Article written by Dr. Michelle Strydom MD, Photo by Andrea Piacquadio:
In Western countries backache is the most common cause of sickness-related absence from work. In the U.K it accounts for 80 million work days lost annually with a cost of £500 million.46 Backache can be caused by trauma (see page 396) or excessive strain on the back, for example occupations that involve heavy lifting and twisting. Apart from trauma and overuse, the toxic thought patterns and spiritual roots behind backache depend on the underlying disease. The characteristics of the back pain can give you a clue as to what is most likely behind it:
| Mechanical pain | Pain due to compression of nerves in spine | Pain due to compression of nerves in spine |
|---|---|---|
| Responsible for 90% of back pain: • Age: 20-55 years • Pain gets worse with physical activity and is relieved by rest. • Pain developed suddenly and can be brought on by lifting or bending. • Recurrent episodes. • Pain is limited to back, buttock or thigh and does not radiate below the knee. • Pain is worse on one side of the body. • Painful restriction of some but not all back movements. Causes: 1. Muscle Contraction Backache 2. Early Osteoarthritis 3. Spinal Stenosis 4. Spondylolysis 5. Osteoporotic Compression Fractures (Osteoporosis is explained on page). | • Pain is severe, sharp, radiates down the back of leg beyond the knee (this is called sciatica). • Pain is aggravated by coughing, sneezing and straining to pass a stool more than by back movement. • Pins and needles. • Straight leg raising test:If you lie on your back and raise your leg with it straight at the knee, it produces tightness and pain in the buttock at 80-90°. If you then bend your ankle so that you lift your toes upwards, this causes an added stab of pain. • Bow string sign: At the point where you feel pain during the straight leg raising test, bending the knee slightly makes the pain disappear. Then if firm pressure is applied by grabbing the hamstring muscle on the outer side of the leg just above the knee, the pain recurs with renewed intensity. Causes: 1. Prolapsed Disc 2. Degenerative Disc Disease 3. Advanced osteoarthritis 4. Spondylolisthesis 5. Spinal Stenosis | • Age: under 20 or 0ver 50 years. • The pain is constant or getting progressively worse and is not relieved by rest. • Spine movement in all directions is painful. • The location of the pain is above the level of the belly button (Thorax). • Difficulty in passing urine • Loss of anal sphincter tone or faecal incontinence. • Progressive weakness in legs with difficulty walking. • Loss of sensation in an area. • Alternating sciatica or sciatica affecting both legs. • Major trauma. • Generally ill e.g. fever, weight loss. Causes: These symptoms indicate possible serious conditions such as 1. Cancer (stomach, pancreas, colon, prostate, uterine or ovarian cancer can cause this type of back pain). Cancer is explained on page. 2. Fracture of spine (broken back) 3. Infection in the spine (see page) |
| Pain due to inflammation • Pain has a gradual onset • Pain is the same on both sides of the body and can include the upper back or buttock • Pain is worse in the morning and improves rather than worsens with activity. Causes: 1. Infection (spiritual root behind infections are explained on page 143) 2. Ankylosing Spondylitis 3. Osteoarthritis and prolapsed disc |
Backache Due to Trauma or Over Exertion
Not every disease has a spiritual root or toxic thinking pattern behind it. An example is damage to the back due to trauma. In this case, no repentance is needed, you just need to minister and pray for healing or a creative miracle in Jesus’ Name provided there are no blocks to healing. For example, if the person has bitterness against the reason for the accident (for example the person who caused it) or self-hatred and guilt against themselves because they blame themselves for the accident, then those are secondary sins that can become blocks to healing, even though there was no sin that caused the problem initially.
When the nerves, bones, ligaments and muscles in the back are injured, sometimes the damage is permanent because some body structures cannot heal. In this situation, it is going to take a creative miracle by God and ministry to restore this type of damage. This is explained in detail on page 123 under the heading “Sometimes You Can’t Do It Alone”.
Muscle Contraction Backache
The toxic thought pattern behind muscle contraction backache is fear, anxiety and stress. Sometimes this can come out of conflict or fear of conflict. To understand muscle contraction backache, you need to f irst read through the chapter on page 180 which has essential background knowledge.
