Lower back pain is one of the leading causes of muscular doctor visits. It affects millions per year and is one of the leading causes of missed work days.
While there are many causes of lower back pain, ranging from spinal misalignment, disc degeneration, bulges, herniations, inflammation, muscle spasms, even cancer. How can a person know exactly what is causing such pain, and what is the best method of treatment. The answers to those questions can be various depending on who you ask, and what tests they perform. At no time should a diagnosis or treatment be rendered based on guesswork, or a diagnosis you friends’ neighbor had with a similar complaint.
These days it is very common for people to have a bulging or hernitated spinal disc. When these discs, (shock absorbing spacers between the spinal bones) get injured, torn or swollen, they can lead to pain, inflammation, and muscle spasm. Why is it that a relatively high percentage of the population have such disc issues, but symptoms are not always obvious? Until that one day when they get up wrong, or picked up a pencil wrong, or sat too long in a chair? The real concern should be how did the disc become injured / swollen to begin with?
Causes can be obvious such as a trauma from a sports injury, or car accident, but less obvious are when the bones above and / or below the disc are misaligned they put uneven pressure on the disc and cause it to wear, swell, or tear. Then one day the wrong movement, stress, or position cause it to swell enough to cause pain and inflammation. This type of condition is known as spinal subluxation complex by most in the chiropractic profession, and if the cause is truly a VSC (vertebral subluxation complex) then chiropractic is often the best choice. Of course severity, age, and type of disc issue can determine if other methods are more appropriate. These may include epidural or cortisone injections, discectomies, nerve blocks, or neuropath stimulators.
It is often recommended that a patient start with the least invasive methods like chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, or even physical /physio therapy. If those are not successful in reducing pain, then more invasive methods are recommended as listed above.
The chiropractic methodology is based on the idea that realigning the bones of the spine or pelvis back to their correct position, inflammation will decrease, there will be even pressure on the discs, and the nerve will have less or no irritation, thus reducing the pain, while improving the joint motion and improving the quality of life. It is as simple as that. The difficulty is finding a chiropractor with a specific analysis to determine the exact location of such VSC’s, and not just manipulating the spine in the area of complaint, hoping for the best.
If you are in pain, and live near the Parkland area of south Florida, you are welcome to have a complete and specific analysis of your spine and body to see where you may be suffering with such problems. Please call us at (954) 340-7545. You can check us out on the web at: www.PHandWC.com
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Next post will deal with lower extremity issues and how they relate to lower back pain. Have comment or question, please ask away. You can get up to the minute health info on Facebook, youtube, and twitter.
Dr. Joseph Bogart