Episode 11 - Top 8 Apps To Help With Pain
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Episode Summary
The world has shifted to a new normal due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Everyone is encouraged to stay at home, resulting in the medical community not operating at full capacity. You may not have the same access to your medical practitioner, but you can empower yourself and manage your pain while waiting for the storm to pass.
In this episode of Back Talk Doc, Dr. Sanjiv Lakhia shares 8 apps that can help you deal with pain in your back and in other parts of your body. Although these won’t provide the equivalent relief of a prescription pill or a corticosteroid injection, you can still enjoy the benefits to your overall health and well-being.
Some of these apps help you track your vitamin D intake and measure the quality of your sleep, as vitamin D levels and sleep have direct correlations to pain, particularly chronic pain. He also suggests apps that are in the mind-body medicine realm, such as those that teach guided meditation, journaling and acupuncture.
Additionally, he encourages you to stay physically active, through apps that provide exercise routines, and even workout programs that address specific injuries you have sustained.
Dr. Lakhia believes that the combined effects of these interventions have a positive impact not just on your pain, but on your energy levels and mood, which is a huge help especially as we go through a crisis like today.
Key moments in the episode
Links mentioned in the episode
Back Talk Doc is brought to you by Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates, with offices in North and South Carolina. To learn more about Dr. Lakhia and treatment options for back and spine issues, go to backtalkdoc.com. To schedule an appointment with Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates, you can call us at 1-800-344-6716 or visit our website at carolinaneurosurgery.com.
The world has shifted to a new normal due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Everyone is encouraged to stay at home, resulting in the medical community not operating at full capacity. You may not have the same access to your medical practitioner, but you can empower yourself and manage your pain while waiting for the storm to pass.
In this episode of Back Talk Doc, Dr. Sanjiv Lakhia shares 8 apps that can help you deal with pain in your back and in other parts of your body. Although these won’t provide the equivalent relief of a prescription pill or a corticosteroid injection, you can still enjoy the benefits to your overall health and well-being.
Some of these apps help you track your vitamin D intake and measure the quality of your sleep, as vitamin D levels and sleep have direct correlations to pain, particularly chronic pain. He also suggests apps that are in the mind-body medicine realm, such as those that teach guided meditation, journaling and acupuncture.
Additionally, he encourages you to stay physically active, through apps that provide exercise routines, and even workout programs that address specific injuries you have sustained.
Dr. Lakhia believes that the combined effects of these interventions have a positive impact not just on your pain, but on your energy levels and mood, which is a huge help especially as we go through a crisis like today.
Key moments in the episode
- Dminder – the importance of Vitamin D - 02:58
- Sleep Cycle, Sleep++ – correlation of sleep and chronic pain - 06:50
- Acupressure - 08:59
- Headspace – the advantages of meditation - 12:24
- Omvana – using meditation to target specific pain areas - 13:25
- How meditation works - 14:37
- 7 Minute Workout – how to exercise major muscle groups in a short amount of time - 15:38
- The Ready State – injury specific workout programs - 18:28
- Five Minute Journal – how reflection can help you deal with chronic pain - 20:53
Links mentioned in the episode
- Dminder
- Sleep Cycle
- Sleep++
- Acupressure: Heal Yourself
- Headspace
- Omvana
- 7 Minute Workout
- TRS The Ready State
- Five Minute Journal
- Worth a Shot? Spinal Injections with Dr. Andrew Sumich
- Sports and Spine with Jake Beamon PTA
- Glute power with Ryan Klomparens, PT
Back Talk Doc is brought to you by Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates, with offices in North and South Carolina. To learn more about Dr. Lakhia and treatment options for back and spine issues, go to backtalkdoc.com. To schedule an appointment with Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates, you can call us at 1-800-344-6716 or visit our website at carolinaneurosurgery.com.