The function of motor nerves is to stimulate muscles to contract and relax in order to produce movement. The nerves that stimulate your muscles to make them contract are told what to do by the central nervous system, which in turn is under control of the hypothalamus in your brain. Remember the hypothalamus is the area in your brain that is the mind-body connection – it translates your thoughts into a physical reaction. When your thought life is dominated by fear and anxiety or you are living in conflict and strife, your body is put into stage 2 and 3 of stress. In this toxic state, the hypothalamus alters the way in which the central nervous system functions. One of the consequences of this is that it results in an imbalance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nerves become over active and this leads to sustained contraction or spasm of the muscles on one side of your spine which results in pain.
If you want to eradicate muscle contraction backache from your life, you are going to have to deal with the fear, anxiety and stress behind it. Turn to page 523.
Degenerative Disc Disease and Prolapsed Disc (Slipped Disc)
Degenerative disc disease and slipped discs most commonly affect the lower back because this is where the mechanical pressure is the greatest. Typically, the person is seized with back pain by merely coughing or during heavy straining such as lifting something and is not able to straighten up. The person usually stands slightly bent to one side and all back movements are severely limited. There is often tenderness in the midline of the lower back. Degenerative disc disease that is not caused by trauma can be genetically inherited. Therefore I recommend that you first read through the chapter on page 153 which has important background teaching on genetically inherited diseases.
In degenerative disc disease, the centre of the disc gradually degenerates which means that it softens and weakens. The result is that it is no longer able to sustain the pressure in the back as it was originally designed to. The pressure on the weakened central part of the disc can cause it to herniate (rupture) through the back of the spine (in between the bones) – this is what is referred to as a slipped disc. The herniated disc becomes flatter and as a result the space between the vertebrae narrows. You have nerves that lie in between the vertebrae in your spine. These nerves can be squashed or pinched by the herniated disc as well as by the narrowed space between the bones. This causes severe pain that radiates to the area of the body that is supplied by the squashed nerve. For example, sciatica is when the sciatic nerve is squashed resulting in pain that shoots across the buttock and down the leg. The herniated disc also causes swelling that increases the pressure on the nerve in that area, thus further contributing to the pain. The pain is also caused by the herniated disc pressing on the ligaments that run down the back of the spine (posterior longitudinal ligament).
When a nerve is squashed, it may not be able to function properly. The function of nerves in the spine is to either electrically stimulate specific muscles to contract in order to produce movement or to carry sensory information to your brain (which enables you to feel). Thus when a nerve is squashed, the muscle it supplies will not be able to contract properly (it is weakened) or you will get pins and needles or not be able to feel at all in the area of the body that the nerve supplies. For example if the nerve that runs between the L4 and L5 vertebra is squashed, it causes weakness of the big toe so that you can’t lift it up, weakness of the knee (making it difficult to bend the knee) and loss of sensation (feeling) on the outer side of the leg and the back of the foot.
Degenerative disc disease and the associated back problems came out of drug addictions.
Henry Wright has dealt with many cases of degenerative disc disease in his ministry over the past 20 years. In taking the histories of these people he noticed that degenerative disc disease and the associated back problems came out of drug addictions or were inherited from a family tree where someone was a drug or alcohol addict or who used to sell drugs or alcohol. This is an observation which I am not able to explain from a medical perspective at this point. The Bible says that there are consequences (a woe or a curse) for adversely influencing somebody else’s welfare by getting them drunk. It isn’t a good idea to be a bar owner.
Habakkuk 2 v 15-16: “Woe to him who gives his neighbors drink, who pours out your bottle to them and adds to it your poisonous and blighting wrath and also makes them drunk, that you may look on their stripped condition and pour out foul shame [on their glory]! You [yourself] will be f illed with shame and contempt instead of glory…The cup [of wrath] in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you [O destroyer], and foul shame shall be upon your own glory!”
Henry Wright has had some success in seeing people healed from degenerative disc disease by dealing with the addictions behind it – either personal or inherited. If you suffer from degenerative disc disease and also have an addiction to either prescription or illegal drugs or alcohol (or any other addiction), it is essential for you to read through the chapter on addictions on page 216. If you have degenerative disc disease as a result of addictions or somebody selling drugs or alcohol in your family tree, you need to deal with it as I explained in the chapter on genetically inherited diseases. This would involve repenting for the sins of your forefathers and asking for the forgiveness for the sin of a low self-esteem (Behind addictions is a low self-esteem, insecurity and a need to be loved) or adversely contributing to somebody else’s welfare by selling alcohol or drugs.
Behind the degeneration of spondylolysis is a toxic thought pattern of self-hatred.
Behind the degeneration of spondylolysis is a toxic thought pattern of self-hatred.
