Most of the people I know with back pain complain of lower back pain. I have it in my shoulders. It can get to aching like a toothache to the point I walk all hunched over and barely able to move. When this first started, I thought I was having a heart attack because the pain does radiate, and it was affecting my left arm too. The full cardiac workup proved it was not my heart, and the scans showed problems with some arthritis and degenerative disk disease in my cervical spine. My chiropractor in Sacramento helps me manage the pain to pretty much live a perfectly normal life.
I refuse to be a victim of painkillers. I see many friends and neighbors hooked on narcotics and even the over-the-counter NSAIDs. I have one neighbor who cannot get through a work day without his 800mg prescription ibuprofen. I cannot begin to imagine what he is doing to his heart taking that every day. He says he has to do something about the pain to get through work. He works outside in all kinds of weather. He says it hurts too bad to not take the pills.
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