Why You Should See a Chiropractor for Your Back Pain

 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with chiropractic care, let’s start with the basics. Chiropractic care is:

 

• Safe, natural, and effective

• Holistic and non-invasive

• Drug-free

 

Chiropractic care is also whole-body care. It’s a way to help your body heal itself. And it can provide relief for dozens of conditions including headaches, sciatica, ear infections, asthma, and yes, even back pain.

 

How Does Chiropractic Care Work?

 

Under the right conditions, your body can, and wants to, heal itself. And those right conditions begin and end with the health of your spine, and more specifically, the alignment of your spine.

 

When your spine is out of alignment, this can put pressure on your nervous system. And as your nervous system controls every single organ and cell in your body, this pressure – which causes interference – can cause problems anywhere in your body. Which is how a seemingly unrelated condition like ADHD can be directly attributed to a spine that’s not properly aligned.

 

If this is your first time hearing this, it may sound pretty magical. And it is! (It means that restoring spinal alignment can have health benefits from head to toe.) But it’s also very scientific, with enough studies, research, and clinical trials to back it up.

 

So what exactly causes a spine to become misaligned. Well, we can blame much of it on the modern world. Besides physical trauma, the most common reasons include sitting too much, not getting enough proper movement, poor posture, and our generally hunched-over lifestyle – desk, computer, and phone.

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Fixing Your Back Pain

 

Research indicates that 80% of you will experience back pain at some point in your lives. And that when it comes to visits to the doctor’s office, back pain is second only to upper-respiratory infections.

 

Back pain can range from sharp and intense, to dull and simply uncomfortable. It may heal itself in a few days or weeks, or it can linger and turn chronic, affecting work, family, and turning every waking moment into a moment of pain.

 

When it comes to eliminating your back pain, there are many variables that go beyond spinal alignment, such as better nutrition, exercise, proper posture and movement, ergonomic workspaces, and even managing your stress and emotions in better ways. All areas that a good chiropractor is familiar with.

 

Chiropractic care is comprehensive care, because body parts cannot be isolated and treated individually. Everything in the human body is connected, playing a role in your total health, including your own mind.

 

But at its core, chiropractic care is about maintaining the health of both your musculoskeletal system, and your nervous system. And a healthy, and properly aligned spine, is the foundation for each. Which is why correcting any spinal misalignments will usually be a key component to fixing your back pain.

 

What’s the alternative to chiropractic care, you ask? The standard medical response to back pain will often include surgery and prescription drugs. It’s an approach that cannot be considered safe or natural. Nor can we call it holistic, non-invasive, or drug free. But can we at least call it effective?

 

According to a study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, patients with chronic lower-back pain that were treated by chiropractors showed greater improvement and satisfaction following treatment compared to patients treated by their family physicians.

 

Satisfaction scores were higher for the chiropractic patients, as a greater percentage of them (56% vs. 13% in the physician group) reported that their lower-back pain was much better. While nearly one-third of the medical patients reported that their lower-back pain was actually worse following treatment. And this is just one study of many.

 

If you’re experiencing:

 

• Pain that doesn’t go away

• Pain that gets worse

• Pain due to a trauma

• Weakness, numbness, or tingling in your legs

 

… you will probably benefit from chiropractic care.

 

The goal of your chiropractor is to help you restore and improve posture, alignment, mobility, and strength levels, which will reduce chronic pain, promote recovery, and return the body into a position in which it can heal itself. And it all begins with a thorough examination and proper diagnosis.

 

Getting to the root of your problem is key. There are a number of spinal adjustment techniques, therapeutic exercises, and manual therapies that a chiropractor can use, all designed to restore proper balance and alignment. And relieve your back pain symptoms.

 

However, what you may discover, is that not only is your back feeling better, but other areas and conditions are as well. Remember, it’s all connected.