A prolapsed disc which later becomes degenerated can also be caused by trauma. In this case please see page 396 where I have written about backache as a result of trauma.
Spondylolysis and Spondylolisthesis
Spondylolysis is a disease where the bones in the spine (vertebrae) progressively degenerate. The degenerated or weakened vertebrae can fracture (break in an area) and this can sometimes cause a condition called spondylolisthesis which is where a vertebra slides out of place. The displaced vertebra can compress the nerves in the spine leading to pain.
Behind the degeneration of spondylolysis is a toxic thought pattern of self-hatred, self-rejection, selfaccusation and/or self bitterness. Therefore in order to be healed of this condition, you are going to have to be prepared to forgive yourself if necessary and change the way that you think about yourself. You need to learn to not only love yourself, but also to like yourself. Building a healthy self-esteem starts with knowing who you are in Christ and choosing to see yourself as God sees you. Turn to the chapter on page 498 which will help you with this.
Sometimes spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis are inherited conditions. In this case a portion of the vertebra does not develop properly. If other members in your family tree also suffered from spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis, it is important for you to read about genetically inherited diseases on page 153 and deal with it as explained in that chapter. This will have to involve repenting for your forefathers’ sin of self-hatred.
50% of the time, spondylolisthesis is caused by spondylolysis. Other causes include:
- • The degeneration of osteoarthritis (25% of cases). Osteoarthritis is explained in detail on page 383.
- Fractures as a result of trauma. Backache due to trauma is discussed on page 396.
- Tuberculosis. This is an infection related to a weakened immune system as a result of fear, anxiety and stress. Infections are explained on page 249.
- Cancer that has spread (metastasized) from another part of the body. There is a chapter explaining cancer on page 257.
Spinal Stenosis
The word “stenosis” means narrowing. Spinal stenosis refers to narrowing of the space in the middle of the bones of the spine where the spinal cord lies (The vertebrae are the bones that make up the spinal cord).
This is the space in the middle of the vertebrae (bones in the spine) where the spinal cord lies. When this space is narrowed (spinal stenosis), the spinal cord/nerves in the middle are squashed.
A person with spinal stenosis will have a backache and/or numbness or pins and needles in the thighs, legs or feet. The symptoms develop after standing or walking for 5 to 10 minutes and are relieved by sitting or squatting and leaning forward. The narrowing of spinal stenosis is usually caused by the degeneration of degenerative disc disease or osteoarthritis. The physical and spiritual dynamics behind degenerative disc disease is explained on page 397 and osteoarthritis on page 383.
Ankylosing Spondylitis
This disease develops very gradually over months or years with recurring episodes of back pain or back stiffness. The movement of the back is restricted in all directions. The pain sometimes radiates to the buttock or back of the thigh and is thus often misdiagnosed as sciatica. It differs from mechanical back pain in that the pain is present in many areas of the back and on both sides. The pain is the worst early in the morning and is relieved by activity. The lower back is primarily involved, but in some people the upper back and neck is affected the worst. The disease typically progresses over several years from the lower spine upwards until the stiffness affects the whole spine.
The bones in the ribs can become involved resulting in chest pain on breathing or difficulty in expanding the chest. The Achilles tendon at the back of the ankle/heel, the bottom of the feet and bones in the hips, knees, elbows or shoulders can also be affected and are stiff and tender. People with ankylosing spondylitis often experience chronic fatigue because of long term sleep interruption as a result of the pain.
Ankylosing spondylitis is chronic non-bacterial inflammation of the bones in the spine. The physical and spiritual dynamics behind non-bacterial inflammation are fully explained on page 251 under the heading “Introduction”. After reading about how and why the non-bacterial inflammation of ankylosing spondylitis developed in that chapter, the next step is to deal with the two spiritual roots behind it:
You have got to be prepared to change the way you think about yourself – you need to choose to see yourself as God sees you. Building a healthy self-esteem starts with learning who you are in Christ and establishing your identity and sense of self worth in Him. The chapter on page 498 will help you with this.
You also have to get the fear, anxiety and stress out of your thought life. Deal with those issues that are robbing you of your peace. Turn to the chapter on page 523.
Ankylosing spondylitis can also be genetically inherited – this is a result of fear, anxiety and selfhatred/ a low self-esteem in previous generations of your family tree. If other family members also suffered from ankylosing spondylitis, please turn to the chapter on page 153 which explains more about genetically inherited diseases and how to deal with them.
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