It is amazing how back pain can reduce your quality of life.  Your work suffers, your family suffers, your outlook on life suffers.  Back pain, especially low back pain, is one of the leading contributors to missed workdays and the second neurological ailment in the United States, right behind headaches.

We Americans spend billions of dollars on treatments and medications to reduce our suffering, but most are ineffective in their relief or cost us valuable time and money that we really can’t afford to lose.  So, you may ask yourself what can be done to eliminate this scourge from our lives forever?  Before that question is answered, a look into why low back pain presents itself is in order.

Our back is made up of numerous muscles, bones, and ligaments and stretches from our pelvis to our necks.  It is the lifeline to all structures and limbs of our body.  The lumbar region of the back, aka the lower back, is where all the weight for the upper body rests on.

These vertebrate have a lot of stress and strain, especially if your job is physically demanding or quite sedentary where your body weight distributes itself to the lumbar region upon sitting for long periods of time.  The muscles begin to strain and may feel sore or even spasm.  This type of lower back pain is generally acute and will tend to go away within a few days.  Rest and ice/heat therapy is recommended, along with stretching and/or strengthening exercises.

On the other hand, chronic back pain, that which lasts for three months or longer and tends to get progressively worse, can be due to herniated or bulging discs that could be pressing on a nerve in the spinal column.  This type of pain usually will not go away on its own and needs special attention from a certified doctor of chiropractic.

Chiropractic doctors receive extensive training in the health and welfare of the spine.  They know each vertebrate by heart and the symptoms and signs of when someone is needlessly suffering from pain.  Chiropractors use techniques that are non-invasive meaning no needles, no cutting, and no downtime.  They are also able to reduce and relieve lower back pain within a few visits.

Chiropractors manipulate the vertebrate in order to create space between them for the injured disc to be reinserted back into its pocket and thus reducing the pressure on the nerves that it was touching.  Spinal manipulation is painless and can be done quickly.  Most people can go to their appointment during their lunch hour and go back to work feeling immediately better.

To prevent future injuries and pain to the lower back, your chiropractor will more than likely suggest massage to keep the muscles loose and prevent them from pulling the vertebrate out of alignment again.  It may require successive future visits to retrain the back to stay in alignment, and even progressive rehabilitation therapy to strengthen and stretch your back to keep it in tip-top condition and preventing future injuries.

So now that you are armed with back knowledge, you can better treat your back pain and rest assured that surgery or other invasive treatments should be a last resort.  If you are interested in learning more about back pain and how to treat it using chiropractic care, you should find a HealthSource Chiropractic and Progressive Rehabilitation specialist near you.