Intro: 00:01
Welcome. You are listening to Back Talk Doc where you'll find answers to some of the most common questions about back pain and spine health brought to you by Carolina, neurosurgery and spine associates. We're providing personalized, highly skilled and compassionate spine care has been our specialty for over 75 years and now it's time to understand the cause of back pain and learn about options to get you back on track. Here's your Back Talk Doc Dr Sanjiv Lakhia.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 00:35
Welcome to Back Talk Doc. I'm your host, Dr Sanjiv Lakhia. Thanks for tuning in today. We're recording this episode today, right in the middle of the viral pandemic that is sweeping across the world and one of the negative effects of this is that in the healthcare industry, many of us practicing providers are quite limited now and what we can do for our patients. As you know, I'm a board certified physiatrist and my practice typically consists of treating those who have a lot of back pain, spine pain in general, and even orthopedic injuries. And many times we'll utilize treatment strategies such as injections, nerve blocks, epidurals. If you want to learn more, please tune into our episode that I recorded with Dr. Andrew Sumich on the spinal injections. But at this point, our group, like most groups across the country are very limited on the ability to provide these procedures to help people manage their pain.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 01:37
So many of you, if you're listening to this, you're likely stuck at home and really feel maybe that there isn't a lot you can do to help yourself. So I wanted to empower you today with some information and some things that could be helpful to control your pain while we're waiting for the storm to pass and you can get back to normal medical care. Today I want to cover my favorite apps, my top eight apps that can be utilized to help an individual cope or manage with their pain syndrome. And this can apply really to any sort of pain syndrome, whether it's osteoarthritis, lumbar disc disease, joint issues, acute pain, or chronic pain. Now, none of these apps are going to give you the equivalent relief of a corticosteroid injection or a prescription pill, although actually there is some research that might suggest that some of the mind-body interventions that we'll talk about can have an equivalent effect to Ibuprofen.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 02:37
But these are some simple tips, most of these apps you can get, whether you're on an Android or a iPhone platform. Many of them are free, a few are subscription based, but probably well worth the investment. So without further ado, let's get started today with my top eight apps to help manage pain. Number one, there's an app called dminder that's D as in David, and as in vitamin D. Dminder is really a terrific app that I was recently turned onto by my wife as we were out on a stroll one day. And she mentioned to me that you can track your skin's exposure to the sun and really quantify your vitamin D intake. So as you know, I've covered this on previous episodes. There's a direct correlation between vitamin D levels and musculoskeletal pain. Quite simply, elevated levels of vitamin D are needed to ensure that the periosteum of your bones, that is the lining of your bones is strong and intact and that lower levels of vitamin D in our system can contribute to lower levels of inflammation, not to mention immune suppression.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 03:50
So it's very important that we maintain adequate vitamin D levels for our musculoskeletal health. What's adequate level? Around 50 to 75 nanograms per cc is what you want to target. Now our vitamin D levels will fluctuate throughout the year depending on the season. So I always recommend that you get your D level checked. And one of the previous recommendations was that most individuals could get by with taking about 2,000 units a day of vitamin D3. However, there is a much safer way to get your vitamin D and that is through sunshine exposure. Now obviously there's been a big push by the dermatology societies to limit our sun exposure and lower our risk of skin cancer. And I would argue that perhaps we've gone a bit overboard because of the numerous beneficial effects of vitamin D are something that you really should consider. So having said that, vitamin D is typically attained through our exposure through the sun.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 04:47
It activates enzymes in our skin, which then through various biochemical reactions can lead to elevated levels of the active form of vitamin D in our body. Well sometimes it's really hard to quantify how much sun exposure you need. So the app dminder, that's D-M-I-N-D-E-R, does a really nice job of this. Essentially when you go outside, it'll first look at the weather forecast and it'll tell you how much sun exposure is available based upon whether it's cloudy, overcast, or sunny. And it'll tell you from what times of the day you can go outside and to get the most D exposure. Then the app allows you to input how much of your skin is exposed. For example, if you're wearing a tee shirt and shorts, it counts about a 50% skin exposure and then through a calculation you basically will hit the start button and it starts to track your cumulative amounts of vitamin D. So for example, the other day I was outside for about an hour and in shorts and a t-shirt washing my car in the driveway.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 05:54
And when I came back inside I had accumulated 5,000 units of vitamin D, which is fantastic. There's not going to be any toxic effects of that. Now obviously you want to make sure, bet you're not going to get a sunburn, but the app is nice because it takes into account different skin tones, and you will have different calculations with regards to how much vitamin D your body will synthesize. So darker skin typically takes a little more sun exposure. So I found this to be very neat. It was a really good way to quantify my sun exposure. And you can almost set a reminder and develop a daily habit of an outdoor walk to get anywhere from 1,000 units to 2,000 units or more of your vitamin D and it's always better to get it naturally through sun exposure, through food, then through supplementation. So that's the first one that I really like and I hope you take the time to download that and check it out.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 06:50
Moving on to number two. We've also discussed the vital role sleep plays in your health, so there is a terrific app called Sleep Cycle or sleep plus plus. These are two quite similar ones, but sleep plus plus I think is a more recent version of this and it's free and what you do is you basically turn on the app, set it on your nightstand before you go to bed, and remarkably it'll give you extensive data on the quality of your sleep. You can determine how much deep sleep, how much REM sleep, awakenings at nighttime and overall total amount of sleep you obtained simply by having the app next to you. I've compared this data to the data that I use on my Oura Ring, which is another data tracker. It looks at different metrics, but the aura ring is really well known for correlating with data of formal sleep studies. So the Oura Ring was about $300. It's great technology, the app is free and the data that you get from both is quite similar.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 08:03
