Health › Back & Joint Pain

Top Chiropractor: Your Back Isn't Broken — It's Been Left Alone 6 Days a Week. Here's How 20 Minutes a Night Stops the Pain Coming Back

If you feel better for a day and then the pain creeps back, there's a simple reason. It isn't your age, and it isn't your spine. Read this before you book the next appointment or the next shot.

By Dr. Joanne Lindgaard, DCChiropractor, Overland Park, Kansas · 26 years · for The Home Wellness Journal · Updated Sep 27, 2026 · 10 min read

Your back isn't broken. It's been left alone six days a week.

I've been a chiropractor for 26 years, and I say that sentence to patients almost every day now. Most of them look at me like I'm crazy. Then they think about their own week, and they go quiet.

Back pain is the number one reason Americans see a chiropractor. Nearly two out of three visits are for it.¹ So I've heard the same story thousands of times, and maybe it's your story too.

You get one good day. It's the day after an appointment, or the afternoon the pills kick in, or the hour you spend on the heating pad. For that little while, you can move again.

And then, like clockwork, it creeps back. By day four or five it's all tight again, and you're counting the days until the next thing that helps.

It starts in the morning. You sit on the edge of the bed and you wait, because you know you can't stand up straight yet. Some mornings it takes twenty minutes of moving around before you can.

In the afternoon, cooking hurts and cleaning hurts. You catch yourself leaning on the counter just to get through the dishes.

Then your grandchild runs at you with open arms, and you can't bend down to catch them. You say “not now,” and you hate saying it.

At dinner, you shift in your chair every two minutes. You stand up “to get something,” just so you can stop sitting.

And at 2 a.m. you lie awake, hunting for the one position that doesn't hurt.

So you do what everyone does. You take the pills, you plug in the heating pad, and you book the next appointment. It helps. And a few days later, you're right back where you started.

Back Pain So Bad You Plan Your Whole Week Around It

Here's what that loop really costs you, and I don't just mean money.

• Your mornings. The first twenty minutes of every day belong to your back.
• Your grandkids. Every “not now” adds up.
• Your dinners, your drives and your garden. You plan them around how your back feels.
• Your sleep. You wake up at 2 a.m., and you stay awake.
• Your money. A chiropractor visit costs about $50. Once a week, that's $2,600 a year.³

For a long time, I thought that was just how backs work. I was wrong, and it took me years to see it.

The Night I Looked at My Own Appointment Book

One night, after my last patient went home, I sat down with my appointment book.

I saw the same names on the same days, week after week. Some of those people had been coming to me for years.

They were my best patients, and they did everything I asked. But they weren't getting better. They were getting maintained.

I wasn't fixing backs. I was renting out relief, three days at a time.

My own back hurt too, after 26 years of bending over a table. By 4 p.m. I was the one who needed help. So I asked myself one simple question. If the treatment works, why doesn't it last?

The Real Reason Your Back Pain Keeps Coming Back

You already know the usual story. It's your job, your posture, and years of sitting, lifting and bending. Your lower back gets tight and sore.

That part is true. But it doesn't explain the one thing that matters most. If the treatment works, why doesn't it last?

Here's the answer, and nobody tells you this. Not your doctor, and not your chiropractor either.

Your back isn't broken. It's being left alone six days a week.

Think about brushing your teeth. Now imagine you only brushed them on Mondays. You could have the best dentist in town, and your teeth would still go bad. That's not because brushing doesn't work. It's because once a week isn't enough.

Your back works the same way. It gets one good treatment, and then six days of sitting, lifting and bending with nothing helping it. So the pain gets a six-day head start, every single week.

That's not your fault, and it's not just your age. It isn't even your chiropractor's fault. It's the schedule.

Why Nothing You've Tried Has Lasted

Once you see the schedule, everything you've tried starts to make sense.

Pills · about 4 hoursHeating pad · skin onlyThe shot · months apartChiropractor · $50 a visitPhysical therapy · $150Gym booth · 12 min standing

The pills get you to lunch. They quiet the signal for a few hours, and then your back is on its own again.

The heating pad feels good while it's on. But it warms one spot, it only reaches the skin, and it only works while you sit still.

The shot can calm things down for a few months. Then it wears off, and you're back in the same chair, waiting for the next one.

