Question
Ok. I have major problems. I am only 21. I have had back pain for about a year and neck pain for 6 months or so. They took x-rays of my neck and nothing was bad on it. I feel like I have a constant stiff neck. I have tried excersices, different pillows, different sleeping positions. My physical therapist said my vertabrae weren't moving. But now I have no money to have her stretch them. Also my back pops all the time. I also have an extra rib or something, which I tried to bring up to my doctor and she said just to have beter poster because lately it has been hurting when pressure is applied or sometimes when I breath. Please Please help me.

Answer
Julianne:

I am sorry that you are in such pain!

If you get pain when you breathe, very likely a rib is out of place. This can be replaced by a good chiropractor quickly, easily and at a minimal expense.

What prescriptions are you on?

If the feet are distorted, they can throw you back out of position and cause a lot of problems. See a good chiropractor to check this.

This could also be a magnesium deficiency. Most Americans get too much calcium, despite what you see on TV. To balance this, one must take magnesium citrate. Natural Calm is a good brand, available in many health food stores.

Dehydration is the largest single cause of back and neck pain. How much water do you drink? There is a good book out there called "Handling neck and back pain and Rheumatoid Joint pain" By Dr. Batmanhelidg (not the exact spelling). He is the guy who wrote the book, "Your Bodies' Many Cries for Water". That book is widely available and contains simple positioning exercise any one can use.

For neck pain, I recommend this exercise

The pain in you neck is a sign that the bones are not fitting together as they should. The little piece of slick bone on one vertebrae (a neck bone) is not sitting down on the little slick piece of bone on the next vertebrae.
There is a home exercise you can do that will correct it. And it is this.
Standing or laying on your back, keep your face straight forward. Do not tilt the chin down or up. If you are lying on your back, move the face toward the ceiling is such a way that if it touched the ceiling, your face would be flat on the ceiling. If you are standing, move it straight forward in such a way that your forehead and chin would touch the wall in front of you at the same time. It has to go straight forward.
Holding that position, move your chin in a figure eight pattern. Imagine the wall is a piece of paper. You have a pencil sticking straight out from your chin. Use the tip of the pencil to write a "8" laying on its side. When done correctly, the neck will then make a crunching noise at the base of the skull. This is good. It will help your neck. It might not take the crunching sound out right away, but it will ensure that no damage is done and in fact will correct the problem if one persists in using it.

Does this answer you question?

If not, go to www.sorsi.com, www.icak.com and www.soto-usa.com and look for a good chiropractor near you. They can go over the exercise with you. It if from Dr. DeJarnette's writing.
Dr. Rozeboom