Are you suffering from persistent back pain and seeking effective relief? At Wigmore Chiropractic Care in Gillingham, we specialise in back pain treatment that targets the root cause of your discomfort. Our experienced chiropractors use a variety of manual therapies to provide lasting relief and improve your overall mobility. Our clinic provides a safe and comfortable environment where each patient receives personalised care.
We also offer treatments for migraine headaches and arthritic pain, helping you manage chronic conditions effectively. Don't let pain hold you back any longer. Contact Wigmore Chiropractic Care now to schedule your appointment and take the first step toward a pain-free life.
A Guide To Back Pain
The first time you get an episode of back pain, it can be frightening. Many people don’t realise how much they use their backs until they have pain and can’t do many of the things they take for granted.
Activities that are commonly affected by back pain (although it does depend on what type of back pain you have) are:
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Bending
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Leaning forward
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Lifting and carrying
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Walking
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Standing still for too long
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Getting up from the sitting or lying down position
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Putting shoes or socks on
Back pain can be located on one or both sides of the back, not just on the spine. It can be in the lower back where it may be associated with pain radiating into the buttocks or even the legs. The back pain can also be in between the shoulder blades, and may radiated along the ribs into the side or even the front of the chest.
Back pain often starts suddenly, and gets better quickly without needing treatment. But once you’ve had an episode of back pain, you are more likely to get another episode, even though it may take several years to get another one.
One of the reasons back pain is so uncomfortable is that the tissues and structures of your back are susceptible to pain as it’s an important protector of your nervous system.
The pain may come on suddenly and start with an incident of bending or lifting awkwardly, or it may come on more gradually and be the result of poor posture at work or at home, or a repetitive strain type of injury.
If the pain doesn’t ease off after a couple of days, or it starts to worsen, it’s a good idea to seek professional advice. Early treatment can help you get better more quickly.
A Bit About Your Spine
Your spine is a strong, solid part of your body. It is made of vertebrae which are stacked on top of each other and held together by soft cushions called disc, which act like shock absorbers. At the back of the vertebrae are small joints on either side that create stability and allow for movement of the spine.
The whole spine is held together by strong ligaments which are surrounded by powerful muscles for support. Altogether, this results in your spine being a strong structure that is not easily damaged.
Simple Back Pain
Simple, or mechanical, back pain is when there is no serious underlying condition associated with the pain you are experiencing. This is the most common type of back pain.
This is good news, because it means that the back can repair and heal itself. The nerves aren’t compressed or trapped. Oftentimes, there are multiple tissues involved, muscles, ligaments and joints.
Simple back pain may be caused by poor posture, sitting for a long time in an uncomfortable position, repetitive movements, emotional or work-related stress. Worry or stress can cause tension in the back, or delay the recovery of simple back pain. However, many times there’s no clear reason why back pain develops.
As you get older, there may be wear and tear changes in your spine that cause the shock-absorbing discs between your vertebrae to narrow and get stiffer. Generally, wear and tear just causes stiffness and tightness, but when you get an episode of back pain it can flare up into simple back pain.
Although back pain can be very painful and debilitating, most often there is no serious underlying reason for the pain. Your chiropractor can diagnose the condition of your back and spine, treat back conditions, or identify whether you need a referral for specialist investigations or scans.
Back pain can be very painful because your body responds by protecting you with a strong inflammatory response and lots of muscle spasm. This forces you to take it easy for a while. Although you may be tempted to rest a lot to allow your back to get better, it is actually more helpful to keep moving within your pain free range of movement.
Your back is designed to move, so the quicker you go back to normal activity, the quicker you start to feel better. People who stay active despite their back pain, often recover better.
If you’re finding it hard to cope or want to speed up your recovery, chiropractic can help with that.
Sciatic Pain
Sciatica literally means leg pain. The leg pain may come from your lower back, even if you don’t feel any back pain. But, the leg pain can also come from different sources.
Often, when you have sciatic type pain, you may be bent over in a banana shape and have trouble putting weight on the leg that’s been affected.
A lot of the same activities will be affected as with simple lower back pain, although if you’ve simple lower back pain in the past, you may notice some differences in how sciatic pain is affecting you.
The pain can seem much worse due to inflammation and muscle spasms, and sometimes the nerve pain can ease quite a bit by just reducing these.
How The Consultation Works
In order to make sure that you receive the correct diagnosis and treatment, when you see the chiropractor, they will take a full history of your problem as well as some general medical history. Then, the chiropractor will examine your back before telling you what they found and what they can do, and what you can expect from the treatment.
This is necessary in order to be able to treat your condition the right way. Sometimes, it’s necessary to refer for x-rays or MRI scans, or even blood tests.
Chiropractic Treatment
Chiropractors are known for doing manual treatments like spinal manipulation to move stiff or restricted joints. There are different ways of achieving spinal manipulation and it may be that the chiropractor feels that with your condition, you would benefit best from different techniques than the ones you’ve experienced or seen before.
Other ways the chiropractor loosens up stiff or restricted joints is by using mobilisation. To address muscle spasm or tightness, there are various muscle release techniques, and you may be given stretches to do at home, or strengthening exercises to re-balance the muscles in your body.
The chiropractor may also give you advice on how you can use your lifestyle to help recovery and prevent future episodes of back pain. If you are in a lot of pain, the chiropractor may send you to your GP for prescribed pain medication to help the recovery process.
Chiropractors support a skilled approach for your individual situation and will write to your GP if they feel chiropractic either can’t help with your problem, or chiropractic alone isn’t enough to help with your problem.
Overall, chiropractic can help you stay mobile and more active, and reduce the risk of future episodes of back pain.