Now you get a little more detail from the Oura Ring, but if you don't want to make the investment, I recommend you download the Sleep Cycle app, set it on your nightstand and track your data over the course of a week or two and just get a good idea about how well you're doing. And again, this information isn't going to directly help your pain level that day. So if you have a burning pain down your leg, a severe sciatica right now, tracking your sleep at night won't help immediately, but it will pay dividends longterm. As many of you know, there's terrific research correlating our sleep and our pain levels particular with chronic pain. More sleep is more restorative to our body. It can regulate the neurochemicals in the brain and really help you live a better quality of life with less pain and suffering.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 08:53
So that's my second recommendation that you should definitely download. The next app is an acupressure app is simply called Acupressure. And the full title is Acupressure: Heal Yourself. So acupressure is a self-help tool that I recommend to patients who have pain and injury. Now, I myself have been a practicing acupuncturist for almost 15 years now, and I've seen miracles happen through acupuncture treatments for pain control. The science behind acupuncture has really exploded. We know that acupuncture can help stimulate levels of endorphins in your nervous system and endorphins are natural painkillers. It's a way to really access your internal pharmacy. Now I cannot teach my patients how to perform acupuncture on themselves, but acupuncture is an extension of this and can oftentimes accomplish some of the same things.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 09:53
Acupressure involves the application of some gentle pressure on a tender area in your body and you basically apply a clockwise force to the area for about 30 seconds. So the key is really understanding where these acupressure points are. And the app does a really nice job of illustrating that for you. You can go through the app and see where the key acupuncture points, acupressure points are for certain pain syndromes. For example, one famous acupressure point for headache is in the first web space between your thumb and index finger and you can see that on the app and then you apply gentle pressure over the course of 30 seconds to two minutes. And many individuals will notice almost instant pain relief of their headache. There are two points that are really useful for back pain and sciatica. One of them is in the area right behind your knee where you can apply pressure, that point is called bladder 40 and the other one is on the side of your ankle called bladder 60 and both of these are illustrated nicely in the app and are very simple, they're free.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 11:02
And if you're in a lot of pain and in a pinch so to speak, it's something that you can do and maybe no one even notices that you're doing it and it can give you some relief and pay dividends. So I encourage you to check out the Acupressure: Heal Yourself app. I think you'll find it to be quite useful. The next two apps that I recommend I would group into the arena of mind-body medicine. I've said many times before, I am a very big advocate of meditation. I think the research behind the medical health benefits and meditation grows by the day. It's no longer a question of if meditation helps. The real question should be, why aren't you doing it? There's hardly any other intervention in our society that can lower your stress, improve your sleep, improve your relationships, lower your pain, and improve your energy and just make you feel better and really help you deal with the stress of day to day living.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 12:01
Now meditation comes in many, many forms. There's yoga-based meditation. There's guided imagery type meditation. There's breath work. There's chanting. So there are numerous types of meditation. The top app, probably in the country, that you can explore to help get you started is Headspace. Now Headspace has been around for several years and it's more of a guided approach to meditation. They have a very nice free introduction where you can go through about a week of guided meditations to help you get introduced and then there's a subscription for it. Also, if you own an Amazon Echo device, they do offer a daily Headspace meditation for free, so you can enable that as a skill on your Alexa app. But Headspace app is really nice. You can really use it anytime during the day. It involves basically putting on some headphones, closing your eyes, and going through a guided meditation, which sometimes will focus on your breath work.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 13:09
Other times it'll take you through a visualization process and it does have applications for pain, for sleep, for mood, for energy. So I find it to be a very useful and versatile tool. Similarly, another favorite of mine is the app Omvana. That's O-M-V-A-N-a, and this was put out by Mind Valley. Omvana has a whole host of guided meditations by leading experts across the world who have created meditations that you can utilize for various elements. The meditations can be done in the morning to start your day. There are wind-down meditations. There are meditations for pain. There are meditations to help clear negative energy, so there's a variety of things and you can really go through their catalog and see what appeals to you. There's many different teachers on the platform and I think my favorite one on the platform, as I've mentioned before, is a six-phase meditation.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 14:09
The six phase meditation guides you through about a 20 minute program where you do some creative visualization, some gratitude work. You also look at aspects of your life, which forgiveness can play a role and you can also then almost plan your day and just watch it unfold through the six phase meditation. So I really find this app to be enjoyable and I've used it before sitting in the airport, which as we all know can be quite stressful as it pertains to your pain. Again, what you're trying to do with these meditation apps, whether it's Headspace or Omvana, is you're trying to shift your nervous system from the state of sympathetic mediated pain, which is tightness in your body, stress hormones are elevated and your pain levels are elevated and you want to shift from a sympathetic state to a parasympathetic state. Parasympathetic state think of this as more of a calm state of mind.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 15:01
It's where you turn down the dial of your stress. You activate your Vegas nerve and really lower your cortisol levels in the body. While it may not eliminate your pain, I promise you it'll help you cope better with the pain. So check out these two apps. I think you'll find them both to be interesting. Now they both do have a subscription component to it, so utilize their free trial period and see which one works for you. Many times towards the end of the year, I know Headspace will run a discount where you can get about 30 to 40% off, so you might want to look out for that. Moving on then to the next app that I really enjoy and that is the 7 Minute Workout. Now the 7 Minute Workout was really made popular in 2013 when this was published in a sports' medicine journal. And the goal of the research was really to find out is there a way where you can get the maximum amount of physical improvement in the most efficient and shortest amount of time?
