be caused
by a spinal disc, weak musculature, vertebral misalignment,
poor posture, degenerative spine, chronic high blood sugar
(diabetes/stress), or toxin exposure just to name a few. Seek a
chiropractor that is well versed in biomechanics as well as
functional medicine to get a clear picture of how to handle
this. If need be, they can refer you to other specialist such as
an orthopedic surgeon or neurologist.
If you have the general achy muscle pains you can pretty
safely treat it at home with ice (15-20 minutes 3-5 times per
day for the first 48 hours), passive movement and rest. The
“3 day rule” applies here but 80% will be fine with home
therapy.
If you have the reoccurring issue call our office for a referral
to a knowledgable Chiropractor or physical therapist in your
area.
Disc/joint Pain: In the past 10 years this is the most common type of pain that I see on a daily basis. Most people
have this for sometime, even decades, before they do anything about it. They do this because, when it starts out, it’s
stiff in the morning (like muscle pain) but gets better after 530 minutes upon moving around, feels better or is absent during the day with movement, and is achy and sore in the evening. If there is any bending or lifting it can cause an acute
episode (like a muscle or like a nerve). This serious condition
will often be chalked up to “sore muscles” or “only tightness”
by the patient because it doesn’t stay with them all the time,
usually it doesn’t prevent them from doing their daily activities, and the pain is “tolerable” most of the time. The problem is, because its only symptomatic in the morning and evenings, they forget about it during the day so they never address it.
Muscle Pain: This would be your garden variety ache and
pain from a good workout or working your veggie garden for
a little too long. There are varying degree of muscle strains/
sprains ranging from a little annoying to surgical necessity
(you’ll know this one for sure). This type of pain can be achy
and sore, to sharp and localized with quick movements, and/
or spasm. The affected area will usually feel “tight” or stiff.
This type of pain will generally increase with motion and feel
better with rest. I called this muscle pain but it may also involve ligaments (they hold bone to bone) and tendons (they
attach muscle to bone).
What I have just described was a “new” injury if, you seem to
have the same reoccurring problem, it can still be a muscle
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The biggest problem is that it feels better with movement and
most of the people nowadays are sitting all day long. Today,
the typical worker will spend 80% of their day sitting, that
means that the typical worker with this condition (and there
are a lot of them out there) is only getting a small amount of
relief throughout the day with movement. Remember disc
and joint pain decrease with motion . With such lack of movement this condition accelerates the degenerative process and
increases the severity and frequency of the pain. Many times
leading to permanent disability.
These are just a few of the types of most common pains that
we see and some general rules of how they manifest. This
should give you a good lay-perspective on how to recognize
what the problem will most likely be. If you have more complex symptoms or if there was something that wasn’t covered
your welcome to shoot us an email or give us a call.
The most frequent causes of this condition are poorly treated
or poorly healed traumas (like car accidents or sports injuries), repetitive motion, poor posture (sitting at computer), inactivity, poor nutrition, and stress.
As far as home treatment for this it’s simple...move, but you
must move consistently. Working out at the gym for 2 hours a
day does you no good if your sitting all day long, it would be
like breathing really good for 2 hours a day and holding your
breath the rest of it, it just doesn’t work that way.
If you’ve been suffering from this for a while go get it
checked out by a Chiropractor first, we are most geared to
dealing with joint/disc malfunction, remember this is not a
muscle issue it just feels like one, if the condition is progressed you may need to see an orthopedic surgeon or pain
management doctor. Both maybe necessary for assisting with
symptoms but neither will address the cure.
Poor Posture is not only unattractive but is also unhealthy, it can lead to a
serious and painful condition called “Myofascial Pain Syndrome”. This is
fast becoming one of the most common cause of disability in our country
today.
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The Good, The Bad, And
The Ugly
There is Always Hope
❖ You don’t Feel Pain in Your Body, You Feel it in Your
Brain
❖ Chronic Pain Causes Changes in Brain Chemistry
❖ Unlike Acute Pain, Chronic Pain has No
Physiological Use
❖ If Pain is Left Untreated it Can Become Permanent
❖ Diet is a Major influencer on The Body’s ability to
feel Pain (Increasing or Decreasing)
❖ Instead of A Specialist try a Good Generalist
❖
The “good” pain is the pain that allows you to learn or pay attention, that’s the physiological reason for acute pain. Remember, the quote “Nothing leaves until its taught us what we need
to learn”, like don’t put your hand in the fire...it burns. We
should be mighty glad that we have an alarm system like that,
it’s probably saved your life 100 times and you don’t even know
it.
