Back Pain
Back pain is a common ailment that affects people of all ages and walks of life. The team at Progressive Chiropractic Berwick provide various treatments to bring relief, reduce pain, and bring back movement and freedom.
What is Back Pain?
Many of our patients at Progressive Chiropractic Berwick present with back pain. Back pain is pain that is experienced anywhere along the spine from the base of the neck to the buttocks and in some cases it can be felt in one or both legs. It can present as sharp, dull or as pins and needles or numbness. Back pain can lead to reduced mobility and a restriction of daily activities including bending, lifting, sitting or walking. It can also result in tenderness when pressure is applied to the joints of the spine. When nerve compression is involved, often a reduction of reflexes, strength and/or sensation in the legs can occur.
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Spine anatomy
The back is a complex structure that provides support for the skull, ribcage, arms, pelvis, and legs. It consists of the spine, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia.
The spine is made up of 33 bones called vertebrae which are stacked together to form a loose ‘S’-shaped column. Each vertebra is separated by an intervertebral disc which acts as a shock absorber and allows the spine to move flexibly. Vertebrae are also joined by pairs of small facet joints which allow each vertebrae to move relative to each other. These vertebrae, discs and joints are held together by a mesh of connective tissue and ligaments.
Common causes of back pain
Back pain can arise from injury to any of the supporting muscles, ligaments and joints of the back and may be caused by:
- repetitive or heavy lifting
- sudden awkward movements
- sedentary lifestyle
- poor posture
- being overweight or obese
- stress leading to muscle tension
Other health conditions linked to back pain
Other health conditions that may also be linked to back pain:
- arthritis – osteoarthritis and ankyloses spondylitis
- sciatica
- spinal stenosis
- osteoporosis
- myofascial tightness
- spinal misalignment
- joint sprain
- pelvic dysfunction
- pregnancy-related factors
- disc bulge
- scoliosis
- postural abnormality
- muscle imbalance
- physical injury
How can chiropractic help with back pain?
Chiropractic treatment can provide relief for acute and chronic back pain symptoms for our patients in Berwick. These treatment techniques can include:
- Flexion distraction (Cox Technic): a machine-generated spinal decompression therapy aimed at reducing pressure in the intervertebral disc and on the spinal nerves and increasing joint motion
- Spinal manipulation (adjustment): gentle adjustment of restricted joints to reduce pain and improve overall joint alignment, flexibility and movement
- Joint mobilisation: a gentle technique used to improve joint range of motion to help reduce pain
- Exercises: individually prescribed postural and core exercises can assist with correcting muscular dysfunction contributing to back pain
Do you need help with Back Pain?
Research on chiropractic treatment of back pain
Chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy is particularly beneficial for chronic and severe back pain cases. Meade, T. W (1990). Low back pain of mechanical origin: a randomised comparison of Chiropractic and hospital outpatient treatment. BMJ, 300. 1431
People who seek Chiropractic care as opposed to those who seek care with their family general practitioner are three times more likely to report higher satisfaction levels following management. Cherkin, D.C (1989). Patient evaluations of low back pain care from family physicians and Chiropractors. Western Journal of Medicine, 150(3); 351 – 355
A combination of Chiropractic manipulative therapy and traditional medical care is more beneficial as opposed to traditional medical are only for lower back pain. Goetz, C. (2013). Adding Chiropractic manipulative therapy to standard medical care for patients with acute lower back pain: Results of a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness study. Spine, 38(8); 627 – 634
Research link: A randomized clinical trial land subgroup analysis to compare flexion-distraction with active exercise for chronic low back pain
Research link: Chiropractic Management of Postsurgical Lumbar Spine Pain: A Retrospective Study of 32 Cases
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