Sanjiv Lakhia: 16:10
So the app, which is free, and there's actually now numerous knockoffs, there's 7M, there's multiple. If you just type in seven or 7M in your app store, you'll see numerous versions of this and most of them are free. So it consists typically of 12 high intensity exercises that use only body weight as resistance. It's a very efficient way to lower your weight and improve your cardiovascular and muscular fitness. And this is something that is very, very portable. So if you're traveling in a hotel room, you don't need any equipment, you just turn on the app and most of the apps allow you to set some music in the background. And these apps really are great way to hit major muscle groups in a short amount of time and you can cycle through it. You can do one round, you can do two or three rounds and almost make it 20 minutes worth.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 17:06
I find it just to be really good when you're short on time, but you don't want to miss your workout. So a couple of things about it, you know it is a very small amount of exercise, a seven minutes. So I don't think it can be the only thing you're doing, but it certainly can be something that serves to make sure you don't go a day or two without any sort of physical movements. The other thing is it really can increase your levels of mitochondrial density, which is the energy factories in your cell. This type of high impact or high intensity interval training has good research to demonstrate that effect. And that's important when you're looking at issues such as longevity and overall physical fitness. So the 7 Minute Workout is very popular, is something you should definitely have on your phone.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 17:58
Now a couple of caveats. If you have any significant knee injuries or shoulder injuries, you might find some of the exercises to be difficult. So definitely go slow. And as always, if you're struggling during the workout, take a break. There is no competition here, you're really just trying to get a little better each day. Now moving on to the seventh app that I really enjoy and find to be a wonderful tool to have in the tool box and staying on the theme of exercise. The app is the TRS, The Ready State and this is put out by the therapist Kelly Starret and if you've heard my interview with Ryan, our physical therapist or with Jake, one of our physical therapy assistants, both of them referenced this individual who has developed a huge following in the PT world and his app is a subscription based service. There is a two-week trial period, I believe.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 18:54
But the way I think about The Ready State app is it's kind of like a physical therapist in your pocket and for about basically 15 bucks a month, which is less than one physical therapy co-pay, you can pretty much get a customized program of exercises delivered to your inbox to treat your injury. So for example, if you put in that you have a back injury or a knee injury, you'll get some basic mobility exercises, some strengthening exercises, some core exercises, and it'll kind of walk you through a progression.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 19:25
Now again, I'm a big believer in hands-on physical therapy. I don't think cookie cutter approach works well as everyone has different challenges, but this app really is well-researched. It's research-based and it can definitely get you started or what I think is really a good role for this app is the kind of postgraduate physical therapy opportunity. Meaning there is a bit of a void in the country in terms of what patients can do or should do after they've completed their physical therapy. It's hard sometimes just to get right back into the gym and sometimes exercising at the gym can be quite generic when you're dealing with a specific spine issue.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 20:05
So The Ready State app can possibly fill that gap. I think it's worth the investment. Think about it. I mean we spend about 10 bucks, 15 bucks on Netflix, on Hulu, on a lot of these social media entertainment platforms. I think it's worthwhile to spend 15 bucks on your health a month and get really scientific based exercises. Check it out. You'll like it for sure. Again, I don't get any kickback on any of these recommendations. These are just recommendations based upon my experience on a personal level. And a feedback from my colleagues and they're really meant to empower you to really take care of your health. I hope you've enjoyed the rundown so far that us to the final app that I really recommend to help manage your pain and that's the Five Minute Journal. So the Five Minute Journal or the Five MJ app is about five bucks and it takes you through really a daily opportunity of reflection.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 21:05
And I think when you deal with chronic pain of any type, reflection is key. Understanding that there are certain triggers with your pain, understand that pain can also influence your emotions. These are things that are necessary so that if you're living with pain, you can manage the pain and not have the pain manage you. If you are not aware of your mental state of how you are responding to the pain, I promise you your friends and family are and having that awareness can really help you cope and control your issues. So the Five Minute Journal, it allows space in a very quick manner to reflect on things you're grateful for, set some short term goals for the day or even write down some favorite quotes to keep you motivated throughout your day. I feel like starting your day with the Five Minute Journal or some type of journaling or gratitude practice, is a great way to help control how you respond to your pain and injury.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 22:12
