Back Injuries

The statement that back injuries tend to be difficult to cure can be a myth in many cases.

A back disorder may develop over a period of time or a patient may actually have a sudden onset of back pain. There may be one specific incident or known injury such as a fall, motor vehicle accident, direct trauma, or the back injury may be the cumulative result of one or all of the following:


Poor posture
Improper body mechanics
Stressful living situations and poor working habits
Limited flexibility and decreased strength .

Poor posture is one of the leading causes of back pain. You can help prevent or even help cure a back disorder by trying to improve your postural awareness and by making changes in your activities of daily living.

Listed below are some useful tips to remember:

Correct sitting and standing postures are one and the same; head and shoulders erect and balanced, stand up straight and look straight ahead.
Do not sit or stand for long periods of time (take periodic rest breaks and change positions as needed).
Always position yourself close to your work and work at a comfortable height.
Always practice good posture and proper body mechanics.
Faulty Body Mechanicsfaulty body mechanics involves improper lifting techniques.
One must maintain proper posture and keep objects close to the body.

One must use the strong muscles of the lower extremities to perform the lift instead of bending at the waist and using the lower back.

Do not twist while lifting and obtain assistance if needed.

Stressful Living Conditions and Poor Work Habits, this may aggravate the symptoms of back pain and may even create a flare-up of pain following periods of increased tension.

Utilising stress management is an important tool to help improve emotional factors in one's life.
Most individuals will cope better by understanding the nature of their injury and taking the appropriate steps necessary to eliminate back pain and provide for a healthy back.

Exercising aerobically 3 to 5 times weekly and maintaining good strength and flexibility are the keys to having a strong and healthy back. Generally, people in poor physical condition tend to be more vulnerable to back injuries than those who maintain a high level of physical fitness.

One of the most important components of good health is to maintain a daily exercise program.

Conclusion:
Back problems can be prevented most of the time. It is certainly easier to prevent a back injury by taking the appropriate measures. Patient education is one of the most effective tools in preventing back injuries. Patients can be taught to understand what their back problems are, how to prevent them and what to do if they occur.

Self-responsibility and a desire to have a healthy back is the first step to success!

www.backtrouble.co.uk

Is Exercising Safe for Those with Back Pain?

Many people with back pain don't know whether it is safe to do exercises or if exercises will worsen their condition. It all depends on the cause of the back pain.

Exercising is beneficial for various conditions causing back pain, even osteoarthritis of the spine.

Always check with your GP or Chiropractic Doctor as to which exercises are appropriate for you to do.

When back pain is caused by an injury, maintaining day-to-day activities is usually recommended.

BED REST FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS ONLY: Muscles go into spasms at the site of an acute injury (triggered by inflammation). Muscle spasms restrict movement to protect the body from further injury.

Muscle spasms may cause intense pain. For the first couple of days after an acute back injury, lying on a firm surface may be helpful in relieving muscle spasms and pain.

After a couple of days, bed rest is counterproductive. Prolonged bed rest weakens the back and delays healing.

For the majority of people experiencing back pain from an injury, maintaining normal activity speeds up recovery. Maintaining normal activity is better than either bed rest or getting into an exercise program too quickly.

In the case of an acute back injury, back exercises (except for gentle stretching exercises) are best started after the majority of back pain has resolved. It is important to maintain day-to-day activities, as bed rest will not speed up recovery and prolonged bed rest causes wasting of the muscles. Weakened muscles make recovery more difficult.

If you are suffering from severe back pain caused by an acute injury, a couple days of bed rest may be necessary until inflammation and muscle spasms have subsided, but get up and get moving as soon as possible.

Increase activity slowly. Try to get up and walk around the house a little. Do a little more every day.
The muscles that support the back are activated during almost any activity - even while simply sitting or standing the core muscles support the weight of the body - so maintaining daily activities will maintain the muscles that support the back.

Walking and swimming are low impact activities that can be started before the back pain has totally resolved, as recommended by your physician. Stay away from high impact activities until you have completely recovered from a back injury.

Start with gentle stretching exercises only. Stretching exercises for the back increase circulation to the muscles to speed healing, relieve tight muscles and back pain, and help increase mobility. A warm shower or bath before exercising will loosen up tight muscles and ease pain, making the exercises easier to do.

Save the strengthening exercises until your back pain has gone or as recommended by your GP or Physical Therapist. Until back pain is gone (usually two weeks to two months for back muscle strain), avoid exercises that put pressure on the lower back, such as leg lifts done in a face down position.

