Chiropractic treatment for Back Pain

What causes back pain? Back pain can be caused by many different problems. Some people experience mild backache, whereas others can be in excruciating, severe pain. Mild backache may be caused by postural problems and poor habits such as sitting incorrectly and lack of exercise/core strength. More severe back pain is likely to be related to disc and nerve irritation. Chiropractors are highly trained in detecting the root cause of your back. Our Chiropractors are trained to form a diagnosis for the cause of your back pain then provide effective treatment to help relieve the pain.

Muscle tightness/weakness

Due to our sedentary lifestyles, many of us develop tight hamstrings and weak abdominal muscles leading to an imbalance in posture, and causing lower back ache. Chiropractors are able to perform treatment to help stretch the tight muscles. Our Chiropractors also takes additional time to perform deep tissue massage and acupuncture to relieve tightness in the muscles. Chiropractors then assist people with rehabilitation programmes to provide exercises for strengthening the weak muscles. Our Chirporactors like to take their time to show their patients exercises that will help get them feel better quicker.

Joint Tightness (Facet Syndrome)

Your spine is made up of vertebra, that are joined by joints called facet joints. These joints, over time can stiffen and tighten up. People may experience this as a dull, achy sensation that eases with gentle exercises. Perhaps sitting too long increases your pain? This is likely to be Facet Syndrome. The joints may also tighten quickly as a result of trauma or injury. More often, this is a stronger pain, and it may be associated with muscle spasm. Perhaps your back is “locking” and you’re finding it difficult to move? The joints are very close to the nerves and when the joint tightens, it may become inflamed and irritate the nerves. This might even lead to leg pain, which people know as “Sciatica”. Both conditions are very uncomfortable, and chiropractors can help to ease the pain by using gentle spinal manipulation to release the joints and allow the spine to move more easily. Spinal manipulation is sometimes referred to as an adjustment. As the joints release during the adjustment, they sometimes make a clicking or popping sound. This is simply gas releasing from the joints rather than bones crunching! People often get a huge sense of relief when they hear the “pop”. The adjustment is a skilled movement, that does not hurt. Dr Soonius also uses a device called an Activator to help release the joints. The Activator provides a low force thrust to move the joint into better alignment. It is very specific and gentle enough to use on babies.

Lumbar Disc Prolapse

Between the vertebra in the spine there is a disc (intervertebral disc), that consists of an inner nucleus and an outer annular fibre. The outer third of the annulus fibrosis is well supplied with nerve endings and is therefore thought to be a great cause of back pain if there is tearing of the fibres (this is called Disc Disruption). The inner nucleus can bulge or completely prolapse, which can either cause inflammation around the adjacent nerve or complete compression of the nerve root. Both are very painful, and can lead to severe low back pain that may radiate into the leg. Chiropractic treatment can help with lumbar disc problems, as chiropractors are able to open the space around the bulging disc, to take the pressure off the nerve and allow the disc to heal. This condition is very painful, so as well as doing hands on treatment, chiropractors give advice on painkillers, using cold packs to decrease inflammation and exercise advice. Sometimes patients need referral for an MRI. Soonius Chiropractic can refer patients for private MRI if necessary.