With an estimated figure of over 400,000 people in Ireland suffering from chronic Back pain this is obviously major and common complaint that people suffer from. With a further 250000 of these not seeking help for the condition and just carrying on this figure is bound to increase and cause people major discomfort and effect their lifestyle in the future.
It is our goal here at Acudublin to treat Back pain effectively using Specialist therapies to speed up recovery and to develop long lasting results. We encourage those who do suffer with back pain to seek help for the condition and help free themselves of back pain and regain activities from their lifestyle that were lost due to back pain stopping them enjoying life to it’s fullest.
Back pain has a wide variety of symptoms from a mild ache in the lower back in the mornings to the ” I can’t move as my back has completely locked up!” pain. As your back is made up of essentially lots of individual joints that come together to form your spine there are many areas we can experience pain in with differences of sensation and perceived severity.
For this reason this is just going to be an introduction to your spine and in later blogs I will go into a bit more detail with various areas and condition specific information.
WHAT ARE THE AREAS OF YOUR BACK OR SPINE?
In our view the Spine or back has 4 main areas and then an additional influencer of the cranium and it’s position effecting the the rest of the spine and back orientation.
The basic areas that make up the this extremely long multi-jointed structure are:
- Cervicale spine (1-7 vertebrae)
- Thoracic spine (1-12 vertebrae)
- Lumbar spine (1-5 vertebrae)
- Sacral/coccyx (1-5 fused vertebrae)
- Cranium and Jaw as very strong influencers
All these individual joints (vertebrae) stack up one on top of each other to produce an amazing structure cable of allowing us to have the grace and fluidity of a dancer or the power and strength of an Olympic Power lifter. This amazing dynamic range of the spine to allow these types varieties of performances from our body means that there is also an increased potential for injury and the ability to adapt to injury for our continued survival in every day life.
SELECTION OF BACK PAIN CONDITIONS:
- Lower back pain
- Sciatica
- Upper back pain
- Neck pain
- Sacro-iliac Joint Pain
- Herniated Disc
- Whiplash
- Poor Posture
- Subluxations
MOST COMMON CAUSES OF BACK PAIN:
- Lifting Heavy objects incorrectly
- Sudden Movements
- Road Traffic Accidents
- Sports Injuries
- Weight lifting with incorrect form
- Falls
- Poor Posture
- Structural Adaption
- Lack of muscular strength in back and abdominal muscles
- Clenching Teeth/Jaw
- Poor Diet
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Phone Usage
ADAPTION AS A KEY COMPONENT OF INJURY AND INJURY RESOLUTION!
The body has a wonderful ability to adapt to any given situation and with stresses on the body to continue moving. This ability is both a blessing and a hindrance as the Spine can adapt into new positions to allow us to keep going to compensate for injury but ironically this adaption can keep injuries there in the longer term or allow another injury to present.
The easiest way to think of this in relation to the spine/back is to imagine your spine as a see-saw. When you put weight on the left side the right side goes up and vice versa. Now in your minds eye if you put this seesaw vertical and substitute the word weight for injury you can see how this might effect your spine and in a different area.
This is how in a simple way your spine works and is called spinal dynamics, it is one of the major reasons that lower back or upper neck issues persist for years,Whiplash injuries are a perfect example of this type of adaption.Both ends of the spine and everything in-between needs to be evaluated and treated to effectively treat back pain for lasting results.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW TO HELP YOUR BACK PAIN?
Well the first and most obvious thing you can do is actually get treated for Back pain in the first place and avoid being 1 of the 250.000 plus people who don’t get any treatment.
Secondly making lifestyle changes that will benefit your particular case wether that’s actively reducing stresses in your life to seeking correct instruction how to do weight lifting training or just adjusting your seat at work so as you are not in a position that causes you Neck Pain!
Either way we would recommend that you give us a call Now rather than leaving it and let us help you get started!