You don't want to restrain injured muscles and cause a flare up of back pain. If you are unsure as to what exercises are safe, a Chiropractic Doctor can create a personalised exercise program for you to follow.

*Warm water exercises are particularly beneficial. Warm water increases circulation, speeds healing, relaxes tense muscles, and eases pain, which makes the exercises easier to perform. Many public swimming pools offer warm-water exercise classes.



When you have recovered from your back injury, begin strengthening exercises that target your core muscles. Strong back, abdominal, and buttocks muscles support the spine, take stress off the joints of the spine, are vital to good posture, and will reduce the chance of recurring back pain. Do strengthening exercises regularly to maintain strong muscles.

It’s a well proven fact that strengthening the muscles that support the back can prevent back pain from recurring.

Effective Treatments

Chiropractic is now firmly established as a primary health-care profession in the United Kingdom.

The profession has earned recognition for its remarkable effectiveness and its focus on natural, drug-free, non-invasive methods of treatment. This section summarises the effectiveness of chiropractic for some of the conditions that Back Trouble UK practitioners treat.

General Lower-Back Pain

Because we focus predominately on Back pain, approximately 75% of our patients come to us with a chief complaint of low-back/pelvic pain or discomfort. This pain can be brought on by an accident, overuse, repetitive stress, emotional stress, or just everyday living.

Several studies have been conducted to determine the efficacy of spinal manipulation as a treatment for lower-back pain in general. One of these involved three chiropractic colleges in California, where researchers reported that "the trend for spinal manipulation to produce better results than any form of treatment to which it was compared was consistent and strong." For 86% of the outcomes, spinal manipulation was more effective than any other treatment rendered for lower-back pain.

Additional studies conducted both in Europe and the United States yielded similar results, where patients reportedly recovered at a more rapid rate, had fewer relapses, and gained a new sense of confidence in their movement.

More investigations have been conducted on the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment for two sub-categories of lower-back pain: acute and chronic.

Acute Lower-Back Pain

A report published in 1994 by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research on acute low-back pain concluded that spinal adjustment is one of the most effective treatments for this condition. In another study published in 1994 by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre and the Jefferson County (Missouri) Rehabilitation Centre, it was concluded that greater and more rapid improvement occurred when treated using exercises and spinal adjustment for acute low-back pain.

A third study conducted by the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and the University of Vermont was published in 1992. These researchers reported that spinal adjustment, when compared to other methods of treatment for acute lower-back pain (massage, corset, and TMS), proved to be a "superior," more effective treatment after three weeks of care.

Chronic Lower-Back Pain

In 1997, the Dutch Health Insurance Board funded an investigation that summarised the results of 48 separate studies on the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment for chronic lower-back pain. The investigation determined that spinal adjustment is more effective than treatments suggested by general practitioners (bed rest, analgesics, and massage).

Two similar studies conducted in Canada in 1985 (University Hospital in Saskatoon) and 1991 (University of Calgary), plus a third study conducted in Poland in 1986 (Silesian Medical School), produced results similar to the Dutch investigation.

Neck Pain

Approximately 19% of our patients come to us with complaints of neck pain or discomfort. This pain can be caused by a variety of factors, such as an accident, injury, overuse, etc. The most common neck condition we address is whiplash.

The efficacy of chiropractic for neck pain has been well documented in numerous studies conducted in the UK, Netherlands, United States and Canada.

Head Pain

Headaches, both tension and migraine, are the chief complaint for approximately 13% of our patients. Before you reach for your pain-reliever of choice the next time a headache or migraine sneaks up on you, consider the following information on the efficacy of chiropractic care for head pain.

In a 1995 study conducted in Minnesota, the effectiveness of spinal adjustment relative to the administration of an antidepressant drug (amitriptyline) for patients with chronic tension-type headaches was investigated. The researchers included doctors of chiropractic, a doctor of medicine, and another professionals from North-western College of Chiropractic and the Pain Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre, Ltd. They determined that, after four weeks of treatment, patients receiving spinal adjustment therapy experienced a continued lack of symptoms, whereas patients taking the medication returned to original, baseline conditions.

