Low back problems can be a real pain in your back; literally! According to the World Health Organization, it’s estimated that 60-70% of us will experience low back pain sometime in our lives⁽¹⁾. That means a lot of us know what it’s like not to feel our best. Low back pain can limit our daily activities, cause stress on ourselves and others, even decrease our sleep and energy. This means we’re not living life to the fullest. Not to mention it’s not pleasant to live with pain. Nobody should have to deal with it.

Pain is a mechanism to tell you things aren’t right. Clinically, low back pain has a couple main mechanisms to why it’s there. One of the most basic reasons someone would have pain is that the muscles are pulled tight on one side of the body compared to the other. The most common reason for this is the misaligned spine. This unbalancing and associated tightness may produce pain itself. Another mechanism is that the head isn’t on top of the body causing excess pressure on one side of the spine compared to the other. This pain is a way of your body telling you that you aren’t in the right position structurally. Once the head is off kilter and there is more pressure on one side compared to the other, damage may be done to the structures themselves. Abnormal pressure on the discs causes them them to degenerated and may bulge or herniate. Degenerated, bulged, or herniated discs cause pain or complications themselves which you may feel. The last main reason some may have low back pain is that the pelvis is sitting in a mechanically poor position and abnormal pressures to the structures cause pain.

So what can be done about the common causes of low back pain? Well the answer may be easier than you think. At some point in your life you may have experienced an accident or injury which causes damage to your spine and misaligns the first bone in your neck pulling on the nerves. This misalignment of the first bone and associated nerve pressure is called an Atlas Subluxation. This misalignment causes the muscles to tense up on one side of the body compared to the other, misaligning the entire spine. As muscles pull abnormally and the head shifts off of the pelvis putting excess pressure on the spine. The discs and bones start to react over long periods of time resulting in degeneration, bulging or herniation of the discs. And one hip is higher than another putting the pelvis in an improper position. A lot happened due to a single event! Pain can even occur decades after the initial injury due to these mechanisms.

At Connect 33 Chiropractic, we determine how the spine is misaligned and placing pressure on the nerves. We take a three dimensional x-ray to determine the way and amount of misalignment. We correct his problem using a gentle adjustment without any twisting or cracking. Once the pressure is taken off the nerves, the body immediately moves in to a more balanced position. The muscles will relax, the head will sit more properly over the body, pelvis will level out, and your symptoms should start to improve. Even better, all the above mechanisms can start to improve by removing the underlying problem. Meaning you can feel good now and prevent future pains by addressing the cause.

It’s not normal to wake up to a stretching routine just to get out of bed. Or experience symptoms that can be conservatively managed. So if you or a loved one have low back pain, call our office at 630-541-8553  to schedule an appointment to determine the cause of your problems.

References:

1. Duthey, B. (2013). Background Paper 6.24. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/priority_medicines/BP6_24LBP.pdf