Upper & Lower Back Pain Treatment

Chiropractic Health and Wellness Clinic provides highly-effective, natural treatment for upper and lower back pain – a problem that can wreak havoc with the sufferer’s life.

We operate on the principle of making quality lower back pain relief affordable for as many people as possible. And we achieve this goal by:

• Applying appropriate and the most effective chiropractic treatments to bring about a fast recovery and avoid overly prolonged sessions and its associated extra costs to the patient.
• Keeping the practice small to reduce overheads.

Back pain causes

In most cases, back pain is felt when spinal bones, muscles, ligaments, and discs fail to work together properly.

Upper and middle back pain

Upper and middle back pain can occur anywhere from the base of your rib cage to the bottom of your neck.

Pains in the thoracic spine area are a common problem that can afflict anyone, regardless of age, but are more prevalent among people 35 to 55.

Common middle back and upper back pain causes are:

• Muscle injury or strain
• Bad posture
• A herniated disc
• A vertebra fracture
• Myofascial pain in the connective tissue muscles
• Osteoarthritis, when cartilage breaks down
• Osteoporosis, when bone becomes brittle

Lower back pain

Lower back pain is the most common cause of disability in the world, blighting the lives of 10% of the population. And it’s most prevalent among people aged 30 to 50.

Lower back pain caused by injury can become a chronic condition if not treated early to limit symptoms and identify the underlying cause. And a chronic lower back issue can seriously impair your quality of life for weeks, months, or even years.

Causes of lower back pain include damage to the discs between the vertebrae of the spine, incorrect movement of spinal joints, compression of nerve roots, and lumbar spine pain.

The most frequent cause of lower back pain, however, is a pulled or torn muscle and/or ligament. A muscle strain or ligament sprain can either occur suddenly or develop over time through repetitive movements.

Strains happen when a muscle is stretched excessively and tears, while sprains occur when this over-stretching affects the ligaments that connect bones. The acute pain from strains and sprains can be severe.

Common causes of sprains and strains include:

• Lifting a heavy object.
• A fall or other sudden movement that puts stress on the low back.
• Poor posture.
• Sports injuries.

Symptoms of back pain

Signs of upper and middle back problems include:

• A burning, sharp, or dull pain at a single point or over a wider area.
• The pain may come and go or be constant.
• Stiffness or tightness of muscles.
• Increased discomfort with certain activities.

Lower back pain symptoms include:

• A dull, aching pain. This low back (or axial) pain may be accompanied by restricted mobility, muscle spasms that are mild to severe, and aching in the hips.
• Sharp pain that spreads to other parts of the body. Sometimes low back pain includes a stinging sensation that spreads to the buttocks, legs, and feet. This is known as sciatica – aggravation of the sciatic nerve, typically felt on just one side of the body.
• Pain that becomes worse with prolonged sitting. Sitting applies pressure to the discs in the lower back, and the resulting pain will worsen the longer you remain seated. Walking and stretching may ease this pain.
• Pain that’s worse on waking but improves after moving about. Many people report that their lower back pain is worse first thing in the morning but gets better as they begin to move around. This pain is a result of stiffness and decreased blood flow.
• Pain that eases with a change in position of the body. Depending on the underlying cause of lower back pain, some positions will be more comfortable than others.

Ignoring back pain can result in the development of more serious problems such as numbness in other parts of your body, loss of bladder or bowel control, and weakness in the legs or arms.

Natural treatments for your back pain

Middle back and upper back pain treatments

They include:

• Stress relief. Anxiety and/or depression can make back pain seem worse. Techniques to reduce stress include meditation, cognitive-behavioural therapy, and deep breathing and relaxation exercises.
• Nutritious diet. Foods containing vitamin D and calcium may help to prevent osteoporosis, which can cause compression fractures in the back.
• Quitting smoking. Smoking impairs blood flow and slows healing.
• Chiropractic therapies. Chiropractic is the choice of sore back treatment for many people because it concentrates on the link between the spine and the nervous system.