The “bad” pain all the chronic things that hurts, this is the body
telling you that “hey, you’re doing this wrong, you need to adjust
what you’re doing”, the injury that we’ve had enough of, that sitting at my desk for too many months for too many hours, the
toothache that just needs to stop. Basically, its all the stuff we
are working through (or should be working through). The alarm
went off and we are in the middle of the fire but, we are getting
out.
The “Ugly” is the chronic pain and sometimes permanent
pain.This type of pain has all sorts of characteristics, timings,
and different remedies that work so inconsistently that you don’t
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know which way to jump. Chronic, unrelenting pain will
drive you crazy, literally.
So, if you are one of these people and I just reaffirmed what
you were just thinking, I want you to reengage and listen to
what is next because its important. There is HOPE. There are
never promises but there is hope.
I feel so sorry for these patients most of these patients have
spent thousands of dollars out of their pocket, gone to numerous doctors, specialist, faith healers, energy healers, and have
taken every medicine, vitamin, and used every gadget that
has sounded like it might work. Some have made them better
temporarily, some have had no affect, and some have made
them worse. At this point, they’re just reaching for straws.
The worse part about this is that chronic pain is physiologically
useless. It serves no function for the body, it doesn’t alert, it doesn’t teach,
it just is.
One of the reasons that people with chronic debilitating pain fail in treatment is that they try to get rid of the pain. What?, of course they
try to get rid of the pain that was the problem...right?,
Wrong? Remember, before the pain was out of control, before you tried every treatment under the sun, it was trying to
tell you something, it was trying to get you to pay attention to
something specific. Fire alarms don’t go off just to tell you to
turn them off, do they? So, pain doesn’t come just to tell you
to take a pain pill, you didn’t start off with a Vicodin deficiency.
I guess that it may serve one purpose, a warning to others,
but that’s not physiological. When you reach this point your
life is different. Chronic pain will depress you, make you lose
motivation, and even change your personality. Many patients
What you started out with was a functional problem, something wasn’t functioning right, this is why the pain showed
up. I could’ve been hormones, immune system, spine, nerves,
muscles, digestion, blood sugar, and/or a whole host of other
things. If one system is affected long enough it will affect the
others, and will cause different types of pain. This is why its
so hard to get rid of when you are only looking at pain, there
is so many different sources.
“Ok, Ok, blah, blah blah...you said there was hope, where’s
the hope?” We’ve had many, many patients over the years
that have reversed their symptoms and are living whole,
healthy, and active lives today. All of them have done this the
same way, they quit looking to stop the pain, started looking
will attempt suicide just to rid themselves of the unrelenting
pain. At this point, all hope is lost.This is the worst of the human condition without hope nothing is worth living.
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to what was wrong with them, and made major lifestyle
changes.
sometime damage themselves so bad that there may be permanent changes, however, there is always room for improving
your condition.
They started with the basics, everything that people know they
“should do” but really don’t i.e. eat your veggies, exercise,
etc. Then they found a real qualified health coach like a Naturopath, Functional Medicine doctor, a Functional Chiropractor, or a good Acupuncturist. Look for someone that has
some letters behind their name from an “actual” College,
there are many well meaning people out there that get an online certificate and are really passionate about helping others
but aren’t really qualified to look deeper.
That’s exactly why I wrote this little article, you don’t have to
let it get that bad. Permanent pain doesn’t start out as permanent pain, it starts out as a little ache (unless you have some
sort of accident or trauma, of course) and if the appropriate
actions were taken when it started you eliminate the problem
very easily.
The reason that this section is so long is that I see so many
people in the beginning stages of this process, many as young
as 15 years old, and if you could learn just one or two things
to help avoid this, my time would be worth it.
I said before that there are no promises, and there aren’t. People that have been suffering from pain for years or decades
Chronic pain is a very serious problem that is only getting
worse, with today’s diets,
lack of activity, and constant bombardment of
stress, our body’s are becoming overwhelmed and
are breaking down. Adding to this a national
healthcare system that is
focused on symptom resolution and not returning
people to health, many
people are at their wits
end, who do you turn to
for help?
