I went to the doctor with hand pain. Now they tell me I may need neck surgery. I'm only 30 years old. How did this happen ?

San Francisco Back Pain Center: I have looked at thousands of x-rays of the neck and back over the past 15 years. It is truly amazing the level of spinal degeneration and decay some patients present with at such an early age. It is not uncommon for these patients to express to me that they have had no physical trauma's such as sports injuries or auto accidents, which would be obvious precursors to such conditions. I have a theory that I have expressed here over and over. I believe we are the end product of what we eat, what we think, how much we exercise, the amount of physical, mental, and chemical stresses we absorb, etc. This we call our "Context" or lifestyle. Unfortunately, some of us have been raised with poor dietary and exercise habits predisposing us to degenerative conditions. There is overwhelming evidence that the typical American diet is one of the main contributors to inflammation and degeneration (see the China Study). Then there is the go-go mentality of working long hours (usually with poor posture) to get ahead, poor sleeping habits, such as sleeping on your stomach, and emotional stresses, such as divorce, finances, job stress, etc. Really, our bodies were designed to be running around the jungle picking berries off of trees and singing folk songs. Not sitting under artificial light for 12 hours a day drinking coffee and eating McDonald's. So, it's not hard for me to understand how these conditions manifest. It's also not hard for me to recommend a treatment program to reverse the process either. It's simply a matter of adjusting the (lifestyle)knobs in the opposite direction. In the direction of health, not illness. We call this "Contextual Healing". Change your diet to a plant based diet. Get more rest and use a cervical pillow. Take Fish Oil supplements. Meditate on a regular basis. Get plenty of exercise. Have your spine fixed by a good doctor. A good doctor would be one recommending you do all these things. You will never be able to express your human potential unless you create the proper context for your body to thrive. So, there you go. There is a cause for every effect, and an effect for every cause. Things don't just happen. Go ahead, adjust those knobs. A little here, a little there, you will know when it is just right. Just like a snow flake, health appears spontaneously when the conditions are right.