Back Pain

Back Pain is the number one cause of people seeking professional care, in the world. Back Pain is a very common condition that most people suffer from at least one time every year. Everyone knows someone who has a “bad back” and people will often complain about their back on long trips or when standing too long. Even athletes and professional runners have back pain issues or tightness. There are many causes of back pain and many people who can assist with back pain. For a holistic view of why you have back pain and what to do about it, call our offices and book in to see a Chiropractor.

If back pain gets severe it can cause pain referring down into the glutes, hamstring, calf, quadriceps or thigh. There are many nerves and discs in the back that can cause pain. Often muscles are associated with back pain because the body needs to adapt certain movement patterns to reduce pain or because of pain. The limping posture that people adopt when they have back pain is a typical example of the impact that pain has on the muscle system. When you see somebody leaning forward, it means the front of their hips (hip flexors) have tightened up and their glutes & stomach (or core) have become weak. Therefore, many people talk about the value of building core strength and glutes strength when it comes to the lower back. But only a small proportion of people understand why. Your lower back is designed to be a postural stable structure with small muscles going up both sides of your back.

This structure is not designed for heavy lifting or awkward twisting positions or even for sitting all day like some people do. If the back is in a position it is not designed for, then this can increase the likelihood of pain in your back and therefore the chances of referred pain into your legs or even up your back. The most common ways to feel back pain are: a dull ache, burning sensation, sharp pain in your back and even sharp pain that shoots down your leg or into your buttocks. Other less common pain types are numbness or tingling in your back or legs. If your back pain hasn’t been around for a long time, you do not know the cause or what to do about your back pain you should seek professional attention from a qualified professional, like a Chiropractor.

Our Chiropractors have a special interest in lower back pain and will look at you and your spine holistically to find out the cause of your back pain and find a resolution. We often assess people when they are walking to see if their walking pattern is incorrect. There is a large majority of people who have incorrect walking patterns which tighten up their back. While they are walking their back is not in pain because they have movement in it. But then the pain can start later like when sitting on the couch, sitting up in bed or sleeping or even working because the muscles have gotten sore from the abnormal way of moving your back.

The amount of time you have had back pain also matters. If you have had back pain recently it is a good idea to be assessed by somebody because- “we all know what you do at the time of your pain will have a big influence on what happens to your back in the long term”. If you have back pain that has been around for a few months and you have tried massage, heat packs and maybe stretching then it is a good idea to be assessed by a health professional. For those with long-lasting or severe back pain you need to talk to someone who understands back pain and who can either treat you or refer you to a specialist for further treatment. Sometimes people need injections into their lower back or surgery to remove the problem in their lower back and then rehabilitation to restore normal function so you can get on with your life.

Back pain impacts people in many ways. Common areas that people tell us their back pain is affecting them is their ability to get to sleep or stay asleep, their exercise program, their sport, work and ability to relax. In severe cases people have said that their back pain can cause them to have to stay in bed for one week because they cannot walk. Other people have had such bad back pain that their legs have stopped working momentarily meaning they cannot stand up. Whatever your back pain is stopping you from doing it is nice to know that there are qualified Chiropractors near you that can assist.

There are five main causes of lower back pain to consider. Your local Croydon Chiropractors will always have in mind the worst-case scenario first, and always want to rule out the worst-case scenario before considering less severe causes. The most severe cause of back pain would be cancerous growth. This kind of back pain is often bad and does not stop with rest or change much with pain medication. This type of back pain will be unresponsive to treatment and requires a specialist to assess the level of seriousness. If this kind of back pain is affecting you, you need to get it assessed as soon as possible so that treatment can begin without the problem getting worse. Another severe form of back pain can be infection, this kind of pain cannot be helped by a Chiropractor, but a Chiropractor will be able to assess you and send you for imaging and proper treatment. There is a condition of the sacrum where inflammation is caused in the lower part of your back by a bacterial infection and antibiotics are required to clear the infection.

The most common cause of back pain is called “non-specific lower back pain”. This means that there is no MRI imaging that can explain where the source of your back pain is coming from. When this is the case usually it means that people have a functional problem with the way they move and the strength of their muscles, or they have a joint that is restricted or compressed and needs release. Our Chiropractors help every day with issues like these. When you have a mechanical cause of pain in your back this means that there is something that can be seen on an image that shows why the person has pain. This could be something like nerve root compression or disc bulges in the lower back that cause pain in the lower back and often refer to pain down the back of the leg. There are also cases where the bones in the lower back can move forward to varying degrees of incorrect alignment. It is important to assess these areas and determine if the structure in your lower back is stable.

Wear and tear or degeneration of your lower back is also a cause of pain. Sometimes wear and tear of the bones in your lower back or the discs in your lower back can cause structures to become inflamed or impacted by other structures. For example, if a disc in your lower back dries or wears out then the bones become closer together and there is no spacing in between the bones. This means the bones become closer to the nerves and close the gap (intervertebral space) where the nerve exits from the bones. This can result in the bones impacting the nerve or inflammation in the area annoying the nerve as well.

Since nerves are the main source of information for pain in your lower back this is very important and can cause a lot of people pain. Degeneration in your lower back can cause progressively bad pain as you age, and the wear and tear can get worse. Often nutritional advice, exercise and manual therapy by a Chiropractor can be used to help reduce the likelihood of pain in your lower back if you have wear and tear. Our Chiropractors are trained to assess and diagnose causes of lower back pain, if you suspect that you have age related wear and tear of your lower back, or you have suffered a car accident in the past and your back has never been the same since, then our Croydon Chiropractors can assist.

There are also inflammatory causes of lower back pain that are uncontrollable. Some people are unlucky in that extra bone grows in their lower back which causes reduced movement of the lower back, and this can cause pain or stiffness. This can be unavoidable and often people will require surgery or pain medication to deal with these issues.
The most common ways we hear that people are impacted by their lower back pain is from exercise, sleep, daily activities and work. When you have lower back pain it causes your muscles in your pelvis and your core to weaken. The pain causes these problems and is the main thing you need to get rid of before you start trying to permanently strengthen your pelvis or core.