“If I do almost anything, I’m afraid my back will go out”. This is the statement I heard the first time I met with Michael. It is also a statement I’ve heard many times in my 34 years of chiropractic practice. Michael was a 30-year-old married patient with two young children. In the past year he’d had five times when, playing with his kids or doing yard work, his lower back would suddenly seize up, causing extreme pain and terribly incapacitating him for the next two weeks. He had been to his PCP, orthopedic specialists and physical therapists but his back episodes were still occurring.
Fortunately, he was referred for chiropractic care by another older patient who had experienced the same problem many decades earlier and had been helped by chiropractic therapy. After performing an examination and x-rays of his lower back we were able to find that his problem was purely mechanical. He had significant misalignments and improper movement of the joints of his lower spinal and pelvic bones.
He agreed to a plan of care that led to getting relief of his lower back pain and strengthening so that he could engage in normal physical activity of someone his age. As we worked through a four-week process of chiropractic manipulations to correct misalignments and improper movement, electrical muscle stimulation and ice pack applications to relax the muscles and reduce inflammation he started to notice significantly less back pain. As he performed a simple morning exercise routine of stretching and strengthening he was able to take on more strenuous physical activities without fear of his “back going out.”
Once his spinal vertebrae and pelvis were aligned and moving properly and his exercise routine strengthened his back he came back occasionally to keep it that way. He called these visits his “chiropractic tune-up.”
Six months later he came back with wonderfully good news. He had spent a weekend using a jackhammer to break up his old asphalt driveway and wheelbarrowed away the debris in preparation for a company to come in and put in a whole new driveway. He said that he had a little muscular soreness but was able to complete the job without any major repercussions.
Chiropractic care been shown, scientifically, to be the best way to manage the majority of conditions related to pain of the back. In fact, studies show that almost 60% of those taking opioids do it for neck or lower back problems. If these spinal pain sufferers first tried utilizing chiropractic care, we can assuredly assume that we wouldn’t have opioid crisis we’re currently experiencing.
If one has pain or disability from a spinal condition it is highly recommended they seek chiropractic care immediately. The difference between relief or pain, normal function or disability. It might even be the difference between opioid addiction or freedom from dependency.