Back Pain
Back pain is one of the most common issues that we help people with here at Alternative Space Chiropractic. It is estimated more than 80% of Americans will experience some kind of back pain at some point in their life. This condition can be debilitating and is a common cause of disability and missing work. Back pain stop you from doing your normal daily activities and interfere with your life.
Back pain comes in many different forms, and can be attributed to many different causes. There are many different diagnoses that can lead to back pain, and each will require its own approach. The approach can be different from person to person, even for the same condition, because everyone has their own unique lifestyle, history, and anatomy. Considering all of these factors greatly increases the chances that a treatment plan will be successful.
How does it feel?
Patients often describe the pain as deep, dull, aching, stiff and tense. Sometimes they will experience shooting or stabbing pain that can travel (refer) down the leg or shoulder, or through the neck to the head. Others experience pain with any movement, or when changing positions, or painful and decreased ranges of motion.
Due to the varying nature of back pain, there are many potential differential diagnoses including: sciatica (numbness, tingling, and shooting pain), facet syndrome, muscle sprains, joint sprains, disc bulges and many more. It is important that we correctly identify what type of back pain you are suffering with in order to have success with treatment.
Common Causes:
- Poor posture/spinal alignment
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Prolonged sitting
- Trauma
- Poor movement patterns
- Repetitive strain
- Poor lifting mechanics
- Sports injuries
- Pregnancy
- Organ pain referral
- Underlying disease or pathology (rare)
What is the most common cause of back pain?
Once we have ruled out any major medical issues, the most common cause of back pain is biomechanical. In this instance, the joints of the spine are not moving as freely as they are supposed to. This causes local pain and restriction and over time, can contribute to spinal degeneration, muscle spasms, discs bulges, and nerve irritation.
Inflammation and swelling around the lower back can irritate the sciatic nerve, resulting in a shooting pain down the back of the leg known as sciatica.
How we help people with back pain:
At Alternative Space Chiropractic, we take a holistic approach with back pain. We always treat the whole body and not just the parts that hurt. For back issues, we treat the issue locally and also pay attention to the rest of the body. This is because the body compensates to take pressure off of joints and tissues that are feeling pain, so most issues will have compensations throughout the rest of the body. Our approach involves local and specific soft tissue work and adjustments to your spine and relevant extremities.
Our goals are to help you not only relieve your pain and improve your conditions, but also to get your whole body healthier and functioning better. When we work on the whole body, your main issue resolves faster and you may notice other issues improving, even if you didn’t bring them up. We are experts in spine and extremity issues and have helped thousands of people with all kinds of back pain. There can be many factors into what is causing your back pain and we have seen many different patterns and ways they can present in the body.
Our Process
Our process involves a complimentary consultation which allows us to determine if we are the best fit to help you. If we are not, we will refer you to the right people. If we think that we can help you, we will proceed with a paid examination.
During the examination process, we will perform a range of orthopedic, neurological, and musculoskeletal tests in order to find the problem. Once we have the necessary information, we will tell you what we found. If X-rays are necessary, we will refer you to a radiology center nearby.
After that, we will create a custom treatment plan designed to help you heal naturally. Our treatments include spinal adjustments, extremity adjustments, muscle and fascia work, posture drills, exercises, stretches, tonal balancing, and anything else we can think of that will help you heal faster. We also consider your lifestyle and help you make modifications to prevent future issues. All treatments are catered to suit your body and give it what it needs.
We look forward to seeing if we can help you find the cause and solution to your back pain.
