Chronic back pain gets in the way of just about everything. Sitting, standing, walking, bending all become a challenge. And, it’s confusing about what to do. Go to your primary care and you get either pain medication and muscle relaxers or a referral to a physical therapist.
I’ve seen some people who’ve been to a chiropractor who’s repeated the same treatment visit after visit with only minimal improvement.
Johns Hopkins says that slow degeneration of the spinal joints is the most frequent cause of low back pain. The big problem with medicine is the treatments either cover up the pain or are so drastic like surgery that they don’t make sense.
Degenerative Spinal Arthritis
The degeneration of the spinal joints has one primary cause and that is structural imbalance that puts added stress on the joints and causes accelerated wear. It’s a little like putting tires on your car and not aligning the front end or balancing the wheels. Those tires are going to wear out fast.
When your structure is out of balance it causes uneven stress to the joints and the degenerative process is accelerated. The wearing out of the joints causes nerve irritation, muscle spasm, and pain.
The Domino Effect
Our spine and the lower back in particular bear a great deal of stress from sitting to driving, to repetitive movements. Our lifestyle causes a weakening of the support muscles which shifts the stress to the joints. This results in muscle spasm which jams the joints together causing arthritis.
This becomes a cycle that feeds on itself. The imbalance wears the joints causing nerve irritation which spasms muscles and the cycle continues, progressively worsening over time.
Solve the Puzzle of a Chronic Back
Chronic back pain is the result of a longstanding imbalance of the back that the body has been unable to bring into balance. This imbalance causes an irritation of the nervous system which in turn causes muscle spasm and pain leading to breakdown of the joints which further accelerates the process. Over time chronic back issues cause the body to further compensate in an effort to avoid pressure and pain. This alters how you sit, stand, walk, and move.
As I’ve emphasized, chronic back pain along with any other chronic condition is a sure sign that something is preventing the body from returning to a state of balance. The longer it goes on the greater the imbalance.
The more degeneration takes place in the spinal joints the more irreversible the condition becomes. Even with significant spinal arthritis relief can be had. It’s just unlikely that it will allow a return to all the activities you might want to do. But, what it will do is slow that degeneration down to a crawl.
The 4 Critical Actions to Solve the Chronic Back Puzzle
Chronic pain many years ago as a young man led me to chiropractic. I had been in a head on car collision and many months later found myself in constant pain. I had no idea what a chiropractor was back then but I’m forever grateful for the referral and the gift of helping others these past 4 decades.
I’m continually researching and refining my care so that it provides predictable, measurable, and consistent results. My goal is to help my clients greatly eliminate or greatly reduce their pain by correcting the underlying imbalances and allow them to return to the activities they enjoy.
Critical Action #1: Structural Balance. We want your structure to be balanced and level. Have someone help you here and put their hands on top of your pelvis on each side from behind. Most likely one side will be anywhere from ½” to over 2” higher than the other side.
This imbalance puts increased pressure on your joints standing or sitting but that added pressure is magnified everytime you walk. One of your pelvic or sacroiliac joints is probably not moving properly transferring stress to the other side and up your spine.
Imagine four strong men were carrying a heavy weight with each holding one of the corners. One of the men decides he really isn’t into heavy work and lets go. What happens? The other 3 men have to pick up more of the load. This is what happens to your spine and pelvis when joints stop moving properly.
The first action is to get balance at your pelvis and head to reduce added pressure and stress on the small joints of the spine.
Critical Action #2: Restore Joint Motion. Think this through with me. You have a total of 27 bones in your spine and pelvis and between every two bones is a joint. The purpose of joints is to provide movement. That movement allows you to do all the things you do. When you lose some or all of that movement it causes a chain reaction that…
- Causes inflammation and pain in the joints. This can take years to manifest as pain.
- Causes an imbalance in the supporting muscles in an attempt to compensate for the loss of mobility.
- Accelerates the wear and tear of spinal joints leading to degenerative arthritis, inflammation, and pain. This is a process that takes decades and is irreversible.
Regardless of the degree of joint arthritis the goal is to restore as much motion as possible to the joints of the spine and pelvis. Joint mobility alone has the effect of turning down the pain.
Critical Action #3: Stimulate Soft Tissue Healing. When joints get injured through trauma, repetitive movements, or even poor posture the soft tissues (muscles, ligaments, joint capsules, tendons) that surround the joints heal with scar tissue. Scar tissue is not healthy. It is weaker and less elastic than healthy soft tissue. So, even if we restore motion to the joints nothing changes much long term unless we can change the nature of the scar tissue that is restricting that motion.
Soft tissue healing is one of the keys to getting long term results and achieving as much correction of the problem as possible.
Critical Action #4: Activate the Muscles of the Posterior Chain. You’ve heard the adage “Use it or lose it”. This applies more to muscles than anything else. In addition to the stress and trauma that led to chronic back pain, the postures of modern life have the effect of inhibiting or turning down the activity of the key muscles of posture. These posterior chain muscles are the muscles that hold us up against gravity.
Observe older (and younger) people who are losing the fight against gravity. They are leaning forward as they stand or walk. It can look a little like they are falling forward. The posterior chain is a key link in restoring as much healthy movement, balance, and posture as possible.
I help my clients learn how to use the large muscles of the hips, pelvis, and legs to bend and lift while protecting the smaller joints of the spine.
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