I’m one of the lucky ones who never has had to deal with chronic lower back pain.
I mean, like anyone who sits at a desk and works at a computer, you get waves of a stiff back. We’re talking about the now-and-then back pain. Nothing like daily aches, or stiffness or challenges with certain movements or activities. No need for painkillers to take the edge off, physical therapy, etc.
But between my mother, my brother-in-law, my business partner, and millions of other people who suffer from chronic lower back pain, I wanted to see if there was something I could do to help.
Cynically, I was like, “I’ll just figure out something to blend for them. That’ll fix all their problems.”
So I poured over the research, and I found that giving them a blender recipe is kind of all it takes? Although, not the reason that you’d expect. There’s a belief and mindset shift that this juice blend helps facilitate.
Discovering how doctors are helping with patients’ lower back pain these days
You know about the placebo effect. The phenomenon where a person’s physical symptoms can improve simply based on belief. You believe a treatment will work and it’ll work even if the treatment is just a sugar pill.
Well, physicians helping with lower back pain have embraced this placebo effect these days. In fact, they’ve slowed way down on prescribing pills and tests and procedures for your lower back pain. Certainly, a lot of this is in response to the opioid epidemic. But the changing course is more than just a liability avoidance thing. There’s an evolving understanding of pain management.
Using the placebo effect, physicians today just want you to believe. To believe you will get better. To believe you can get lower back pain relief.
The placebo effect works because your mind can influence your body and determine how you experience pain. Just by practicing a strong conviction that you are healing talking to yourself positively helps reframe the pain.
And yes, looking at the mirror doing affirmations, saying “I am healing” is a little hipp-dippy. And that’s fine because is taking an actual placebo, ingesting a sugar pill, works just as well.
One study on chronic low back pain showed significant reductions in both pain and disability in patients given an open-label placebo. Meaning, even if you know it’s a placebo, you will still feel better than without taking it.
Now, I know my closest friends and family don’t wanna hear me suggest affirmations. They also don’t want to take a sugar pill upon advice from a blender salesman. So I decided to create a delicious juice recipe that could serve as a wholesome ‘placebo’ of sorts, packed with anti-inflammatory ingredients.
Enter Lower Back Pain Relief Juice
Our Lower Back Pain Relief Celery Juice is a simple, whole-food green juice blend loaded with inflammation-reducing ingredients like celery, ginger, and pineapple. It’s bright and delicious and keeps you coming back for more.
We’ve got hundreds of comments and reviews and letters from people who say that this works. It makes them feel amazing.
You should try it, even if you’re feeling especially sprightly.
Recipe:
- 11 oz (330 ml) coconut water (tap water is fine here, too)
- 2 Tablespoons ginger (about a thumb-sized knob)
- 2 full ribs (4 halves) celery
- 1 slice lemon, peeled
- 1 cup (30 g), spinach
- 1 cup (165 g) pineapple chunks (fresh or frozen)
- 4 cubes ice
Any blender will do though you’ll get the best results in a Vitamix.
Helping with the bumps
Of course, every now and then we get people saying they had their lower back pain come back. And we have to remind him that there’s gonna be bumps along the way. And this is where have an opening to do some of the hippy dippy stuff. We help them reframe some of their thinking to replace thoughts such as “my back is messed up” with “my back is healing.” Just that mindset can do wonders for making your pain go away.
We also have to remind people to get off their butts. Surprisingly, being active can never make your lower back pain worse only better. And it starts with baby steps in getting active. A five-minute walk every hour can do wonders. Here’s a trick I use: I have a little timer at my desk that not only helps me get and stay productive but also is a reminder to get up and move my body.
Little things, too, that people need reminders about. How much water are you drinking? How much sleep are you getting? Are you doing any simple stretching or yoga poses that are good for the lower back? There’s a lot to this.
This drink Lower Back Pain Relief Juice is really just a piece of the puzzle. A tool for kickstarting a positive cycle – feeling good leads to moving more, which further reduces pain.
This juice works because of its anti-inflammatory ingredients. And thanks to the placebo effect, it works because I say it will.