I think it's a unique and very clever tool that everyone should have if you're suffering from any sort of medical condition. Now, if using an app isn't for you, certainly the old school way is a pen or pencil and paper and a journal, but I find the Five Minute Journal to really be outstanding. It also allows you space to upload a favorite photo of the day. If you go for a nice walk and take a picture of nature, you can add that into your daily journal. So there you have it folks. For those of you again who are kind of stuck at home in a bit of limbo with how you deal with your ongoing pain. Well the medical community is not operating at full capacity. I hope these are some tools that can really help you, that you should explore, utilize.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 22:56
I think the combined effects of optimizing your vitamin D, optimizing your sleep, meditating, practicing some guided imagery, doing some journaling and gratitude work and even some self treatment with acupressure, I think the combined effects of these interventions will have a positive impact on your pain, your overall energy and mood and help buy you some time. So I hope you found these tips to be helpful and everyone stay safe out there and I look forward to talking to you again soon.
Outro: 23:28
Thank you for listening to this episode of Back Talk Doc brought to you by Carolina neurosurgery and spine associates with offices in North and South Carolina. If you'd like to learn more about Dr Lakhia and treatment options for back issues, go to backtalkdoc.com we look forward to having you join us for more insights about back pain and spine health on the next episode of Back Talk Doc. Additional information is also available at carolinaneurosurgery.com.
Welcome. You are listening to Back Talk Doc where you'll find answers to some of the most common questions about back pain and spine health brought to you by Carolina, neurosurgery and spine associates. We're providing personalized, highly skilled and compassionate spine care has been our specialty for over 75 years and now it's time to understand the cause of back pain and learn about options to get you back on track. Here's your Back Talk Doc Dr Sanjiv Lakhia.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 00:35
Welcome to Back Talk Doc. I'm your host, Dr Sanjiv Lakhia. Thanks for tuning in today. We're recording this episode today, right in the middle of the viral pandemic that is sweeping across the world and one of the negative effects of this is that in the healthcare industry, many of us practicing providers are quite limited now and what we can do for our patients. As you know, I'm a board certified physiatrist and my practice typically consists of treating those who have a lot of back pain, spine pain in general, and even orthopedic injuries. And many times we'll utilize treatment strategies such as injections, nerve blocks, epidurals. If you want to learn more, please tune into our episode that I recorded with Dr. Andrew Sumich on the spinal injections. But at this point, our group, like most groups across the country are very limited on the ability to provide these procedures to help people manage their pain.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 01:37
So many of you, if you're listening to this, you're likely stuck at home and really feel maybe that there isn't a lot you can do to help yourself. So I wanted to empower you today with some information and some things that could be helpful to control your pain while we're waiting for the storm to pass and you can get back to normal medical care. Today I want to cover my favorite apps, my top eight apps that can be utilized to help an individual cope or manage with their pain syndrome. And this can apply really to any sort of pain syndrome, whether it's osteoarthritis, lumbar disc disease, joint issues, acute pain, or chronic pain. Now, none of these apps are going to give you the equivalent relief of a corticosteroid injection or a prescription pill, although actually there is some research that might suggest that some of the mind-body interventions that we'll talk about can have an equivalent effect to Ibuprofen.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 02:37
But these are some simple tips, most of these apps you can get, whether you're on an Android or a iPhone platform. Many of them are free, a few are subscription based, but probably well worth the investment. So without further ado, let's get started today with my top eight apps to help manage pain. Number one, there's an app called dminder that's D as in David, and as in vitamin D. Dminder is really a terrific app that I was recently turned onto by my wife as we were out on a stroll one day. And she mentioned to me that you can track your skin's exposure to the sun and really quantify your vitamin D intake. So as you know, I've covered this on previous episodes. There's a direct correlation between vitamin D levels and musculoskeletal pain. Quite simply, elevated levels of vitamin D are needed to ensure that the periosteum of your bones, that is the lining of your bones is strong and intact and that lower levels of vitamin D in our system can contribute to lower levels of inflammation, not to mention immune suppression.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 03:50
