Low back pain is a common issue that can impact people of all ages. Both the young and the elderly may suffer from low back pain at some point in their life. The pain may be moderate or severe and could be a sign of a long term condition.
What Is Low Back Pain?
According to one study, eighty percent of individuals will experience pain in their lower back at some point in their life. It is the most common reason for a job-related disability.
Acute back pain may last anywhere up to a few weeks. Chronic back pain is described as any pain that lasts longer than three months. Low back pain is also far more likely to occur in individuals who are between the age of thirty and fifty.
Causes Of Low Back Pain
There are a variety of causes of low back pain, with the most common being an injury. You can develop low back pain if you injure your back while lifting a heavy item with the incorrect stance. It is also very common to see back pain as a result of poor posture and obesity.
It’s also possible for this pain to be related to a disc injury or a condition such as sciatica. Sciatica can develop when a herniated disc puts pressure on the sciatic nerve, or through piriformis syndrome. Either of these can cause pain in the legs or pins and needles in the feet.
Abnormal spinal curvatures may also cause issues with low back pain. This includes scoliosis and hyper/hypo lordosis. Conditions like this are sometimes congenital and will first become apparent through childhood. Congenital abnormalities are still manageable with Chiropractic care.
The commonest low back pain that people experience however, is from Sacroiliitis. Sacroiliitis occurs when the sacro-iliac joints are strained or out of position, and it usually involves inflammation. Sacroiliitis usually occurs from poor posture and sitting too much.
Signs And Symptoms
The symptoms that you may experience with this condition will largely depend on the cause of your low back pain. Depending on the cause you could experience constant or recurring pain, and it can be sharp, dull, burning, or electric shock-like pain. Pins and needles are also common and you may find that you struggle with numbness or weakness in your legs.
Treatment
If you visit a chiropractor, there are often a range of treatment options. This includes mobilization. which is based on low-velocity manipulation. The joints and muscles are stretched to effectively increase and improve range of motion.
Spinal manipulation, may also be used. These are high-velocity treatments. Commonly, this can be referred to as a chiropractic adjustment. Adjustments can help improve functionality and decrease nerve irritability. As such, range of motion can be restored in the back. It is one of the most common forms of treatment that may be offered by a Doctor of Chiropractic.
In their governmental report titled THE EFFECTIVENESS AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF CHIROPRACTIC MANAGEMENT OF LOW BACK-PAIN, Pran Manga, Ph.D. et al recommended that: “On the evidence, particularly the most scientifically valid clinical studies, spinal manipulation applied by chiropractors is shown to be more effective than alternative treatments for Low Back Pain. Many medical therapies are of questionable validity or are clearly inadequate. There is no clinical or case-control study that demonstrates or even implies that chiropractic spinal manipulation is unsafe in the treatment of low-back pain. Some medical treatments are equally safe, but others are unsafe and generate iatrogenic complications for Low Back Pain patients. Our reading of the literature suggests that chiropractic manipulation is safer than medical management of low-back pain.”
Find Out More Now
If you are interested in learning more, make sure that you book a consultation with us today. We can help identify whether you are suffering from low back pain and provide the expert treatment that you require. With our help, issues with pain can be greatly reduced.