An estimated 80% of people will experience some type of back pain during their lives. Back pain has become the leading cause of disability in the United States. Therefore, unfortunately, the odds are that you’ll experience back pain of some type and degree at some time in your life. Those statistics are concerning for everyone. Treatment by a chiropractor for back pain is often the right solution.
At Advanced Health Chiropractic, we examine the root causes of back pain and treat those with the best non-invasive solutions for pain relief and correction to help avoid recurrences.
What Causes Back Pain?
There are many, many causes of back pain, from injuries to spinal misalignment, to seemingly countless health conditions. The back is a spectacularly complex physical structure that performs too many simultaneous functions to count throughout each day.
The spine facilitates the rest of the body’s functioning, from enabling all movement to provide the body’s structural support and balance, to protecting the spinal cord, nerve roots, and various internal organs.
There is a phenomenal network of cooperating components, including other bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments, any of which can become affected in one of many ways, causing pain. The pain may be temporary or chronic. Just a very few examples include:
- Severe physical trauma, such as from a sports injury, an auto accident, or a fall can cause minor to extreme back pain.
- Even seemingly harmless repetitive stress can cause serious damage. It can happen in such subtle cumulative ways that people often cannot pinpoint any specific occurrence that caused the pain to start.
- Obesity, stress, arthritis, and other physical and psychological conditions can lead to unhealthy sedentary habits that quite effectively promote pain.
Most Common Causes of Back Pain
So, there are multitudinous possible causes of back pain. Some are very common causes due to everyday activities. Some are rare. Here are some of the most frequently reported causes of lower back pain we treat, as back pain chiropractors at Advanced Health Chiropractic.
Disc Bulges or Herniation
Some data suggests that well over a third of all U.S. Americans have a herniation or bulging disk. The good news is that the majority of people with those conditions don’t experience the associated pain. But, some do suffer severe pain from a bulging disk.
When a disc is affecting a nerve, it can cause pain and muscle weakness in the legs. If the gel-like substance in the disc begins bulging out, it can damage physical structures around it, which can be very hard to correct.
Fortunately, a chiropractor for lower back pain can provide treatment that can help prevent the worsening of the condition and provide effective pain relief.
Muscular Sprains and Tendon or Ligament Strains
Many people who are overdoing athletic activities or physical work are overworking their body structures, which frequently causes damage. These habits often lead to muscle strains and even sprains of one or another muscle anywhere in the body.
But, the back is incomparably vulnerable because it is involved in virtually all body movement and it bears such a burden as the centralized zone of upper and lower body limbs and other parts stretching, lifting, twisting, and performing conflicting combinations of these movements.
Straining muscles, tendons, and ligaments in this region happens very frequently, unsurprisingly, and can be excruciatingly painful.
Subluxations
A frequently undiagnosed contributor to back pain is the occurrence of disruption of regular movement. In such instances, subluxations can affect any area along the spine. There are many potential causes of subluxations, from physical trauma to stress.
Mental stress can cause various physical effects, such as stomach ulcers and it can lead to physical changes that can result in the misalignment of vertebrae.
Stress and Back Pain
When people are under extreme and prolonged stress, an array of stress hormones are released as the body’s solution for adapting to the sense of threat to our wellbeing.
Some of the body’s sacrifices to redirect its health resources to coping with stress include impacting the immune system, raising blood pressure, raising the heart rate, losing muscle mass, and losing bone density, among other serious health effects.
If the response is prolonged, the high-stress level can promote the development of digestive disorders, heart issues, obesity, depression, and back pain. All the physical tension from the stress hormones leads to muscle contraction that causes pain trigger points to activate, which can produce extreme pain.
What Does a Chiropractor Do for Lower Back Pain?
A noninvasive approach to the above conditions is recommended first, and studies show chiropractic care is an effective treatment for these and other common causes of back pain. Chiropractic treatment generally involves making gentle adjustments of the body to relieve pain, improve spinal alignment, and help enable pain-free movement of the joints or spine.
Our clinic is fully equipped to provide comprehensive treatment of all the above and other causes of painful lower back conditions. If you need a chiropractor for upper back pain, the Advanced Health Chiropractic health center offers the full scope of treatment options. Chiropractic treatment has shown to be effective for many back pain issues and is generally recognized as a safer first option than surgery.
Advanced Health Chiropractic for Non-Invasive Back Pain Treatment in Troy, MI
Disk herniation and muscle strains and sprains typically respond well to chiropractic care. Dr. Lisa Bell & Dr. Jamie Bell are well experienced in the correction of those issues as well as subluxations, and they have treated stress-related back pain with a high rate of success.
If you have been suffering from back pain and want to schedule an assessment, call Advanced Health Chiropractic at (248) 813-0500, or contact us here on our website.