So it's very important that we maintain adequate vitamin D levels for our musculoskeletal health. What's adequate level? Around 50 to 75 nanograms per cc is what you want to target. Now our vitamin D levels will fluctuate throughout the year depending on the season. So I always recommend that you get your D level checked. And one of the previous recommendations was that most individuals could get by with taking about 2,000 units a day of vitamin D3. However, there is a much safer way to get your vitamin D and that is through sunshine exposure. Now obviously there's been a big push by the dermatology societies to limit our sun exposure and lower our risk of skin cancer. And I would argue that perhaps we've gone a bit overboard because of the numerous beneficial effects of vitamin D are something that you really should consider. So having said that, vitamin D is typically attained through our exposure through the sun.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 04:47
It activates enzymes in our skin, which then through various biochemical reactions can lead to elevated levels of the active form of vitamin D in our body. Well sometimes it's really hard to quantify how much sun exposure you need. So the app dminder, that's D-M-I-N-D-E-R, does a really nice job of this. Essentially when you go outside, it'll first look at the weather forecast and it'll tell you how much sun exposure is available based upon whether it's cloudy, overcast, or sunny. And it'll tell you from what times of the day you can go outside and to get the most D exposure. Then the app allows you to input how much of your skin is exposed. For example, if you're wearing a tee shirt and shorts, it counts about a 50% skin exposure and then through a calculation you basically will hit the start button and it starts to track your cumulative amounts of vitamin D. So for example, the other day I was outside for about an hour and in shorts and a t-shirt washing my car in the driveway.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 05:54
And when I came back inside I had accumulated 5,000 units of vitamin D, which is fantastic. There's not going to be any toxic effects of that. Now obviously you want to make sure, bet you're not going to get a sunburn, but the app is nice because it takes into account different skin tones, and you will have different calculations with regards to how much vitamin D your body will synthesize. So darker skin typically takes a little more sun exposure. So I found this to be very neat. It was a really good way to quantify my sun exposure. And you can almost set a reminder and develop a daily habit of an outdoor walk to get anywhere from 1,000 units to 2,000 units or more of your vitamin D and it's always better to get it naturally through sun exposure, through food, then through supplementation. So that's the first one that I really like and I hope you take the time to download that and check it out.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 06:50
Moving on to number two. We've also discussed the vital role sleep plays in your health, so there is a terrific app called Sleep Cycle or sleep plus plus. These are two quite similar ones, but sleep plus plus I think is a more recent version of this and it's free and what you do is you basically turn on the app, set it on your nightstand before you go to bed, and remarkably it'll give you extensive data on the quality of your sleep. You can determine how much deep sleep, how much REM sleep, awakenings at nighttime and overall total amount of sleep you obtained simply by having the app next to you. I've compared this data to the data that I use on my Oura Ring, which is another data tracker. It looks at different metrics, but the aura ring is really well known for correlating with data of formal sleep studies. So the Oura Ring was about $300. It's great technology, the app is free and the data that you get from both is quite similar.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 08:03
Now you get a little more detail from the Oura Ring, but if you don't want to make the investment, I recommend you download the Sleep Cycle app, set it on your nightstand and track your data over the course of a week or two and just get a good idea about how well you're doing. And again, this information isn't going to directly help your pain level that day. So if you have a burning pain down your leg, a severe sciatica right now, tracking your sleep at night won't help immediately, but it will pay dividends longterm. As many of you know, there's terrific research correlating our sleep and our pain levels particular with chronic pain. More sleep is more restorative to our body. It can regulate the neurochemicals in the brain and really help you live a better quality of life with less pain and suffering.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 08:53
So that's my second recommendation that you should definitely download. The next app is an acupressure app is simply called Acupressure. And the full title is Acupressure: Heal Yourself. So acupressure is a self-help tool that I recommend to patients who have pain and injury. Now, I myself have been a practicing acupuncturist for almost 15 years now, and I've seen miracles happen through acupuncture treatments for pain control. The science behind acupuncture has really exploded. We know that acupuncture can help stimulate levels of endorphins in your nervous system and endorphins are natural painkillers. It's a way to really access your internal pharmacy. Now I cannot teach my patients how to perform acupuncture on themselves, but acupuncture is an extension of this and can oftentimes accomplish some of the same things.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 09:53
