Low Back Pain

Low Back Pain is probably the most common symptom seen in a chiropractic office. Have you ever had pain doing the simplest of activities? Perhaps you were bending over to pick up a young child or even something as light as a newspaper. How about when you reach across your bed to straighten out the blanket or when you change positions from sitting to standing? Have you ever gotten back pain after driving for a period of time? All of these actions and many, many more very common activities can help aggravate lower back conditions. It is easy to know how your back got hurt if you lifted heavy boxes, or worked very long hours bending and twisting. These are obvious causes. However, the more common causes are the everyday activities that we perform. Even though they don't feel painful, they cause “micro traumas” to our spine. That is, they cause little irritations that, over a long period of time, end up causing significant changes to our spinal structure, and in some cases, major pain.

Is lower back pain really a serious problem?
First of all, if it makes life more difficult for you, that's serious in itself. Even if it goes away in a few days, you haven't really gotten rid of the problem. It will most likely return and, if left untreated, could be more debilitating the next time…which is why we recommend seeing a chiropractor at the first sign of back pain.

Lower back pain can also be accompanied by a variety of symptoms, some of which indicate very serious problems. Do you currently have or have you ever had:

Treatment:
Chiropractic treatment typically consists of physical therapy to help reduce the muscle spasm and tightness, and the chiropractic adjustment which helps restore normal spine and nerve function to the affected areas. Also, ice therapy (cryotherapy) is used to help reduce swelling. It is important in most cases to avoid the use of heat therapy such as a heating pad on the lower back as this causes increased swelling and eventually more pain.