Back Pain

As I like to say, low back pain is a chiropractor’s bread and butter.  I have seen many patients come into the office with horrible acute or chronic low back pain and after the first few adjustments have significant improvement in both the frequency and intensity of the pain. Although a healthy spine should not cause a person trouble, as a healthy tooth should not cause pain either, it is extremely important to find the root cause of the problem and correct it rather than simply masking the pain.

I like to half joke that the patients who have low back pain are the lucky ones. They know there is a problem in their spine. Most of the spine is not pain sensitive meaning that a spine can be literally degenerating or decaying without you knowing or feeling it. Approximately 25% of all people who hop into a MRI machine will have a disc bulge but no symptoms. This means that it is possible that low back symptoms are most likely to be caused by something other than the disc. Also, it means that pain is not a good indicator of spinal health.

A bulging disc, even without pain, is not healthy. Contrary to popular belief, discs are not unhealthy, squishy jelly donuts. Healthy discs are stronger than bone.  Intervertebral discs solely rely on movement to maintain their health. When we are younger, we have vessels that provide discs with nutrients and pull out the wastes. We lose these vessels with age and a process called “imbibition” takes over. This process is a lot like squeezing a sponge. When a sponge is squeezed, fluid flows out; when released it sucks fluid in. Your discs stay hydrated by this process. When subluxation or misalignment occurs, the joints become immobile which inhibits this natural process. Healthy spinal movement and alignment are crucial for maintaining the health of the discs.

In addition, if you have bad spinal biomechanics, poor pressure distribution in your body, with a disc that is already unhealthy due to lack of motion, you will have degeneration and deterioration. Let’s make this easy: think of your car. If I put a ten pound weight on the right side of your car, what would happen to the tires? It would wear out more on the right correct? The same thing happens to your body! If you have spinal misalignments, called subluxations, throughout your spine, you are putting unequal weight on one side. Ever wonder why one knee or hip degenerates not both? Bad biomechanics!

Chiropractic and Back Aches

Chiropractic adjustments are known to alleviate back pain by restoring proper biomechanics and motion in the spine. A series of chiropractic treatment called adjustments realign the spine which creates optimal motion and pressure in the body. According to the Manga report, which was commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Health, chiropractic is more effective than medical treatments for low back pain. Even more amazing is the fact that they state that it is less expensive, has less side effects, and also has better patient satisfaction. According to the editors in Lancet regarding a low back study by Meade in the British Medical Journal in 1990, there is a “strong and clear advantage” for patients who utilize chiropractic care. Chiropractic has shown positive clinical results for people with low back pain.

Better Health Overall

There is so much more to chiropractic than just correcting back pain. Remember, pain is the last symptom to show up and first symptom to go away. Just because the pain went away, does not mean the problem is fixed or won’t come back with vengeance. Numbing pain is just as silly as spraying a fire extinguisher at the fire alarm. Your body is telling you that a problem needs to fixed.

Our office, Aligned for Life Chiropractic in Beverly, MA specializes in correcting spinal biomechanics!

The chiropractic technique used in our office is called Chiropractic Biophysics. This technique  is very effective and gentle. We look at the spine as a whole and correct it! We also teach our patients how to take care of their spines through healthy stretching and strengthening that is as easy as brushing your teeth. Doing specific spinal stretches and exercises along with regular chiropractic adjustments restore healthy biomechanics in a person’s spine. It brings me great pleasure to see a patient do all the activities he or she couldn’t do prior to care due to back pain. I also love that these patients do not just have better low back pain but some have better digestion, sleep better, better reproductive health or a better golf game!

If you have back pain and are tired of numbing the pain and want to fix the problem once and for all, give us a call today 978-969-6105!

Let’s get your spine healthy and get you back to the activities you enjoy in life!