Acupressure involves the application of some gentle pressure on a tender area in your body and you basically apply a clockwise force to the area for about 30 seconds. So the key is really understanding where these acupressure points are. And the app does a really nice job of illustrating that for you. You can go through the app and see where the key acupuncture points, acupressure points are for certain pain syndromes. For example, one famous acupressure point for headache is in the first web space between your thumb and index finger and you can see that on the app and then you apply gentle pressure over the course of 30 seconds to two minutes. And many individuals will notice almost instant pain relief of their headache. There are two points that are really useful for back pain and sciatica. One of them is in the area right behind your knee where you can apply pressure, that point is called bladder 40 and the other one is on the side of your ankle called bladder 60 and both of these are illustrated nicely in the app and are very simple, they're free.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 11:02
And if you're in a lot of pain and in a pinch so to speak, it's something that you can do and maybe no one even notices that you're doing it and it can give you some relief and pay dividends. So I encourage you to check out the Acupressure: Heal Yourself app. I think you'll find it to be quite useful. The next two apps that I recommend I would group into the arena of mind-body medicine. I've said many times before, I am a very big advocate of meditation. I think the research behind the medical health benefits and meditation grows by the day. It's no longer a question of if meditation helps. The real question should be, why aren't you doing it? There's hardly any other intervention in our society that can lower your stress, improve your sleep, improve your relationships, lower your pain, and improve your energy and just make you feel better and really help you deal with the stress of day to day living.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 12:01
Now meditation comes in many, many forms. There's yoga-based meditation. There's guided imagery type meditation. There's breath work. There's chanting. So there are numerous types of meditation. The top app, probably in the country, that you can explore to help get you started is Headspace. Now Headspace has been around for several years and it's more of a guided approach to meditation. They have a very nice free introduction where you can go through about a week of guided meditations to help you get introduced and then there's a subscription for it. Also, if you own an Amazon Echo device, they do offer a daily Headspace meditation for free, so you can enable that as a skill on your Alexa app. But Headspace app is really nice. You can really use it anytime during the day. It involves basically putting on some headphones, closing your eyes, and going through a guided meditation, which sometimes will focus on your breath work.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 13:09
Other times it'll take you through a visualization process and it does have applications for pain, for sleep, for mood, for energy. So I find it to be a very useful and versatile tool. Similarly, another favorite of mine is the app Omvana. That's O-M-V-A-N-a, and this was put out by Mind Valley. Omvana has a whole host of guided meditations by leading experts across the world who have created meditations that you can utilize for various elements. The meditations can be done in the morning to start your day. There are wind-down meditations. There are meditations for pain. There are meditations to help clear negative energy, so there's a variety of things and you can really go through their catalog and see what appeals to you. There's many different teachers on the platform and I think my favorite one on the platform, as I've mentioned before, is a six-phase meditation.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 14:09
The six phase meditation guides you through about a 20 minute program where you do some creative visualization, some gratitude work. You also look at aspects of your life, which forgiveness can play a role and you can also then almost plan your day and just watch it unfold through the six phase meditation. So I really find this app to be enjoyable and I've used it before sitting in the airport, which as we all know can be quite stressful as it pertains to your pain. Again, what you're trying to do with these meditation apps, whether it's Headspace or Omvana, is you're trying to shift your nervous system from the state of sympathetic mediated pain, which is tightness in your body, stress hormones are elevated and your pain levels are elevated and you want to shift from a sympathetic state to a parasympathetic state. Parasympathetic state think of this as more of a calm state of mind.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 15:01
It's where you turn down the dial of your stress. You activate your Vegas nerve and really lower your cortisol levels in the body. While it may not eliminate your pain, I promise you it'll help you cope better with the pain. So check out these two apps. I think you'll find them both to be interesting. Now they both do have a subscription component to it, so utilize their free trial period and see which one works for you. Many times towards the end of the year, I know Headspace will run a discount where you can get about 30 to 40% off, so you might want to look out for that. Moving on then to the next app that I really enjoy and that is the 7 Minute Workout. Now the 7 Minute Workout was really made popular in 2013 when this was published in a sports' medicine journal. And the goal of the research was really to find out is there a way where you can get the maximum amount of physical improvement in the most efficient and shortest amount of time?
