Low
back pain is one of the most common ailments in society today. In the
United States alone,low back pain accounts for more than
7,000,000 new cases and 250,000 surgeries each year. In fact, nearly
all of us will experience some degree of back pain at least once in our
lifetime. Our lower back is especially vulnerable to this malady,
mostly due to increased weight bearing, mechanical stress, and the lack
of rib support to this region.
There
are many causes
of lower back pain but the most common cause is mechanical stress.
Mechanical stress can be considered the action of movement under the
presence of weight. For instance, when you bend forward with the knees
straight, pick up an object, and twist while lifting that object, you
apply a great deal of mechanical stress to the lower back. This is
especially true if you lift the object with your arms away from your
body.
The lower back is especially
susceptible to this
malady. This is because the lower back receives more weight and has
less support from the mid-back region, due to the lack of ribs. To make
matters worse, the lowest part of the lower back usually houses the
largest nerve with the smallest space for that nerve to exit the spine.
This nerve, is called the L5/S1 or Sciatic Nerve. It can be the source
of lower back and/or leg pain (commonly called sciatica) when the lower
back is out of alignment, becomes diseased, or the muscles and tissues
surrounding the spine become inflamed.
Back
pain can
range from mild stiffness to the inability to move, bend, or walk,
without great difficulty. Back pain can be constant or may be
intermittent (come and go.) The pain can be dull and aching or sharp
and stabbing. There may also be numbness or tingling, a sensation of
heat, or weakness in one or both legs. In some cases, leg symptoms will
present without back pain. Again, this may be due to irritation of the
sciatic nerve by something like a disc that is bulging to the side.
(Discs that bulge more to a side are more likely to cause leg pain as
the predominant or only symptom. Discs that bulge more to the middle
are more likely to cause back symptoms, rather than leg symptoms.)
Whatever
the symptoms, back pain is the sign that something is wrong and if mild
symptoms persist or worsen over two or three days, you should seek
professional help. If your pain happened due to an injury, you should
seek attention as soon as possible. Treatment outcome is often greatly
improved by treating pain from an injury as soon as possible.
A
Doctor of Chiropractic is trained and licensed in the diagnosis of back
pain. Through careful history, examination, and the aid of x-rays, or
in rare cases, if needed, computer tomography, or MRI. A Doctor of
Chiropractic can often determine the cause of your back pain and
recommend a treatment program. Anyone who has ever suffered an acute
episode of back pain is also acutely aware of how mechanical
stress affects the back. For instance, some back pain sufferers will
notice it hurts more when sitting than while standing. This is because
sitting actually places 50% more weight on the bones of the lower back
and more weight (pressure) equals more pain. Other back pain suffers
notice an increase in pain from mechanical stress due to bending,
stooping, lifting, or even from coughing or sneezing.
Chiropractors
help many patients with mechanical types of back pain, which usually
presents as when the bones of the spine, called vertebrae, are out of
alignment. This misalignment between vertebra creates a mechanical
stress that causes inflammation to the area that surrounds the nerves.
When the nerves of the back become irritated, pain and dysfunction are
the end result.
Lower back pain comes
in many shapes
and sizes. Pain can range from mild stiffness to difficulty or the
inability to move, bend, or walk. Back pain can be constant or
intermittent (come and go.) The pain can be dull and aching or sharp
and stabbing. There may also be numbness, tingling, a sensation of
heat, or weakness in one or both legs. In some cases, leg symptoms will
present with or without back pain. This is due to a specific type of
irritation to the sciatic nerve, called sciatica.
A
disc bulge could be the underlying cause of some of the more serious
types of back conditions and sciatica. A disc acts like a shock
absorber and a pivot point between the two vertebra. When a disc gets
overly stressed or injured, it begins to bulge. In the lower back, a
disc bulge in the side of a disc is more likely to cause leg pain as
the predominant or only symptom. A disc that bulges more to the middle
is more likely to cause back symptoms, rather than leg symptoms.
Although
back pain is most often caused from a mechanical stress, it could also
be a sign of more serious trouble including genetic (conditions you are
born with), nutritional disorders (osteoporosis), malformation of the
vertebra (improper bone growth), infection, and even malignancy
(cancer).
No matter how back pain
presents, if it
persists, you should seek professional help to find out what is causing
the pain and why it will not get better. However, if your pain happened
due to an injury, you should seek attention as soon as possible, as
treatment outcome can be greatly improved by treating the injury early.
There
are many types of treatments for back-related pain. These treatments
range from massage and acupressure to drugs and surgery. For those of
us who would like to avoid taking medication, which only masks the
symptoms, and avoid a surgery, there is a leading alternative choice of
treatment called chiropractic care. A Doctor of Chiropractor is trained
and licensed in the diagnosis of back pain. Through careful history,
examination, and the aid of x-rays, or when needed, CT (computerized
tomography), or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), a Doctor of
Chiropractic can often determine the cause of your back pain and
recommend a corrective treatment program. If your diagnosis
demonstrates your condition cannot be treated chiropractically, your
Doctor of Chiropractic can refer you to the appropriate health care
practitioner.
Chiropractors commonly
adjust
(manipulate) misaligned vertebra (the bones of the spine) to relieve
back pain. When the alignment of the vertebrae is improved, the stress
on the soft tissue and nerves in the surrounding area is relieved,
which allows the natural healing process of the body to overtake the
adverse effects of the misalignment. Continued treatment, good posture,
proper rest, and exercise will help the healing process continue. Disc
problems have also been successfully treated with manipulation or by
specialized chiropractic treatments with flexion-distraction, a mild
traction technique that helps to reduce both disc bulges and small disc
herniations. Advances in the chiropractic care of disc cases has given
many back pain suffers a desirable alternative to costly back surgery.
Your
chiropractor may also apply various forms of physiotherapy such as
massage, acupressure, moist heat, ice, or ultrasound, to help
facilitate healing and ease your back pain discomfort. You may be
advised to avoid certain activities that could hurt your recovery
progress and you may also be shown and advised to do back-strengthening
exercises, to help prevent re-injury. (A little known fact is that
injured tissue heals first as a glob of fibers that patch the injured
area, but over a two-year period, with proper care, strengthening, and
stretching exercises, this patch can organize into working tissue that
is almost as good as new.)
In addition
to helping your
body through a physical approach, today’s chiropractors often
help their patients further by providing qualified nutritional advice,
which can promote healing and result in over-all improved strength of
the back and body. If you are one of the many whom suffer from back
pain, you may want to consider the benefits of modern chiropractic
treatment and take the first step towards putting your back pain behind
you.