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Einstein said “We Cannot Solve Our Problems With The Same
Thinking We Use When We Created Them” and if you want to
change the direction of your pain (or health) you have to adopt
a different way of thinking. Period.
THINK DIFFERENTLY
Today’s Healthcare System DOES NOT Work For
Today’s Health Problems
❖ LifeStyle Medications Are Not A Viable Solution To
Your Pain
❖ You Are Responsible For Your Health
❖ Ask Better Healthcare Questions and You Will Get
Better Healthcare Answers
❖ Get a Good Support Group
❖ Educate Yourself
❖
Today’s paradigm of healthcare DOES NOT WORK for today’s health problems. The current healthcare system is designed to save lives in acute situations i.e. heart attacks, strokes,
accidents, (and thank God for them) however, they are not
equipped to handle chronic dysfunctional problems and it’s the
chronic dysfunctional problems that are causing most of the
pain in society today.
You can clearly see this just by looking at the amount and the frequency of prescription drugs...do you EVEN know anybody
that isn’t on a drug or has been asked to get on one? Are you
aware that 80% of all medications are “lifestyle drugs”? Meaning they are meant to be taken for the rest of your life. What this
really means is that (under the current healthcare system) they
are just treating, treating, treating and not fixing anything. Is
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that what you really wanted when you went to the doctor? or
where you looking to get a result?
Chronic neck and back pain, headaches, high blood pressure,
diabetes, high cholesterol, heartburn, weight gain or loss, insomnia, and fatigue are all functional issues, not chemical imbalances that “just showed up one day”. You can’t solve a
functional problem by throwing more drugs at it anymore
than you can fix an engine problem by adding more black
tape over the check engine light on your dash. You must get
to the problem.
The title of this section is “Think Differently” and I’ve addressed some of the problems with the healthcare system that
we’re stuck in and how doctors have to change their approach to treating patients, if they are to have any success
with today’s needs. However, I’m not going to hold my
breath waiting for that change. The profession is so big and
so bureaucratic that any appreciable change would take
years. So, when I say “Think Differently” I’m talking about
you.
We’ve been trained to have the doctors tell us what to do and
just follow directions well, we’ve seen the mess that that has
put us in. It is time that you take back control here are a few
things that you can do:
Take Responsibility: It’s your health, not your doctors,
you are the one that has to suffer through the problem or enjoy the solution. NOBODY WILL CARE MORE ABOUT
YOUR HEALTH THAN YOU.
Ask better questions: Rather than asking “why am I so unlucky to have this pain?” ask yourself, “What is the purpose
of this pain?”This is exactly what I was talking about earlier
when I said that most people’s problem is trying to get rid of
their pain and not solving the problem. If you ask yourself
for solutions you will be more likely to get one.
Remember, You’re the Boss: When you go to the doctor,
interview them before you hire them. Yes, I said hire them.
So many people forget that the doctors work for you, ask
them their approach, what is more important, ask why they
would use a certain approach. Make sure they answer your
questions in language that you will understand. If all they do
is reach for a prescription pad run for the door, they’re not
the right doctor for you.
Pay Cash: Money talks, right? Nowadays, the insurance
companies run healthcare, I don’t think that’s any secret. If
you tell the doctor that you are willing to pay cash for the
right result he or she can think outside of the “Insurance
Stronghold” and actually give you some options that would
otherwise be unavailable. Instead of the doctor thinking,
“How can I help this patient under Blue Cross ‘s[or whoever]
guidelines” they start thinking “How can I help this patient”.
Asking better questions works with doctors too ya know. If
the doctor is not so beaten down by the system he (or she)
will probably be more excited to treat you. In addition, if you
are willing to pay cash many doctors will negotiate very reasonable rates for you.
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Be a Team Player: Once you find a doctor and commit to
a plan to get better, work the plan completely, 90% will not
get the result you are looking for. I’ve seen this happen so
many times in my practice. Someone will come in desperate
to find a doctor that can help them, we examine them, run
blood test, x-rays, spend time evaluating the case, diagnose,
and research a plan of action only to follow up with a patient
to find out they’ve just been “too busy” to do everything, in
some cases, anything,I’ve asked them to do.