Sanjiv Lakhia: 16:10
So the app, which is free, and there's actually now numerous knockoffs, there's 7M, there's multiple. If you just type in seven or 7M in your app store, you'll see numerous versions of this and most of them are free. So it consists typically of 12 high intensity exercises that use only body weight as resistance. It's a very efficient way to lower your weight and improve your cardiovascular and muscular fitness. And this is something that is very, very portable. So if you're traveling in a hotel room, you don't need any equipment, you just turn on the app and most of the apps allow you to set some music in the background. And these apps really are great way to hit major muscle groups in a short amount of time and you can cycle through it. You can do one round, you can do two or three rounds and almost make it 20 minutes worth.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 17:06
I find it just to be really good when you're short on time, but you don't want to miss your workout. So a couple of things about it, you know it is a very small amount of exercise, a seven minutes. So I don't think it can be the only thing you're doing, but it certainly can be something that serves to make sure you don't go a day or two without any sort of physical movements. The other thing is it really can increase your levels of mitochondrial density, which is the energy factories in your cell. This type of high impact or high intensity interval training has good research to demonstrate that effect. And that's important when you're looking at issues such as longevity and overall physical fitness. So the 7 Minute Workout is very popular, is something you should definitely have on your phone.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 17:58
Now a couple of caveats. If you have any significant knee injuries or shoulder injuries, you might find some of the exercises to be difficult. So definitely go slow. And as always, if you're struggling during the workout, take a break. There is no competition here, you're really just trying to get a little better each day. Now moving on to the seventh app that I really enjoy and find to be a wonderful tool to have in the tool box and staying on the theme of exercise. The app is the TRS, The Ready State and this is put out by the therapist Kelly Starret and if you've heard my interview with Ryan, our physical therapist or with Jake, one of our physical therapy assistants, both of them referenced this individual who has developed a huge following in the PT world and his app is a subscription based service. There is a two-week trial period, I believe.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 18:54
But the way I think about The Ready State app is it's kind of like a physical therapist in your pocket and for about basically 15 bucks a month, which is less than one physical therapy co-pay, you can pretty much get a customized program of exercises delivered to your inbox to treat your injury. So for example, if you put in that you have a back injury or a knee injury, you'll get some basic mobility exercises, some strengthening exercises, some core exercises, and it'll kind of walk you through a progression.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 19:25
Now again, I'm a big believer in hands-on physical therapy. I don't think cookie cutter approach works well as everyone has different challenges, but this app really is well-researched. It's research-based and it can definitely get you started or what I think is really a good role for this app is the kind of postgraduate physical therapy opportunity. Meaning there is a bit of a void in the country in terms of what patients can do or should do after they've completed their physical therapy. It's hard sometimes just to get right back into the gym and sometimes exercising at the gym can be quite generic when you're dealing with a specific spine issue.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 20:05
So The Ready State app can possibly fill that gap. I think it's worth the investment. Think about it. I mean we spend about 10 bucks, 15 bucks on Netflix, on Hulu, on a lot of these social media entertainment platforms. I think it's worthwhile to spend 15 bucks on your health a month and get really scientific based exercises. Check it out. You'll like it for sure. Again, I don't get any kickback on any of these recommendations. These are just recommendations based upon my experience on a personal level. And a feedback from my colleagues and they're really meant to empower you to really take care of your health. I hope you've enjoyed the rundown so far that us to the final app that I really recommend to help manage your pain and that's the Five Minute Journal. So the Five Minute Journal or the Five MJ app is about five bucks and it takes you through really a daily opportunity of reflection.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 21:05
And I think when you deal with chronic pain of any type, reflection is key. Understanding that there are certain triggers with your pain, understand that pain can also influence your emotions. These are things that are necessary so that if you're living with pain, you can manage the pain and not have the pain manage you. If you are not aware of your mental state of how you are responding to the pain, I promise you your friends and family are and having that awareness can really help you cope and control your issues. So the Five Minute Journal, it allows space in a very quick manner to reflect on things you're grateful for, set some short term goals for the day or even write down some favorite quotes to keep you motivated throughout your day. I feel like starting your day with the Five Minute Journal or some type of journaling or gratitude practice, is a great way to help control how you respond to your pain and injury.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 22:12
I think it's a unique and very clever tool that everyone should have if you're suffering from any sort of medical condition. Now, if using an app isn't for you, certainly the old school way is a pen or pencil and paper and a journal, but I find the Five Minute Journal to really be outstanding. It also allows you space to upload a favorite photo of the day. If you go for a nice walk and take a picture of nature, you can add that into your daily journal. So there you have it folks. For those of you again who are kind of stuck at home in a bit of limbo with how you deal with your ongoing pain. Well the medical community is not operating at full capacity. I hope these are some tools that can really help you, that you should explore, utilize.
Sanjiv Lakhia: 22:56
I think the combined effects of optimizing your vitamin D, optimizing your sleep, meditating, practicing some guided imagery, doing some journaling and gratitude work and even some self treatment with acupressure, I think the combined effects of these interventions will have a positive impact on your pain, your overall energy and mood and help buy you some time. So I hope you found these tips to be helpful and everyone stay safe out there and I look forward to talking to you again soon.
Outro: 23:28
Thank you for listening to this episode of Back Talk Doc brought to you by Carolina neurosurgery and spine associates with offices in North and South Carolina. If you'd like to learn more about Dr Lakhia and treatment options for back issues, go to backtalkdoc.com we look forward to having you join us for more insights about back pain and spine health on the next episode of Back Talk Doc. Additional information is also available at carolinaneurosurgery.com.