Lower Back Pain – Identifying the Cause, NOT Treating the Symptom
Research shows that 80% of the population will experience lower back pain at some point in their life. Next to the common cold, it is the #1 cause of missed work days and has a huge economic impact in terms of treatments and lost work time. With it running so rampant, you may be wondering…what are my lower back pain treatment options?
Lower Back Pain Treatments
First we will mention the “patch treatments”. Cortisone shots, pain pills, therapies and others are popular short term treatments to reduce lower back pain. The underlying problem with these methods are that they only focus on symptom treating. While sometimes helpful initially, their effect is temporary because they are not helping correct the cause of your back pain.
At Keystone Chiropractic, our focus is on acheiving LASTING RESULTS. Structural orthogonal care uses gentle corrections to the neck (upper spine). You may be asking yourself “what does my neck have to do with the pain in my lower back?”. We will explain in more detail below.
Even though our focus is on the neck, 45% of our patients come into our office with lower back pain and/or sciatica. If you would like to speak with one of our doctors to learn more after reading about how Keystone may address the cause of chronic lower back pain, please call 561-247-0044 and setup a consultation.
* Disclaimer: There is no guarantee of specific results. Results can vary depending an individual’s unique health history.
Structural Chiropractic & Back Pain
A upper neck misalignment causes back pain for 2 specific reasons.
- Mechanical stress
- Neurological insult
Mechanical Stress: The upper cervical spine (neck) has thousands of nerve “sensors” responsible for maintaining the proper posture and alignment of the spine. These sensors are constantly monitoring your heads position and making the necessary changes throughout the lower spine to assure that the head remains upright. When the spine is aligned, it is extremely strong and stable. However, due to their mobility, the top vertebra is vulnerable to injury or misalignment. When a misalignment occurs at the top of the neck, the spine compensates or adapts in an attempt to protect the vital nervous system it houses. This triggers a chain reaction from the top to the bottom of the spine. When the head is thrown off balance, the lower spine is compromised; the pelvis is tilted or one leg may be drawn up or shortened. The result of this chain reaction causes an internal weakness that produces an imbalanced spine. When this happens the spinal muscles, bones and discs become more vulnerable to injury – “an accident waiting to happen”. If neglected, an upper cervical misalignment can lead to premature arthritis and irreversible spinal degeneration, disc herniations, and spinal stenosis.
Neurological insult: The upper cervical spine (neck) has thousands of nerve “sensors” responsible for maintaining the proper posture and alignment of the spine. When the spine has been shifted for years, the discs and bones may directly compress the nerves in the lower back causing spasm, tension, and pain. Additionally, the nerves at the top portion of the spinal cord may be stretched and irritated by the atlas shift complex. One of the reasons that people get such rapid changes after a few corrections to the neck, is because the neck was stretching the nerves in the spinal cord that trace down to the back.
