For the last almost four years my back had been hurting. But why did my back hurt?
Growing up I had the opportunity to learn how to cowboy and train horses for a man who Is very dear to me (and who saved my life, more on this in a future article). But while learning how to cowboy and train horses, I got bucked off quite a few times throughout the years. Definitely not good for a back and the start to being diagnosed by a doctor with degenerative disc disease.
Later on, while working at a warehouse, I got very stressed and during the process one day I tore my lower lumbar area of my back on the left side. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t sleep for days during the first week afterwards. This didn’t help my back. Eventually the pain subsided with chiropractic care (something I was so afraid of, but am now sold on as conventional medicine couldn’t help me with this issue when I went to a doctor).
Then, one day a few years later, I was riding my Ninja 650 and was getting on the freeway. I was looking at the traffic to merge into and wasn’t paying attention to the round about I was on while racing up to freeway speeds. Someone had spilled a ton of gravel on the road, and while I was gunning my throttle to reach freeway speeds my bike flipped. I flew over the handle bars and landed on my head. Not good at all on my spine.
For the next four years I started having some serious issues with my back particularly my neck and my lumbar spine. Also, my dad has had three slipped discs so maybe there is some genetic disposition against me as well (although genes don’t necessarily determine everything in one’s life [Lipton, 2016]).
But, if you know me, I try to find ways to heal my body. So I started researching.
What Did Doctors Tell Me?
The first doctor I went to examined my back and told me I had sustained damage to the muscles in my lumbar region. He didn’t name the exact muscle or tendon as you can’t really by just palpating. He prescribed some pain pills and steroids and told me to go home and rest. He also said there wasn’t anything he or anybody else could do for this type of injury.
That gave me a lot of hope (total sarcasm here).
So, I did go home, but I was an avid hater against steroid and pain killer use then and didn’t use the doctor’s prescription. This was because back in the day I had been taught that steroids caused cancer (Salerno, et al. 2018) and I didn’t want to give myself the risk. I didn’t know there was a difference between anabolic androgenic steroids and corticosteroids. The former is what body builders use to max out at the gym and the latter is the pain killer. Not exactly the same thing, although I didn’t learn this until years later. Just a side note, there is research now suggesting that corticosteroids may cause cancer down the line, but more work is needed (Oh, et al. 2020).
So I suffered. After three days of no sleep because it hurt to lay down, stand or sit, I decided to try a chiropractor out. My first adjustment took 80% of my pain away immediately, quickly selling me on the efficacy of chiropractic care and taking my fears away.
A couple years later, when I crashed my motorcycle, I visited a chiropractor again. Since the crash my back has never been the same. This doctor did adjustments, and they helped, but I still felt stuck and had some nagging pain.
As time went on, I moved to St. George and that’s when I really started having back pain because of my consistently bent over posture.
I again started looking to what doctors could do to help me with my back. I went to a new chiropractor because I had such good experiences in the past (I’ve also had bad chiropractors like you can find in any profession, so, choose good ones).
This guy took x-rays of my spine to see exactly what was going on. I thought, “wow, this guy is really going to see where my problems are and fix me.”
I was wrong.
The x-rays showed that my discs were very worn down and that they were causing impingements and structural problems. Plus having a previous injury muscular-wise made my back weaker.
The chiropractor prescribed me to come in three times a week for three months and take another x-ray then to see how my spine was doing. He also wanted all of the payment up front which came out to around $3,000. That made it over $60 a session, each session only lasting about 40 seconds.
That’s pretty hefty but, if he could help my back heal up then I’ll do it!
That’s when I asked him the question: “Do you believe it is possible to heal a disc?”
After clarifying what I meant and understanding that I was asking if discs can grow back to correct size, he told me no. He said that once discs start deteriorating that they will always deteriorate for the rest of my life. And that I should get chiropractic care to help slow down the inevitable deterioration.
I admit that I wasn’t happy with the diagnosis.
Western Medicine doctors told me the same thing. One website teaches that you can do nothing about degenerative disc disease and that eventually surgery is the only answer to help with pain and utility (Degenerative, n.d.).
The future wasn’t looking bright for me, but still, I believed I could heal my discs and I was going to find a way.
A Better Way
One month after rejecting that chiropractor’s advice and not going to see him to get adjusted, I learned about a new doctor from a massage client. This new doctor’s name is Rob Gibson and he started out as an MD in Neurology. He later added chiropractic and nutrition to his education making him a very rounded doctor and one I never thought I’d see in my life.
My client touted this doctor as amazing and successful in helping members of his family with health problems. I was a little skeptical as now I had learned from nine doctors that a person cannot heal up a disc, but I thought I’d try this guy out as my client was so impressed with him.
I signed up for a visit, and without the desire to waste his or my time, I asked him if he thought it were possible to heal up a disc. His reply?
“Yeah, not only is it possible, but here’s how you do it…”
I laugh at myself today because it was such a simple thing to do. But, because it was such a simple fix I didn’t even try it out for about a month! I was discouraged because previous doctors, including chiropractors, told me I could not heal my discs.
I visited with Dr. Gibson once a week every week for about a month. He helped a lot with his chiropractic care so I asked to be put on the schedule every Monday morning. After about a month he re-reminded me that I should do what he suggested to heal my discs up and that it could really work.
What did he suggest?
How To Heal A Disc
Dr. Gibson suggested I try taking 6 – 8 tablespoons of bone broth collagen daily. Collagen is a helpful nutrient and when broken down in the body turns into glycine and proline (among other helpful nutrients) which are used to build collagen in the body (Alcock, et al. 2019). He also shared how vitamin C could be good too as it helps build tissues in the body (make sure it’s real vitamin C and not ascorbic acid only). One study I found showed that Vitamin C does actually help with type 1 collagen synthesis (DePhillipo, et al. 2018). I also added Manganese as I have previously used it to help heal the torn tendons in my left hand. If you haven’t read that article, I highly suggest you do as it has so much information that could help you with your injuries too.
