Also known as Lumbago, low back pain can have many causes.
If you’re suffering with low back pain you are not alone
Around 80 percent of the population will suffer from this condition due to spinal misalignment sometime in their life.
Causes of bio-mechanical stress could come from a single violent episode or over time as a repetitive strain type injury.
Bio-mechanical breakdown of a joint can happen in almost any part of the body, but in the spine, we usually see it in the more mobile areas of the low back and in the mid cervical area.
When the spine is misaligned and not moving correctly through the joints, it causes stress on those joints, especially with movement. This leads to injury of the joint creating inflammation which can often be over an extended period of time.
The continuous cycle of tissue break down and the body’s attempt at repair, causes the joint to break down to a stage where the cartilage between the bones begin to distort and bulge. In the end, when the joint has broken down sufficiently, the body may try to fuse the joint. This is the process of osteoarthritis.
This process of break down and inflammation can be very painful.
Low back pain (a typical case)
In the initial stages of tissue damage and inflammation, the lower back doesn’t necessarily have severe symptoms.
The disc itself does not have nerve fibers for pain at its center. There are only pain-sensitive fibers on the outer 1/3 of the disc.
So, when the tissue damage starts at the center of the disc, the person will not necessarily know as there is no pain to warn of the damage.
What’s Really Happening?
Typically, the disc tends to distort and derange at the back of the disc. This is due to the way most people in our society bend through their low back. (Bending forward without bending through the hips and knees as in a squat).
The way we sit also causes increased pressure on the lumber discs. Modern human sits a lot. The flexed spine (bent forward) movement forces the nucleus inside the disc (its soft inside bit) backwards – like a donut being squashed in a press from the front. The donut’s soft middle bit would likely come out the back end of the disc.
It is the same principle with the disc itself, except it usually happens over time. The person would usually first notice a small twinge or stiffness after getting up from a chair. Or discomfort first thing upon getting up in the morning. These are usually the first warning signs of altered bio-mechanics causing damage. This usually happens when the disc damage or derangement starts to encroach on the area of the outer 1/3 of the disc.
These signs can come and go over an extended period and may even go away and then one day, the person has an acute episode usually in the form of stabbing pain and muscle spasm. If the disc bulges or rips into the outer 1/3 of the disc or beyond, the pain can be excruciating. It often occurs with some benign movement “ I reached for a pencil” . The person would describe a pain that took their breath away and that they couldn’t stand up straight. Some also complain of leg pain.
If the bulge in the disc is large enough to reach the nerve roots exciting the spine the person will experience sciatica.
Follow this link to see: How We treat Sciatica and Lower Back Pain at Scofield Chiropractic