The appointments help too. A chiropractor visit costs about $50, physical therapy about $150, and a red light session at a spa runs $45 to $65.³ You get a good day or two, and then you book again.

A new mattress can cost $2,000, and plenty of people still wake up stiff on it.

The red light booth at the gym means standing still for 12 minutes after you've driven there. When your back is the problem, standing still is the hard part, so most people give up on it.

Every one of these helps somebody for a day. But none of them reach your back often enough, and most of them never get below the skin.

The Light That Gets Below the Skin

Here's where it gets interesting. When your back gets help every night instead of once a week, the pain loses its head start. And there is one kind of help that reaches deep and that you can have every single night.

It's red and near-infrared light. Red light at 660 nm warms the tissue just under your skin, and it feels like sun on your back. Near-infrared light at 850 nm goes further. It reaches the muscle and the joint, right where the pain really sits.

• Heating pad stops at the skin.
• Red light, 660 nm warms the tissue just under the skin, about 5 mm.
• Near-infrared, 850 nm reaches the muscle and the joint, up to about 30 mm.

This isn't new, and it isn't a fad. Researchers have pooled the trials on the exact pain my patients have most.² There are 15 trials on low back pain with 1,039 people, 16 trials on neck pain with 820 patients, and 22 trials on knee arthritis. That's 53 clinical trials.

Physical therapists use it, sports clinics use it, and some chiropractors keep a panel in the back room and charge for every session. I had one in my own office. My patients loved it, for about three days.

Because here's the catch. Red light works best when you use it several times a week, and nobody drives to a clinic four times a week.

The 3 Things Your Back Needs at the Same Time

When I put it all together, I saw that real relief needs three things, and it needs all three at once.

1. The right light. That means red at 660 nm and near-infrared at 850 nm, the same two wavelengths clinics use.
2. The whole area. Your back pain doesn't stay in one spot. It pulls into your hips, down your legs and up into your neck, so you need light from your neck to your calves, not one small circle.
3. Enough nights. Four or more nights a week, every week. That's how often your back needs it.

If you miss even one of these, you're wasting your time. A $40 pad from Amazon has the light, but it covers one spot. The clinic has the light, but you get it once a week. The gym booth has the light, but you have to stand, and you have to drive there.

To get all three at a red light studio, you'd have to go four times a week. At $35 to $75 a session, that's $560 to $1,200 a month.³ Nobody can keep that up, and so your back never gets what it needs.

What I Now Tell My Patients to Do on the Other Six Nights

I didn't want to lose my patients. I wanted them to stop needing me every Monday. So I started telling them what to do on the other six nights.

First I tried it myself. I lay on a full-body red light mat for 20 minutes every night, on my own bed. By week two, I wasn't the one who needed help at 4 p.m. anymore.

It's called the EMBRA Mat, and it does all three things in one 20-minute session. Here's what it is.

660 nm850 nmneck to calvesauto-off

• It covers you from neck to calves. Your whole back at once, 71 by 31.5 inches, with 1,410 LEDs.
• It uses both lights. Red 660 nm and near-infrared 850 nm, the same two wavelengths clinics use.
• You lie down. There's no standing in front of a panel, no booth and no appointment.
• It feels warm, never hot. It turns itself off after 20 minutes, so you can fall asleep on it.
• It rolls up in 30 seconds and slides under the bed.
• It's an FDA-listed device.

One honest thing. The mat only lights up the side of you that lies on it. That's why, right now, two extra pieces come in the box for free.

The Relief Belt wraps around your lower back while you sit at the table or on the couch. The Neck & Shoulder Wrap lies over your neck and both shoulders. Together they're worth $398, and they're free while the Fall Sale lasts.

What 20 Minutes on It Feels Like

Here's what a night looks like. You roll the mat out on your bed, you lie down, and you press one button.

A gentle warmth spreads from your neck to your calves, and the muscles along your spine start to let go. You can watch your show, read, or fall asleep, because it turns itself off after 20 minutes.

There's no appointment, no copay, no drive and no waiting room. Your back just stops being alone.

This isn't a one-night miracle, and I won't tell you it is. Here's what my patients tell me they notice.

• Night 1You feel a gentle warmth on your back, and the muscles let go while you lie there.
• Week 1–2The mornings get easier. There's less shuffling before you stand up straight.
• Week 3–4The stiffness lets go faster. Stairs, the car and getting dressed take less bracing.
• Week 6–8This is the full effect. And it's right where your 60 nights end, so you decide with the whole picture.

