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Here is an article our Chiropractor Jake has written on the issue of putting up with pain.
As the year is scarily coming towards its final few months, we often find ourselves working longer hours, getting the spring clean-out done or struggling to find a minute to spend on ourselves. I just wanted to remind you all to listen to your body and not normalise pain.
Throughout my years of treating people, I commonly see patients come in at the end of the year with complaints of back pain, in particularly low back pain. The biggest issue with majority of these people is not that they’re in pain, but that they have been in pain for months and done nothing about it. This means that the road back to recovery and a pain free life becomes more complicated and typically requires more time.
The first thing to understand about low back pain is that it doesn’t have to be severe sharp pain to mean something isn’t right. Quite often the first signs of something functionally going wrong with your lower back is a build of tension, stiffness and mild discomfort. It also doesn’t have to be directly in your lumbar spine, it could be all of a sudden your hamstrings or glutes are tight, or you start losing some mobility through your hips and torso. These can all indicate that your low back isn’t functioning properly and are signs of your body compensating to keep going during your busy life. Most of the time these small things build up as a result of the demands of day to day life. It is inevitable that we put our low back under strain, whether its constantly picking up the kids, sitting too long at work or a lifetime of labour intensive duties.
If this low back dysfunction is left for long enough, it may result in overuse injuries throughout the joints in your low back and end up being that intense spasm like pain we all associate with low back issues.
The good news is that if you address the issues early enough, the fix is often simple. Here at 4 Life Chiropractic we are equipped to perform an in depth functional assessment, followed by multiple treatment options tailored to the patients needs. It isn’t just ‘whack, crack and out you go’. Low back pain is often treated with a combination of:
- Soft tissue release
- Dry needling
- Joint mobilisations and adjustments
- Hip/pelvis biomechanical blocking
- Lumbar traction (using our new flexion distraction table)
- Activator Technique
- Rehabilitation exercises to strengthen and prevent further injury
I also regularly co-manage patients with the rest of the team here at 4 Life. Having access to Physiotherapy, Exercise Physiology, Remedial Massage and Podiatry under the one roof is rare to find. Meaning you have all avenues to recovery covered.
This article’s purpose isn’t to scare you if you get a tight muscle or feel some stiffness for a few days. You have lived your whole life in your body and know it’s ups and downs better than anyone. All I want you to take out of reading this is that pain is common, but shouldn’t be normal. So during the last hectic few months of the year if you start to notice some lingering issues, please give the clinic a call and let us help you.
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