Acute Back Pain
The simple movement of bending forward to pick something up, or to put something down and BANG – your back goes into spasm! You can’t move! “You have pinched a nerve” and you are frozen in excruciating pain!
Has this happened to you before?
The mechanism of injury usually involves forward flexion, with rotation and often carrying something as well. However, frequently people do this by simply coughing, sneezing or taking their socks off. You now find yourself hunched forward, leaning to one side and very slow in all your movements…and certainly you do not want anyone to touch you!
Often, the patient reluctantly consults the chiropractor, and usually only after a few days of self-medication that has failed - or perhaps some physio or massage, that offers minimal and only temporary benefits. They have been “warned” about a Chiropractor “cracking” something and even making it worse. However, in fact, these fears are unfounded!
In my experience, only about 25% of these cases actually have an active, acute disc bulge or herniation and it may or may not be encroaching on the nerve. The other 75% of these episodes are simply a protective muscle spasm and strain that has been intelligently activated by the brain - to in fact prevent injury from actually occurring.
The Chiropractic approach is applicable but different for both cases:
1) For the disc bulge or herniation :
The focus is to gently reduce the spinal compression, but as quickly as
possible, to prevent further damage and/or encroachment on the nerve. Thereafter, to create spinal stability to facilitate and give time for the disc to heal (usually 18months).
2) For the protective muscle spasm and strain:
The focus is to reset the biomechanics of the spine, in order to remind the brain that all is in order and aligned again, thereby requesting the release of the muscular response. This can be done in a few visits! Thereafter, it becomes imperative to teach the patient about their spine, in order to prevent further episodes and therefor further damage. Usually only a short-term approach is required, under these circumstances.
Sadly however, most patients do not learn from these incidences and episodes, which leads to further injury and damage down the line – please refer to my previous Blog [Layers of your Problem]. Interestingly, male patients are the worst! Men will usually only start to learn after 4 or 5 episodes of acute back pain, whilst women generally learn on the 1st or 2nd episode!
Live without pain. Aspire to more.
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