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Lower back or “lumbar” pain and dysfunction arise if the low back and/or pelvis are out of alignment and have weak supporting muscles. In many cases, something as simple as bending to brush your teeth, pick up a pencil or even a sneeze can cause your back to go into spasm and result in mild to severe pain. Underlying conditions also play a large role in why something as simple as bending and lifting can cause you to drop to the floor.
The lower back supports most of your body’s weight and can withstand tremendous forces without injury. According to research eighty percent of people suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Back pain is the second most common reason for visits to the doctor’s office, outnumbered only by colds and flu’s. In fact, it is estimated that low back pain affects more than half of the adult population each year and is worsening due to problems like lack of exercise, stress, obesity and repetitive stress due to sitting, lifting and other work-related stressors.
The common belief has been that back pain would heal on its own. We have learned, however, that this is not true. Recent studies showed that when back pain is not treated, it might go away temporarily, but will most likely return. It is important to take low back pain seriously and seek professional chiropractic care. This is especially true with pain that recurs repeatedly over several years.
Low back pain may be acute (short-term), lasting less than one month, or chronic (long-term, continuous, ongoing), lasting longer than three months. While getting acute back pain more than once is common, continuous long-term pain is not, as is usually a sign of an underlying problem.
There are many different conditions that can result in low back pain, including: sprained ligaments, strained muscles, ruptured discs, muscles that go into spasm and inflamed joints. While sports injuries or accidents can lead to injury and pain, the most common cause of low back pain is the body being out of alignment for a prolonged period on time that allow bad postural habits to form. When you body is not able to move properly, muscles tighten and go into spasm, bone move into wrong places and arthritis can begin, and sometimes nerves are irritated and compressed due to the poor postural habits.
Chiropractic treatment for low back pain is very effective. Most commonly, it’s a matter of adjusting the lower lumbar vertebrae and pelvis to re-establish normal motion and position of your bones and joints. Additional muscle work may need to be done, but that depends of your specific care history and examination. Chiropractic for the low back has been repeatedly shown to be the most effective treatment for low back pain. In fact, major studies have shown that chiropractic care is more effective, cheaper and has better long-term outcomes than any other treatment. All other treatments, such as muscle relaxants, pain killers and bed rest, only serve to decrease the symptoms of the problem and do not correct the problem itself. This makes sense because chiropractic care is the only method of treatment that serves to re-establish normal vertebral motion and position in the spine.