Another study, published in 1997 by doctors of medicine and doctors of chiropractic at the University of Odense and the Nordic Institute of Chiropractic and Clinical Biomechanics in Denmark, compared spinal adjustment and soft tissue therapy for the treatment of benign, chronic headaches. They found that both methods of therapy allowed for significant improvement, and there were no side effects or signs of worsening associated with either method.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)

With a large percentage of the population using keyboards either at work or at home, CTS is becoming increasingly common. CTS is a condition where there is a disturbance of nerve function in the wrist. Because it is a neurological issue, Chiropractic practitioners are treating more and more patients of all ages suffering from this condition.

One study, published in 1998 and conducted by researchers from the North-western College of Chiropractic in Minnesota, compared chiropractic treatment of CTS to conservative medical treatment. The chiropractic treatment included manipulation, ultrasound treatment, and wrist supports, while the medical group received an anti-inflammatory drug (ibuprofen) and wore wrist supports. They found that both methods of treatment proved to be equally effective and recommended that patients with CTS who are sensitive to medical side effects pursue chiropractic for treatment.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterised by chronic pain in the muscles and soft tissues surrounding joints, fatigue, and tenderness at specific sites in the body. While the cause is unknown, an estimated 1.5 million people are affected in the UK.

Because our practitioners offer a conservative, hands-on approach to health care, some patients suffering from fibromyalgia are supplementing their medical care with chiropractic care.
In 1997, a study was conducted by three Canadian chiropractors on the effectiveness of chiropractic care for patients with fibromyalgia. They reported significant improvement in flexibility and reduction of pain levels and recommended that this type of treatment be included along with medical treatments for this condition.

Infantile Colic

Is a condition that occurs in early infancy and is characterised by episodes of loud crying, apparent abdominal pain, and irritability. Unfortunately, it is a common condition that affects approximately 10% of babies in the UK and lasts from about 2-3 weeks of age until 3-4 months.

While the causes of colic are not always known or understood, parents of children exhibiting symptoms of colic are seeking help from chiropractors because of its effectiveness in reducing the severity of the symptoms.

One study that documents the efficacy of chiropractic for treating infantile colic was conducted in 1989 by a doctor of medicine and doctors of chiropractic at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic in Great Britain. Researchers reported that 94% of infants with colic appeared to be helped by spinal manipulation within 14 days of the start of treatment. The babies tended to have both fewer episodes of crying and shorter crying spells.

Another study, this one conducted in 1999 in Denmark, investigated two infant groups: one that was treated with spinal manipulation, and another that was treated with an over-the-counter antacid medication (dimethicone). After two weeks, the group treated with spinal manipulation exhibited a 67% drop in daily hours of crying, while the dimethicone group experienced a 38% drop.

In summary

The above-referenced studies indicate chiropractic is effective for head, neck, and back pain, as well as carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and infantile colic. It is important to note that the conditions discussed in this section are not the only conditions chiropractors treat— this has simply been a sampling of studies that have been conducted to determine the efficacy of chiropractic. The scope of chiropractic practice extends well beyond the above conditions, and we will help you determine if chiropractic care will be an effective means of treating your particular condition.

www.backtrouble.co.uk

Back Facts

Back pain has reached epidemic proportions in the U.K.

According to the Arthritis Foundation back pain is one of the most common health problems in all developed countries.

It affects 50-80 percent of adults at some time in their lives, and 10 percent of all UK residents will have back pain in a given year. It can occur at any age, in both men and women. We spend more than £10 billion on both private and NHS treatments each year - not including time we miss from work or the emotional costs from the intrusion into our lives.

It can range from mildly uncomfortable, to excruciating, or anywhere in between. Back pain can start slowly, sometimes as a result of poor posture, or come on suddenly because of injury.

Most times, the Arthritis Foundation says, it's caused by irritation of the joints, pressure on ligaments and muscles from diseased or injured disks, or from bony spurs on the spinal joints, or vertebra. Pressure on nerve roots can also lead to back and leg pain, they warn. Even non-joint ailments can result in back pain, such as problems of the prostate, kidneys, reproductive organs or intestinal diseases.

Back Trouble UK Chiropractic practitioners don't offer 'miracle cures' or 'magic potions'. They know that often, your back pain didn't appear overnight - and they caution patients that recovery from it probably won't happen after only one or two treatments.

Our practitioners use a systematic approach to treat their patients' symptoms, based on deep-level knowledge of the mechanisms of the body, and of the emotional ties of pain to body dysfunction.

Learn more on How We Work With You, matching our treatments to your specific needs, providing you with the most successful Back Pain management and relief programme.