What People Say After the Relief Kept Wearing Off

★★★★★

“I haven't needed my chiropractor in a year.” My lower back pain is gone. I was at the chiropractor every single week for six years. I haven't booked an appointment in a year, and I'm off the pain pills.Robert K. · Tucson, AZ · 11 months in

★★★★★

“Took a few weeks, but now it holds.” My adjustments used to wear off in two days. Now my back stays loose most of the week. I wish it had worked faster.Greg H. · Columbus, OH · 7 weeks in

★★★★★

“The first thing I do after a 12-hour shift.” Twelve hours on my feet and my lower back used to scream. Twenty minutes on the mat and I can actually sleep.Tanya R. · nurse · Charlotte, NC · 6 weeks in

Opened and used is fine. Free belt + neck wrap while the Fall Sale lasts.

Just Imagine…

Now picture your week when your back gets help every night instead of once.

• Twenty minutes on the edge of the bed. You swing your legs out, and you stand up. The start of your day is yours again.
• “Not now.” When your grandchild runs at you, you bend down and you catch them.
• Shifting all through dinner. You sit through the whole meal, and you don't get up “to get something.”
• Awake at 2 a.m. You sleep until the alarm rings, not until your back wakes you.
• A week planned around one appointment. You stop counting the days to the next good one.
• $2,600 a year for relief that's gone by Thursday. You pay once, and every night after that is yours.

That's what happens when your back stops getting a six-day head start.

Now You Probably Have Two Questions

Where can you get one, and what does it cost? The first one is easy. You get it from the official EMBRA website, and I'll put the link right below.

The second one needs a little math first. So let's look at what getting by costs you right now.

Example cash prices from public US clinic price lists.³

Other full-body red light mats sell for $739 to $869, and that's just the mat, with no belt and no wrap.

The EMBRA Mat Kit is $699, once. That's the price of about 14 chiropractor visits. Use it every night for a year, and each session costs you $1.92. In year two, it's 96 cents.

Everything in the Box

Right now it's their Fall Sale. The mat is $500 off, and two gifts come with it.

1. The EMBRA full-body mat. 660 + 850 nm, neck to calves, 1,410 LEDs.
2. FREE Relief Belt ($199). It's for your lower back while you sit, or wherever the day hurts.
3. FREE Neck & Shoulder Wrap ($199). It covers your neck and both shoulders.
4. Controller and goggles.

The two gifts are free only while the Fall Sale lasts. After that, the kit ships without them.

You Get 60 Nights, Opened and Used, With Every Dollar Back

Here's something I have never been able to offer my own patients.

When your pain is back on Thursday, I don't refund Monday's visit. No chiropractor does, and no surgeon does either.

EMBRA does. You can lie on it for 60 nights, use it every night and throw away the box.

If it doesn't help your back, you email them, and they send you a prepaid return label. You send the kit back, and you get every dollar back. There's no restocking fee and no “unopened only” rule. It doesn't matter if it's night 1 or night 59.

That's a guarantee no surgeon will ever give you.

60nightsOpened · Used · Every dollar back

Most mat companies won't take a mat back once the box is open, and some charge up to 20% to “restock” it. This one works the other way around. And if a part stops working in the first two years, they send you a new one first, so you don't wait for a repair.

Here's What to Do Next

1. Tap the button. It takes you to the official EMBRA order page.
2. Choose your kit. The free belt and neck wrap are added for you.
3. Your mat ships free and arrives in 7 to 10 business days, with tracking by email.

Then, on the night it arrives, you roll it out, lie down and press start.

Keep your chiropractor if you like yours. Just stop leaving your back alone on the other six nights.

So… What's It Going to Be?

Right now, you have two choices.

Your back isn't broken. It's been left alone. So stop leaving it alone, starting tonight.

60 nights, opened & used, every dollar back · Free US shipping · 2-year warranty · Free belt + neck wrap ($398) while the Fall Sale lasts

— Dr. Jo

P.S. “Will it last?” is the right question. Relief that’s gone by Thursday is the reason you’re reading this. The mat doesn’t wear off, because you don’t wait a week for the next session. It’s on your bed every night.

Questions