Ongoing issues with back pain can affect practically all facets of your life, from work to family and social time. If you suffer from back pain, then you’ve probably taken steps to not only understand your condition but also to figure out how best to manage it. This doesn’t always prove to be a simple task. As more research is done, we are finding out that medications and surgeries don’t necessarily provide the positive outcomes that they had originally been thought to. Some of the facts surrounding back pain might seem surprising:
- As many as 8 out of 10 people will experience back pain at some point during their life
- $50 billion a year or more is spent across the United States each year on back pain
- Low back pain is the most prevalent cause of disability worldwide
- Back pain and problems are more common in women than in men with nearly one-third of adult females suffering compared to 25% of men
- The majority (54%) of back pain sufferers spend the better part of their workday sitting
- Half of women will experience a significant complaint of back pain during pregnancy
Knowing these facts, it’s plain to see that solutions are needed in order to find effective, safe, and cost-effective ways to help people manage their back pain.
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Simple Tips for Back Pain Sufferers
- Maintain a healthy weight with a balanced diet
- Stay active and avoid prolonged sitting
- Choose comfortable, well-fitting footwear without too tall of a heel
- Sleep on a mattress of medium firmness to give proper support to your spine
- Use good lifting technique by lifting with your knees (not your back) and avoiding twisting while holding heavy objects
- Set up your workplace desk ergonomically to avoid poor posture
- Quit smoking to improve nutrient delivery to the discs and other important tissues of your spine
Even employing one or two of these tips and techniques might help you to find a little relief. Making small changes at a time to things that influence your daily routine (like eating a healthy meal or taking a short walk) can add up to a big difference in how your back feels.
Understanding the Roots of Back Pain
Back pain can vary greatly from person to person. It can vary in:
- Location – is your pain central or off to the left or right side? Is it your low or mid-back?
- Intensity – the range of discomfort can be from a small ache to a debilitating pain
- Frequency – the pain can be present all the time or it can come and go in cycles
- Quality – back pain can have many presentations including dull, throbbing, sharp, or achy
- Timing – some people’s back gives them the most grief in the morning when they first wake up. Others wake up feeling fine and their pain worsens as the day goes on
Chiropractors have always been known for their ability to help with back pain. However, there is a branch of chiropractic care called upper cervical chiropractic that narrows down the focus even further. On the surface it may not make much sense to visit a chiropractor that specializes in correcting misalignments at the very top of the neck when your lower back hurts, but when you understand how the spine works and is all connected it might be the key to finding lasting relief.
How are my Neck and the Rest of My Back Related?
Your spine is a complex network of bones, muscles, and ligaments. On top of that, your spine has the extremely important task of protecting your brainstem and spinal cord. The branches of nerves that come off the spinal cord are what give your body the ability to move, feel, and function. The uppermost bone in your spine is called the atlas and it is made to hold up the weight of your head. It is also the vertebra that has the greatest ability to move and it’s the reason why we can rotate our heads left and right, tilt from side to side, and look up and down. Because of this large range of motion, the atlas is also more vulnerable to misaligning since it doesn’t have interlocking joints or a disc.
When the atlas misaligns, it begins a domino effect of compensations. Since the weight of the head can’t be carried correctly on top of the atlas, the shoulders and hips will become off-level to make up for a tilt of the head. This creates abnormal muscle tension from one side to the other and can, over time, cause other spinal issues and disc degeneration. Because the whole spine becomes involved, it is possible that the pain you are experiencing in other areas of your back is actually stemming from a problem elsewhere.
When you come to Upper Cervical Chiropractic San Diego, we work with our patients to find the underlying cause of their condition. Rather than just adjusting where the pain is, we would rather get to the root of the problem and work to get that corrected. If the source of your mid- or low back pain is actually coming from an atlas misalignment, then upper cervical chiropractic care is the key to you finding lasting freedom from nagging back pain. Upper cervical adjustments are individualized for each of our patients, making them extremely precise, very gentle, and designed to hold in place for as long as possible. This is what allows us to accomplish great results without the need for costly invasive procedures.
References:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/back-pain/basics/definition/con-20020797
https://www.acatoday.org/Patients/Health-Wellness-Information/Back-Pain-Facts-and-Statistics
To schedule a consultation with Upper Cervical Chiropractic San Diego, call 858-434-5926 or just click the button below.
If you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
