Gigi Jacobson had no symptoms when her chiropractor told her she should get an full-body X-ray in 2005.

“I thought I had thrown my back out,” she said. “When they came back, even I could see the stripes. It was like candy-cane stripes.”

The “stripes” were lack of bone, or osteoporosis in her spine. The Santa Maria resident found out that she had fractured her spine while coughing when she had the flu in 2005. She had the X-rays done in December of that year.

Her family doctor told Jacobson her body was lacking in vitamin D. He had sent her to a specialist, who prescribed calcium and vitamin D. She was taking three times the normal dose for two months, but her body still wasn't absorbing the calcium. She later found out it was hereditary.

Jacobson saw a specialist in osteoporosis, Dr. Mary Oates, who prescribed Forteo, a monthly injection of a hormone that the body makes that helps to rebuild her bones from the inside.

Jacobson was lucky enough not to have symptoms from her fracture. But back and spine problems affect many adults. Eight out of 10 adults will experience an acute episode of back pain during their lifetime, according to “Introduction to Back Pain and Neck Pain” by Dr. Peter Ullrich on www.

spine-health.com.

Advertisement

And lower back pain is one of the top three reasons for missed days of work, according to Dr. Kevin Beckmen, an osteopath who practices in Solvang.

He said the most common spine ailment he sees is arthritis pain.

“As we grow older, we get (a) degeneration of the disc and low back especially, but it can happen anywhere,” he said.

Dr. Dennis Blackburn, an orthopedic surgeon and osteopath who practices in Santa Maria, agrees.

“It's more or less that people get older, and they get arthritic in their back,” Blackburn said. “Their discs wear out.”

Symptoms of degeneration of the spine and back include morning stiffness and pain, as well as pain after a lot of activity and feeling pain during cold weather. Treatment, according to Beckmen, includes taking glucosamine and other vitamins, and sometimes, pain medicine, as well.

“Seems like it happens at multiple levels,” Beckmen said. “We think about it in the knees, but it's actually most common in the spine.”

Osteorarthritis, according to Blackburn, is a condition caused by wear and tear on the joints in the spine that is a common cause of back pain, especially in older people.

Spinal stenosis, or a narrowing of the spinal canal, is another condition that can cause back pain. The spinal canal is the space between vertebrae. Spinal stenosis is treatable with physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medicine or epiduryl steroid injections. If these treatments fail, surgery to decompress the spine may be necessary. This means taking out part of the vertebrae.

Other conditions that can affect the spine include scoliosis, which is an abnormal curvature of the spine to the left or right, and disc herniation, when the inner substance of the disc goes out to the spinal canal.

Beckmen said that the root cause of spinal pain may come from walking on two feet, as opposed to four.

“I think that it puts a lot of stress on the low back,” he said. “Evolutionarily, the S-shape curve of our spine has helped with that, with working upright. It's probably a work in progress.”

Blackburn said that cigarette smoke or lots of soda can make bones, including the ones in the spine, weaker, which can contribute to compression fractures, or breaks in the vertebral bodies.

He said the No. 1 thing affecting spine health is smoking.

“Smoking tends to be really bad for the back, and it really affects the blood flow into the back and makes for unhealthy spine tissues,” he said. “It makes it very hard for healing to occur in a spine injury.”

Helpful preventative measures to maintain spine health include stretching exercises and developing core muscle strength, which provides more support to the muscles that support the spine.

These exercises include Pilates, sit-ups, leg lifts and twists.

Calcium should be the type that dissolves in the stomach, not the type that you swallow and is passed from the body. A USP symbol, meaning it's certified to dissolve, should help consumers tell the difference, she said.

Another significant supplement is vitamin D.

“Only in the past couple of years have we realized that vitamin D is so essential,” Oates said.

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that is found in food and can also be made in the human body after exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun, according to the National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements' Web site.

Sunshine is a significant source of vitamin D because UV rays from sunlight trigger vitamin D synthesis in the skin, according to the Web site.

Vitamin D is harder to get from diet, Oates said, so separate vitamin D caplets are recommended.

Oates said weight-bearing exercise can help with osteoporosis of the spine. Other treatments are to take calcium and vitamin D.

Weight-bearing exercise includes walking, bowling, tennis, and square-dancing -- anything where your feet hits the ground. It doesn't include swimming or cycling.

“We want the effects of gravity,” Oates said. “It doesn't have to be high-impact, but it at least has to be where you're on your feet.”

According to Beckmen, good, supportive shoes help, as well, and physical therapy can help after pain has started. Blackburn and Beckmen both practice osteopathic manipulative therapy, which involves manual work on a patient's body.

Beckmen said knowing how to lift heavy objects is helpful, too. He recommended stabilizing the back and lifting with the legs and the thighs, not the back muscles.

“People should stay in some sort of general fitness Š I don't think there's any one thing you can do. It's a dynamic world we live in,” Beckmen said.

Blackburn said that while people may discover that certain types of shoes contribute to back pain, what brings pain for one person may relieve pain in another.

“We're all different,” he said. “I would say, if it doesn't bother you, go for it.”

Another good preventative measure includes a healthy diet, according to Blackburn, who suggested eating a variety of wholesome foods.

“We've all seen the effects antioxidants have had in the public eye,” he said. “If you sit down and eat a meal that's pleasing to the eye, a rainbow of colors, you'll be doing well, not just for the spine.”

Beckmen suggested visiting a doctor for pain that doesn't go away. Loss of bladder or bowel control along with back pain constitutes an emergency because it could be a compression of the spinal cord.

“If you're having pain in your back that shoots into your legs, then you really need to see a doctor, because that's more serious,” he said.

Features writer Bettina Adragna can be reached at 739-2220 or by e-mail at badragna@santamariatimes.com.