The estimates are that 84% of adults experience low back pain at some point. They describe many of these occurrences as “self-limiting”, meaning that the pain goes away on its own. 

If you have experienced recurrent episodes of low back pain, even if they are months apart you need to pay attention if you want to avoid serious long term problems. 

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association 13% of adults have chronic low back pain with one third experiencing moderate to severe pain. It is possible to prevent this and if this describes you there is still a solution. 

The Typical Treatment for Low Back Pain

What do most of us do if we experience low back pain?

The immediate response for most is to take pain medication, usually something over the counter. Many will take an NSAID thinking it will reduce the inflammation. It does nothing of the sort. 

Even over-the-counter meds like Tylenol/Acetaminophen have significant risks. Tylenol can cause liver and kidney damage and is the leading cause of acute liver failure. Ibuprofen can cause stomach irritation, ulcers, heart attacks and strokes. 

And, the risks are even greater for prescription pain medications. 

If the pain is severe people will go to the ER or Urgent Care. Outside of taking x-rays to rule out a more serious disease process the treatment is about the same; pain medications, muscle relaxers, and maybe an ice pack. 

What Does Low Back Pain Mean?

While our typical response to low back pain is to do whatever we can to get rid of it as soon as possible, perhaps we should give some thought as to what is causing the problem. 

If we can identify the problem then perhaps we can correct that problem. And, if we correct the problem then we can correct the low back pain. 

Pain, muscle relaxers, and anti-inflammatory medications do nothing to address the problem. The problem is NOT the pain, muscle spasm or inflammation. Those are the effects of the problem. 

We need to ask “What is the problem?” if we want to solve the problem of low back pain.

As with any pain anywhere in the body there can be a wide range of problems causing the pain. Pain in the left arm can be caused by a heart attack but that isn’t the most likely cause.

The Cause of the VAST Majority of Low Back Pain

Estimates in medicine are that 97% of Back Pain is Mechanical. 

What does that mean? 

Mechanical refers to the joints and all the soft tissues around and in those joints – ligaments, joint capsules, muscles and tendons. 

Joints are meant to provide movement through a certain range of motion for each joint. If that motion gets restricted it causes a series of adaptations over time such as…

• Tightening of the tissues around the restricted joint
• Inflammation of the restricted joint
• Muscle spasm
• Other joints moving more to compensate for the restriction
• Inflammation of the compensatory joints
• Altered posture and movement in an attempt to take pressure off

Who is the Specialist in Mechanical Low Back Pain?

I’ll tell you who it isn’t. Primary care physicians, emergency physicians, internal medicine physicians, and most medical specialists know next to nothing about the biomechanics of the spine and pelvis. 

A recent study demonstrated that 79% of practicing physicians failed a basic musculoskeletal knowledge test. 

The only profession that spends their entire training learning about the proper function of the spine and pelvis is chiropractic. And, the only profession whose sole purpose is in restoring function to the spine. 

Choose your chiropractor wisely, as you should any health care professional. But, if approached correctly, corrective and balancing chiropractic care can help you solve your chronic lower back pain. 

3 Essential Pieces to Solving Low Back Pain

The vast majority of low back and all back pain is mechanical. If that is the problem then the only logical solution is to restore proper mechanics to the spine. Let’s explore the 3 essential pieces to doing that. 

Essential Piece #1: Balanced Foundation – your pelvis is the foundation of your spine. If it is not level then there will be problems due to compensations above the pelvis into the lumbar spine and below into the hips. If the pelvis is unlevel it will increase the stress on your body with every step you take. 

Essential Piece #2: Proper Joint Motion – joints exist to provide movement. As I stated earlier when joints stop moving properly it causes a chain reaction of nerve irritation, muscle spasm, and compensatory increased motion elsewhere. All of this results in pain though it can take months, years, even decades for the pain to emerge. 

Altered joint motion is also what creates the development of degenerative arthritis which is in itself another cause of back pain. 

Essential Piece #3: Posterior Chain Activity – what the heck is the posterior chain? The posterior chain refers to the series of muscles from the back of the legs through the hips and up the entire spine. These are the muscles that hold you up against gravity. When these muscles get deactivated or weakened it causes joint dysfunction and is a big contributor to back pain.

Activating the posterior chain is important after establishing balance and restoring joint motion. 

Since the vast majority of chronic low back pain is mechanical in origin it only makes sense to correct the mechanics as a strategy to solving the low back pain. There is no medication that can solve a mechanical problem. It is a physical problem requiring a physical solution. 

Ignoring the mechanics of the spine is known to result in the development of degenerative arthritis. This is why simply covering up recurrent back pain with medication will result in a progressive worsening over time. 

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