Lower back pain treatments

Many traditional lower back pain treatment options involve pain relief with drugs, but without physical therapy, they won’t address the root of the problem. Many people with low back pain report effective relief through alternative treatments.

Natural, non-drug remedies for lower back pain treatment include:

• Acupuncture
• Meditation
• Manual manipulation
• Massage therapy
• Chiropractic

Effectual back pain relief chiropractic techniques

Dr David Liew can ease back pain symptoms with several back-alignment chiropractic techniques, and they include:

Direct thrust

Also called spinal manipulation, this treatment entails applying direct pressure of the hand onto the affected area with a short, swift movement to encourage correct alignment of the vertebrae.

The direct thrust technique is probably the most well-known chiropractic adjustment for back pain. The level of manipulation depends on the amount of pressure the individual patient needs to ease pain and support general health.

Direct thrust often causes a popping noise, caused by the release of gas that’s become trapped in the nerves.

When this chiropractic method for back pain is used in conjunction with a block or table, it’s often referred to as diversified adjustment.

Drop-piece technique

This is basically the diversified technique but when a back-pain clinic uses a table with sections called drop pieces. These sections can be raised slightly so when the thrust is applied, the table will descend a fraction of an inch.

The goal of the back-pain doctor is to open the joint during the adjustment, with the drop-piece mechanism helping the thrust while minimising the force needed.

Activator method

This therapy involves the use of a hand-held activator adjusting device to apply gentle pressure to the spine. The spring-loaded instrument delivers a quick, low-force impulse to improve the function of the targeted spinal joint or vertebra.

The instrument is so quick that the muscles are less likely to tense and resist the treatment.

The force is also localised so it doesn’t cause excessive bending movement of a joint.

Spinal manipulation

Spinal manipulation can be used to target issues in the lumbar area that may result in back pain.

The lower spine is adjusted with either the direct thrust technique or a gentler adjustment known as spinal mobilisation, often used in cases such as osteoporosis.

Such chiropractic lumbar spine adjustment is also effective for acute lower back pain relief and chronic lower back pain treatment.

Chiropractic treatment for back muscle spasms

Identifying back muscle spasms

Muscle spasms in the back are often caused by rhomboid muscle strain. These muscles in the upper back connect the shoulder blades to the spine.

Rhomboid muscle spasms can be caused by:

• Excessive use of the shoulder or arm.
• Damage to ligaments, muscles, and discs that support the spine.
• Pressure on spinal nerves.
• A vertebra fracture.

Other causes of back muscle spasms are:

• Muscle fatigue
• Dehydration
• Vitamin or mineral deficiency
• Malfunctioning nerves

When you get a muscle spasm in the back, you may experience symptoms such as:

• Extreme discomfort.
• Extreme tightness in the contracted, cramped muscle.
• Muscle weakness.
• A burning sensation.

Natural remedies for back muscle spasms include:

• Cold treatment, such as an ice pack.
• Exercise by walking, which can speed the healing process.
• Chiropractic therapy.

Treating back muscle spasms

If you get frequent muscle spasms in your back, it’s probably an indication of an underlying problem that needs to be fixed.

Back-pain relief chiropractic adjustments can help to align your body so pressure is taken off soft tissue and nerves. This reduces the signals your brain is receiving that cause involuntary muscle contractions in the back.

Chiropractic can be most effective to remedy back muscle spasms when it’s combined by a back problems chiropractor with therapeutic massage.

For severe back pain relief and lumbar back pain treatment, chiropractic massage therapy manipulates the soft tissues – muscles, ligaments, and tendons – to improve blood circulation, which encourages muscles to relax. It involves the manual application of light, moderate, or deep pressure to ease muscle pain while increasing flexibility.

Further, therapeutic massage works well as a lower back strain treatment.