Introduction
Here at Kinney Chiropractic In Belmar, NJ, one of the most common conditions we treat is Lower Back Pain. Up to 80% of all people will suffer some sort of lower back pain at some point in their lives and is the #1 cause of disability in our country. Lower back pain is so common because half of your body weight rests on the bottom few vertebrae of your spine and most of our motion: walking, sitting, lifting, bending and exercise all rely on a stable, strong lower back spine.
There are 2 main types of lower back conditions that we see…Acute lower back pain and Chronic low back pain. The first, is when a patient develops pain suddenly, perhaps lifting or bending wrong, or a sports or auto accident and pain may last only a short time, maybe a few days to a few weeks. Chronic low back pain usually develops over time, and may be the result of a previous Acute low back pain injury that was never treated. Usually the pain worsens over time ranging from a few months to years.
Because Acute low back pain can develop into something more chronic, it’s so imperative to treat any low back pain quickly. There are 3 areas of the lower back that we address when someone comes in with low back pain.
First, we see how motion is in the joints. If the spine shifts out of alignment, it can become “locked or stuck” that way, reducing normal motion. This inevitably causes improper stress on the nerves that exit out at this area causing nerve irritation. In Chiropractic we call this a Subluxation (abnormal alignment, causing locked joints, pinching nerves). Subluxations are what chiropractors “Adjust”. Adjustments help get motion back in the spinal joints, help correct alignment and reduce nerve pinching and pressure.