Join A Real Support Group: People with chronic pain or
other chronic health issues need love too. It can be psychologically draining dealing with problems all the time and it
helps to be around other people that understand you. After
all, you will be speaking the same language. A word of warning, you want to be around people that are looking at solutions, like you are, not focusing on the problem. What I mean
is now you are “Thinking Differently” you want to be around
people that are thinking in the same direction that you are...a
positive direction. Having a group of people that are trying
to take themselves to the next level of health and healing is
very motivating and can keep you accountable during the
rough patches ( I never said everyday would be a rose garden), environments like this will greatly improve your chances
of reaching your ultimate goal.
The number one complaint that I hear from patients about
other doctors is that they didn’t seem to care. One reason
maybe is that you didn’t seem to care so why should they?
One good way to make doctors pay attention is to show up
and report, in detail, everything that happened since your
last meeting. “Doctor, last time we met you asked me to walk
30 minutes a day, drink 40 ounces of water, and take 2000
U.I. of vitamin D and I did exactly like you ask and now my
ankle hurts, I pee in the middle of the night, and I’m not as
tired by 3pm as I was before. What do you think?” I will guarantee the doctor will not take your appointments lightly if he
knows that you’re paying attention, in fact, he may very well
study up on your case before you come in.That’s the kind of
doctor that you want.
On the other hand, many (not all) “support groups” end up
just being pity parties and a chance to play “Oh yeah, Well
This is How Bad I Feel” where people just take turns tell
their story of how bad their pain is. This type of group just
reinforces the negative and is very detrimental to any long
term healing.
Get Educated: When you find a good doctor to help you
ask tons of questions. Big Bird once said, “Asking questions is
a great way to find things out”, and this is exactly what you
should do. At our office we have continuing educations for
our patients and community, it’s a great way to be proactive
in your whole health.
Remember, you train people how to treat you, if you take
your case seriously so will everyone else.
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The more you learn the better questions you can ask, and the
better results you’re able to benefit from.
Bill Janeshak is proof that life changing results
can come with natural methods. In 1987 after 18
years of a seizure disorder that was only partially
managed by medication he finally saw the results
that he had always looked for under Chiropractic
care. From that moment on he knew that he
“had” to become a Chiropractor.
“Doctor” comes from a Latin word doctoris meaning teacher. I
don’t think it’s required by law but every doctor that I know
that does functional work has some sort of education process
for their patients. If they don’t, ask for it. If they refuse, run
the other way. They either can’t teach what they don’t understand, don’t want to invest the time into you (bad doctor), or
are just making stuff up.
In 1996 he graduated from the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. When most people would
considering this finishing school, Dr Janeshak
saw that this was only the beginning.
Pain is a terrible thing to try to manage on your own I have
written this for you because I know that you’re looking for answers and I intended to give you some direction or, at the
very least, insight to how pain works and what you can do
about it.
Dr Bill Janeshak, DC,CCST, MNLP
Since graduating he has amassed several degrees
in topics relating to biomechanics, neurology, rehabilitation, functional medicine, nutrition, exercise, psychology diagnostic testing, and lab work.
“When people ask me why I’m studying so many different things, I tell them
I’m not, I study one thing, the natural approach to helping people”
Today Dr Janeshak practices in Yorba Linda, California were he has been
since 1999. He specializes in difficult cases related to stress using traditional
Chiropractic care, Functional Neurology, Functional Medicine, Rehabilitation,
and Stress Relieving techniques.
I sincerely hope this was helpful to you in some way and that
you continue to benefit from this information for years to
come. If you have any further questions or are looking for a
good doctor referral in your area, we encourage you to contact us.
He is an avid public speaker and can be found lecturing in small business on
injury prevention or nutrition, post graduate colleges teaching neurology and
physiology, or on the speakers circuit with his talk “Never Say,”It’s Just Stress”
Again”.
In 2011, Janeshak was asked by Personal Development author, Greg Reid and
Business guru, Brian Tracy to contribute to their book “Initiative”, which
topped the bestseller list in December of that year.
Dr Janeshak lives on a small farm in Norco, California with his wife, Stephanie, and daughter, Amelia. They enjoy their organic garden, riding horses,
church activities, and spending time together.
18613 Yorba Linda Blvd, Yorba Linda, Ca 92886
714-777-2500 Yorbalindafamilychiropractic.com
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