I work hard to help all my clients get out of pain as quickly as possible and return to all the activities they love. But, if eliminating back pain is the goal, there is a really good chance you will not get the outcome you want. 

Why? Because pain is rarely the problem. It is the result or effect of a problem and if the focus is on the effect you rarely get the problem corrected. 

The opioid crisis is a perfect example. People were experiencing pain. Some were chronic pain with no clear solution but for many it was temporary pain following an injury or surgery. By prescribing powerful opioids to dull the pain they quickly became addicted with problems much worse than the pain. 

What Causes Back Pain?

With any health problem the first goal should be to identify the underlying cause. Without understanding what is causing the pain your doctor is shooting in the dark. This often results in prescribing medications and doing procedures that will only temporarily relieve the pain at best. And, it too often results in completely unnecessary procedures and surgeries. 

A story in USA Today reported that as many as 10-25% of surgeries are unnecessary and victims of unnecessary surgeries will suffer their entire lives.

We are talking about back pain here so let’s dive in. Determining the underlying cause will not only improve your chances of eliminating the pain but will also improve the chances of correcting the problem and avoiding future complications. 

What are the most likely causes of back pain? 

When I work with clients I view my job as helping them return to balance from a state of imbalance. The body is always striving for balance. We call physiological and biochemical balance homeostasis.

Your body seeks balance. Everything works better when you are in balance or return readily to balance. 

Imbalance is the Key!

What sort of imbalance causes back pain?

Your spine and pelvis comprises 27 bones with joints between them. They exist in an intimate relationship with the nervous system. The spinal cord runs down the canal in the spine and sends nerves out between every two bones. These nerves go everywhere in the body. 

Imbalances:

• All those joints from the base of your skull to your tailbone are intended to provide motion. When there is a loss of motion it causes a series of compensations.
• Other joints must pick up the slack for the joints that are not moving properly. Both the restricted and compensated joints can be sources of pain. However, we only want to address the restricted joints and leave the others alone. 
• Joint restrictions over time lead to joint degeneration or arthritis. This creates a permanent imbalance that is a source of pain.
• With joint imbalances your muscles have to work harder and some muscles try to compensate for the altered joint motion. These muscles get tight and spasm and can cause pain but the problem is not the muscles. 
• Nerve irritation results from joint imbalances and if it is the sensory part of the nerve the result is pain. 
• Unlevel Pelvis is one of the results of joint imbalances. When your pelvis is unlevel it puts uneven stress on your hips, pelvis, and lower back every step you take. Over time back pain develops. 

The Absolutely Right Goal

Before moving forward let’s consider the genius of the human body. It continually monitors all body functions, regulates those functions, and repairs and heals itself.

So, if you are experiencing chronic back pain it is a sign that something is interfering with your body’s ability to return to balance and heal. The best thing you can ever do to eliminate back pain or overcome any health challenge is to support your body in returning to balance. 

The absolutely right goal is to correct imbalances and return the body to a state of balance. Why is that the absolutely right goal?

The body works 24/7 to maintain balance and heal and repair. Chronic back pain is a sure sign of an imbalance that is preventing the body from restoring balance and healing.

How do we do that?

As the body becomes unbalanced it will do whatever it can to bring it back to balance. Over time these compensations actually become the source of much of the pain. The key is to help correct the primary imbalances and the compensations take care of themselves. 

The Pelvis is the foundation of your spine.

Regardless of whether you might be experiencing lower back or hip pain, mid back pain, or upper back and shoulder pain the most important area to bring back into balance is the pelvis. Much of the time this involves directly correcting movement to the pelvis. Sometimes the pelvis is actually a compensation and the real problem is elsewhere. 

The purpose of every joint in your spine and pelvis is to provide motion. When that motion gets restricted or lost it’s the beginning of imbalance and pain. Restoring proper movement to the entire spine is the next stage of returning the structure to balance. 

So the right goal is to restore control back to the body by helping return it to balance. Once back in balance it’s amazing how quickly the body will resolve even chronic pain. 

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