Why Is My Low Back Pain

Back Pain Recovery Taking So Long

 In my 35 years of chiropractic practice, I have learned that pain and pain management is a significant health problem in America. An estimated 50% of Americans suffer from chronic pain. Most chronic pain stems from spine, neck and back problems. This article will look at chronic spine pain, its causes, the most effective treatment, and the prognosis for recovery time. I recently had a patient in his 50s who had been suffering from back pain for several years. The condition gradually worsened. In the month or two before he visited me, the discomfort had gotten so bad that he had trouble walking for more than 10 to 15 minutes. He took over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs and used moist heat on his back, but these measures did not seem to help. He said he had several episodes of back pain throughout his life. When he was younger, medication and rest easily brought relief from the pain. But now that he was older, he wondered, "why is my back pain taking so long to recover from?" When I did the exam and took x-rays of his lower back, I was able to explain and show him why he had the intensity and duration of his current discomfort. His investigation revealed several pieces of information. He could not bend forward, backward or side to side at all. In addition, I could feel the swelling in his back area. The area was also warm to the touch. This indicated that he had inflammation in the area. We all know that when we burn our toe or sprain our ankle, the ankle's motion becomes limited and it becomes swollen and inflamed. This also happens with the neck and back. Inflammatory chemicals and fluids enter the injured area, and when touched with the fingers, it is swollen and warm, and movement is limited. His x-rays revealed some degree of bone-on-bone narrowing in the spinal disc space with small bone spurs. This is considered wear and tear arthritis. Medically, it is called degenerative joint disease or spinal spondylosis. This arthritis or degeneration is simply the result of a lifetime of accumulated injuries in a particular area. This underlying degenerative change will certainly affect how quickly or slowly the area heals. When my patient was younger and had no spinal wear, his back healed quickly. Now that he's accumulated a string of injuries and has spondylosis, it's obvious why his back is taking longer to heal. Fortunately, as he received chiropractic care, his discomfort began to diminish. He also found that he was able to walk for longer periods of time without back discomfort. His treatment consisted of using gentle, chiropractic spinal adjustments to correct the misalignment of the spinal bones in his back. It required several treatments of safe chiropractic adjustments to correct the problem as much as possible .I told him to remember that he no longer had the 25-year-old's back. He was also given some daily stretching and strengthening exercises to maintain his improvement. As he left on the last day of treatment, he said, "Doc, if my back starts to give me the slightest problem, I promise I won't wait that long. I'll get to your office right away."