Back Pain Treatment Tips From Petaluma Chiropractor, Dr. Battaglino
What causes lower back pain, and how can chiropractic help fix it?
The bones, joints and discs of the spine can get out of place in a variety of ways, and when they do, they put pressure on the adjacent pairs of nerves where they exit the spine, which may or may not cause pain. These nerves (called “spinal nerves”) have fibers that carry a variety of information from the brain to the body and back, but they don’t just carry pain signals. In fact, only about 10% of the nerve fibers found in the spinal nerves are “pain nerves”. The other 90% run the internal organs and systems, as well as reflexes, muscle control, and non-pain sensations. Any pressure on these nerves due to malposition will reduce the body’s ability to regulate, maintain and heal itself, much like a garden hose that has a kink in it.
Pain is no fun, but pain is not the problem.
Pain is merely a signal from your body that there’s an injury, or that something isn’t functioning correctly. Most of the time, your body can heal itself, given rest, a healthy diet, water, and time. However,the intervertebral discs (the shock absorbers of the spine) are usually the first structures to get injured, and when they do, they usually require help from a chiropractor to rehabilitate them and to restore them to their proper position so that they can heal. As healing progresses, the swelling of the discs and joints reduces, the muscle spasm (the body’s attempt to splint and immobilize the injury) goes away, and the pain and/or other symptoms go away.