4 out of 5 people experience low back pain at some point throughout their lives. It is a common and often debilitating concern. Due to the complex structure of the spine, its spinal discs, and surrounding muscles, ligaments and joints, back pain often stems from imbalances between these integral parts. This pain may be non-specific and caused by one of several lifestyle factors or by a specific condition affecting the back.
Through chiropractic adjustments, chiropractors help bring the body back into alignment to correct these imbalances and alleviate back pain.
Lifestyle Factors That Can Cause Back Pain
Activities that may add additional strain to our spine and supporting muscles or cause us to alter our body’s alignment in unnatural ways can all negatively influence our spinal health. Back pain resulting from these factors is known as ‘non-specific low back pain’.
Some of the most common lifestyle factors that may cause non-specific low back pain include:
- Poor Posture: Poor posture while sitting, standing or lifting can cause loads to spread on the spine incorrectly, increasing strain on muscles and ligaments in the back.
- Lack of Physical Activity: A sedentary lifestyle may cause stiffness in the back and reduced flexibility. Additionally, it can lead to a weakening of the muscles that support the spine.
- Excess Weight: Excess weight from being overweight or obese can put extra strain on the spine and its supporting structures.
- Smoking: Smoking may damage blood vessels, interfere with the healing of bones, skin and other body tissue, and reduce blood flow.
- Non-Ergonomic Furniture: Furniture or Workplace setups that do not support proper posture or body alignment can contribute to poor posture and increased discomfort.
- Uncomfortable Clothing & Accessories: Items such as high heels or ill-fitting backpacks can affect an individual’s posture, leading to increased pressure on the lower back, which may result in hip, knee and lower back pain.
- Stress: One of the body’s many responses to stress is tensing its muscles. When combined with chronic stress, the muscles may not have the chance to relax, which may lead to back, neck and shoulder pain.
- Unsupportive Sleeping Habits: An unsupportive mattress or pillow may lead to sleeping in an uncomfortable position, which may cause neck and back pain.
As part of a detailed treatment plan, chiropractic adjustments can assist in relieving the non-specific back pain that may result from the above factors. Chiropractors may also advise on how to reduce the recurrence of this pain.
Conditions Related To Back Pain
Back pain may also relate to physical conditions affecting the back or spine. Chiropractors commonly treat back pain-related conditions, including:
- Bulging Discs: Bulging discs are when at least a quarter of the circumference of the hard outer cartilage of one of the discs between the vertebrate in your spine bulges out from between the vertebrate.
- Herniated Discs: Also known as a slipped or ruptured disc, a herniated disc refers to when the soft cartilage within a disc protrudes out of a crack in the harder outer layer.
- Muscle Spasms: Involuntary muscle contractions can occur in any muscle in the body, but the back muscles are one of the more common groups for these cramps.
- Pinched Nerves: A pinched nerve occurs when surrounding tissue applies excessive pressure to a nerve, resulting in pain, tingling, numbness or weakness.
- Postural Problems: Misalignments in the spine, such as an excessively curved upper or lower back, affect how pressure is dispersed throughout the back.
- Sciatica: Pressure on the sciatic nerve may cause pain, numbness or tingling that radiates down the nerve from the lower back down the back of one or both of your legs.
- Scoliosis: Abnormal lateral or sideways curvature of the spine. In most cases, there is no identifiable cause of scoliosis, but it may also occur due to congenital, neuromuscular or degenerative difficulties.
Many of the conditions above relate to imbalances in pressure within a patient’s musculoskeletal system, which chiropractors can assist in alleviating through detailed treatment advice and spinal adjustments.
How Chiropractic Adjustments Help
By manipulating the spine through chiropractic adjustments, chiropractors correct misalignments of the spine to address many of the root causes of back pain. These spinal adjustments assist in relieving the imbalances in pressure within a patient’s musculoskeletal system that can cause many of the conditions above.
By bringing the body and spine back into alignment, these chiropractic adjustments help reduce muscle tension and inflammation, relieving cramps and the pressure causing nerve pain relative to a specific pinched nerve or sciatica.
As part of a detailed treatment plan, chiropractors combine these adjustments with advice on ergonomics, exercise and lifestyle changes to help patients maintain these improvements in their back health.
If you’re experiencing back pain, contact the team at Karrinyup Wellness Centre for a no-obligation, free spine & posture assessment from one of our holistic chiropractors.