Dr. Gibson also suggested me to use an inversion table. With this table, a person straps their ankles in and they then flip themselves upside down and hang. Dr. Gibson suggested doing this every morning and night for 10 -15 minutes.
He explained that discs have no blood flow to them so they do not heal up like the rest of the body that does have blood flow. This is why all of those other doctors told me I couldn’t heal my discs. So, in order to heal up a disc, we have to find another way to get nutrients to them.
He went on to say that when the spine is decompressed that it creates a pull, like a vortex, that sucks surrounding fluid towards each disc. If a person has enough collagen (or the aminos that come from consuming collagen) in the surrounding tissue that it will get pulled into the discs and the discs can then repair themselves. Thus the need for a high intake of collagen so that the discs could have the materials to repair themselves with.
One other major contributor he taught me about in order to heal up fast was to strictly follow an anti-inflammatory diet. He prescribed a two vegetables to one meat ratio diet. I had already been doing a Ketovore style of diet (one veggie to two meat ratio) as that has been the most helpful thing I’ve found to deal with my digestive issues. He explained that getting rid of inflammation would allow the body to do its job at its best performing level.
Mind blown.
I decided to give it a try. I found a table on Facebook Marketplace for $100 and I bought some bone broth collagen from Dr. Gibson as he sells his supplements at base price. He doesn’t have a markup on the supplements I’ve bought from him, which I find intriguing. He’s not out to make a buck off of people, something I’ve also never seen before.
The first month I didn’t notice any difference in my back, except that I was starting to straighten out. When I first tried my new inversion table I found that I was twisted towards the left considerably. With Dr. Gibson’s chiropractic/neurological care, and also the table, I was starting to hang almost completely straight and that was good, but the back pain was still there.
Even with the discouragement of not noticing any pain difference in my back, I still decided to try the table out for one more month. If it didn’t work out then I would conclude with the other nine doctors that a person couldn’t heal their discs. I personally believe if a person is to really experiment and give something a fair trial they should give it three months, so I reasoned, for now, I’ll believe and keep trying.
Just two weeks later is when it dawned on me that my back wasn’t hurting anymore! I don’t know exactly when it happened, but I didn’t have the pain anymore! This made me so excited!
The simple prescription worked! It worked and now, six months later as I write this, I still feel good.
Dr. Gibson did tell me that I will probably have to do this off and on throughout the rest of my life. It has been six months since my back pain went away and I haven’t needed to use the table at all yet. To me, it’s proven that his method works and that it has majorly helped my discs heal up.
I didn’t need surgery. I didn’t need a cortisone shot. And I definitely didn’t need any invasive treatment or therapies. Really, I am impressed with my results.
Don’t Stop There
If this protocol could help a disc, could it help the body heal up a knee, a shoulder, or any other joint? I really believed it could, but I thought I’d ask Dr. Gibson. He told me that yes it can. When a person consumes collagen it gets broken down in the body as amino acids which the body can then use to build its own collagen and cartilage.
Is it a cure all? No, but with decreasing inflammation and increasing the nutritional building blocks that the body needs, the body is able to heal itself much more easily and speedily.
I personally am grateful for this advice and knowledge. I go to work now as a Medical Massage Practitioner and my back no longer aches. After going through almost four years of pain this is a huge deal for me.
Did the inversion table hurt at all when I used it? Sometimes it actually did. Going back upright would sometimes feel like my back was pinching nerves and/or tissues. It didn’t last very long, but it was still un-enjoyable. In the long run though, it was worth it, and not having the pain is SO helpful.
I’m extremely grateful that the pain is gone and that I can function normally again.
If you have found this article to be helpful, please share it with your friends, loved ones, and those suffering who could use this information.
For more information on Dr. Gibson, visit his website at https://docgibson.webs.com/ OR www.healthybody.com.
Sources
Alcock, R. D., Shaw, G. C., Tee, N., & Burke, L. M. (2019). Plasma Amino Acid Concentrations After the Ingestion of Dairy and Collagen Proteins, in Healthy Active Males. Frontiers in nutrition, 6, 163. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2019.00163
Degenerative Disc Disease. Cedars. (n.d.). https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/d/degenerative-disc-disease.html#:~:text=Once%20a%20disc%20is%20injured,injury%20occurred%20becomes%20relatively%20unstable.
DePhillipo, N. N., Aman, Z. S., Kennedy, M. I., Begley, J. P., Moatshe, G., & LaPrade, R. F. (2018). Efficacy of Vitamin C Supplementation on Collagen Synthesis and Oxidative Stress After Musculoskeletal Injuries: A Systematic Review. Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 6(10), 2325967118804544. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/2325967118804544
Lipton, B. H. (2016). The biology of belief: Unleashing the power of Consciousness, matter & miracles. Hay House, Inc.
Oh, T. K., & Song, I.-A. (2020, December 2). Long-term glucocorticoid use and cancer risk: A population-based cohort study in South Korea. American Association for Cancer Research. https://aacrjournals.org/cancerpreventionresearch/article/13/12/1017/47287/Long-Term-Glucocorticoid-Use-and-Cancer-Risk-A
Salerno, M., Cascio, O., Bertozzi, G., Sessa, F., Messina, A., Monda, V., Cipolloni, L., Biondi, A., Daniele, A., & Pomara, C. (2018). Anabolic androgenic steroids and carcinogenicity focusing on Leydig cell: a literature review. Oncotarget, 9(27), 19415–19426. https:// doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.24767
