How To Relieve Lower Back Pain
Can A Chiropractor Help With Lower Back Pain?
Low back pain
How to diagnose lower back pain
Most movements and actions you do start from your back. When you pick up that coffee cup, your back braces and stabilizes so you can reach out with your arm and lift the cup. If there is anything wrong with your lower back or if you have low back pain, then your back is not able to properly stabilize, making it difficult for you to do even simple things.
LOWER BACK PAIN CAUSES:
Bending And Twisting
Sitting Still For Too Long
Workplace Or Car Accidents
What Are The Symptoms Of Lower Back Pain
You can sprain the joints in your lower back just like your ankle. The muscles in your lower back can get strained much like your leg muscles. You can injure the discs and irritate or pinch the nerves that come out of your spine. This can cause leg or arm tingling, numbness or pain.
Acute versus chronic
Acute back pain means pain that is recent and has been there for less than 3 weeks
Chronic back pain refers to pain that you have had for longer than 3 months
Left or right
Generally, there is little difference between lower back pain on your left side and lower back pain on your right side. Sometimes it depends on which hand is your dominant hand. Other times it may be related to your posture and movement patterns.
Back pain can be feel different for each patient. When you have lower back pain, your back may feel:
- Achey
- Numb
- Painful
- Sore
- Stiff
- Throbbing
- Tight
- Tingling
- Weak
Start Feeling Better Now
Take control of your life back by getting relief of your lower back pain. You can call us and contact any of your North Burnaby chiropractors or physiotherapists.
They can help you decide on the best low back pain stretches and find out how to relieve lower back pain to get your life back.
What Causes Lower Back Pain
There can be many different reasons you are having low back pain or lumbago. Here are some of the more common injuries:
1. Low back muscle strain
When you overload your muscles and tendons, this can lead straining your lower back. This can happen either over a long period of time due to repetitive movements, or suddenly such as falling or lifting improperly. As your muscles and tendons get overworked, this leads to inflammation and tearing of those tissues causing soreness and pain. With a strained back, you might find it hard to bend over, pick things up from the floor or to put on your socks.
Tight hamstrings
Patients sometimes ask do tight hamstrings cause lower back pain. While tight hamstrings typically do not lead directly to back pain, they can contribute to it. With less flexibility in your hamstrings, your back may now be forced to stretch more than it can when you bend over increasing your chances of straining your back.
Slouching
Can slouching cause lower back pain? Just as with tight hamstrings, slouching does not usually automatically result in back pain. However, if your lifestyle includes slouching for long periods, this can lead to more stress being put on the structures in your lower back such as your muscles and discs.
2. Back sprain
Similar to a low back strain, a sprain typically relates more to the joints in your back such as your facet joints. Much like a strain, a low back sprain can also happen due to overuse or poor lifting mechanics. Your facet joints help guide and direct the movement of your spine. When you sprain your back, you may have trouble standing up straight, getting up from sitting or trouble walking
3. Herniated disc
Your discs are the soft, squishy structures that are sandwiched between each vertebrae. They help your spine absorb movement and shock. Injuring your disc can happen in many ways. These include poor posture especially when lifting, degeneration in your spine as well as overload over time
When you injure your disc, symptoms can show up differently depending on how your disc is injured:
- Sometimes you will have trouble sitting and bending
- other times you may have more trouble walking and straightening up
- Often, a disc problem will also result in symptoms into your legs such as numbness and tingling
When people think of discs, a common phrase is a “slipped disc”. Your disc does not actually slip out of place. Instead, it can break down or tear open and leak
4. Pinched nerve
All of your body’s nerves exit from your spine and travel to all the different parts of your body. This includes your lower back and your legs. There are several different ways your nerves can get pinched. For example:
- If you sprain or strain your back and there is enough inflammation, this extra fluid can put pressure on those nerves
- Another way is if you injure your disc and the disc bulges out. Either the disc bulge or related inflammation can again irritate your nerves
- If you have degeneration or arthritis in your lower back, this wearing down of joints and discs can also lead to your nerves being irritated or pinched
When you get a pinched nerve sciatica nerve pain, you may feel numbness, pain or burning down one or both of your legs. If it is severe, you may also have trouble with your bowel or bladder organ functions which would need surgery to correct
How Common Is Lower Back Pain?
Can lower back pain cause abdominal pain
When you have back pain, you may sometimes also notice pain in your abdomen. Some reasons for abdominal pain with back pain include:
- Appendicitis
- Bloating
- Cancer
- IBS
- Kidney dysfunction
While not always serious, sometimes those pains could be clues to something else going on which should be looked at by your healthcare provider.
How to diagnose lower back pain
Most lower back pain diagnosis can be done through a detailed consultation and thorough examination with your chiropractor. Sometimes, further testing is required to gather more information and these can include:
- CT
- MRI
- Ultrasound
- Xray
What Does A Chiropractor Do For Lower Back Pain
Low back pain and injury can affect your whole day. It can limit your ability to play sports, to work, even make it uncomfortable to sit. Fortunately, quite often you can get lower back pain relief with your chiropractor. A low back pain examination is usually the first step in finding out what the problem is, especially with chronic back pain.
Depending on the cause and type of injury, low back pain treatment can involve:
- Manual therapy or Joint adjustments: Your physiotherapists and chiropractors at Cedar North Burnaby Heights can help you improve the mechanics of you injured spine or joints. How the adjustment is made depends on what injuries you have as well as what additional training your practitioner has received
- Exercise rehab: Stretches for lower back pain to help with stiff areas, as well as other chiropractic lower back pain exercises to strengthen weak areas. Correct any muscle imbalances and prevent relapses
- Ice, Heat: What is better for lower back pain -heat or cold? Both actually have their uses. Ice can be used to relieve painful inflammation, while heat can help with stiffness
- Mattress: The best mattress for back pain really depends on your favourite sleeping position. Your chiropractor can guide you on the best sleeping positions for lower back pain. Generally, if you are a side sleeper, you may find a softer mattress more comfortable. For back sleepers, a harder mattress tends to be better. Sleeping on your stomach is rarely recommended
- Nutrition: Supplements can provide some back pain relief
- Other back pain remedies include posture and ergonomic advice
- Results will of course vary from person to person
How long lower back pain lasts depends on many things. How complicated your injury is, how long you have had it, how you got injured and your overall physical health can all impact your recovery:
- Generally, simply, acute back pain can often resolve within a few weeks
- Moderate conditions can take a few months
- Complicated, chronic back pain can take 6 months or more
Check out these tips on how to sit with lower back pain
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does my chiropractor do for lower back pain?
When should I see my chiropractor for lower back pain?
Can I see my chiro for sciatica nerve pain?
Start Feeling Better Now
Take control of your life back by getting relief of your lower back pain. You can call us and contact any of your North Burnaby chiropractors or physiotherapists.
They will help you figure out what is the best treatment for lower back pain, such as how to sleep with lower back pain.