Tips for Better Spine Health

Do you often find yourself with a sore or hurting back? Back pain—especially lower back pain—is one of the most common areas for chronic pain. Lower back pain is so common, in fact, that it is one of the leading reasons for missed work and one of the main causes of disability. How you sit, if you exercise, and how you move throughout the day can determine if you will have back pain or not. Follow these simple tips for posture, lifting, working and more to better your spine health today!

How Chronic Is Back Pain?

When you think of chronic problems people face, you probably don’t think of back pain as being one of them—unless you suffer from it. Back pain is one of the most common forms of chronic pain. Your back is a marvelous construction that combines bones, muscles, nerves, ligaments, tendons and many other types of tissues in one complete system. Your back holds up the rest of your body and all your limbs stem from your torso, where your spine and back are located. With so much pressure on the back and spine to help keep the rest of your body healthy, it’s no wonder that so many people get back pain from time-to-time!

• Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide according to the American Chiropractic Association.
• Lower back pain in the lumbar spine is the most common spine pain.
• As much as 80% of people will experience back pain or spine health problems.
• People commonly miss work because of back problems.

Causes and Symptoms

The cause of your back pain can literally be anything, and your symptoms can be many. However, the human body is constructed much in the same way in each person. Because of this, we tend to see the same type of causes and symptoms associated with back pain. Knowing both of these can help us help our patients have better spine health. Most issues with spine health stem from:

• Injuries to the spine during a car accident or contact sport (such as football)
• Scoliosis
• Degeneration due to aging, osteoarthritis, or excess stress on the joints of the spine
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Activities such as running and jumping that put a lot of wear and tear on the back
• Poor nutrition
• Poor posture, equipment or foot support

When patients come into our office with back pain, we do a full medical evaluation to determine if one of these factors is causing the spine health problems or back pain. Besides generally feeling chronic pain the in the back, patients often feel symptoms such as:

• Stiffness along the spine or in the muscles surrounding it
• Pain that is worse or better after resting
• Pain that is worsened or improved by exercise
• Numbness or other neuropathy symptoms
• Spasms throughout the back that make it hard to stand, sit, or even lie down
• Pops, cracks and other noises or sensations when you move after resting
• Inflammation centered in the lower back (lumbar spine), neck (cervical) and mid-back (thoracic) regions

Depending on your symptoms, we can generally pinpoint the area of your spine that needs help.

What Can You Do About Back Pain?

At our therapy center, we are experts in spine health and providing soothing, effective treatment through chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractors are medical professionals that are trained in non-surgical treatments to help patients with spine health problems and chronic pain. Their spinal adjustments are exact, corrective, gentle and safe for all ages and conditions. We believe that patients can find natural, lasting healing through safe, non-surgical methods. Plus, chiropractic care really works! It’s why so many people trust so much in chiropractors: they find relief without costly surgeries or extensive healing periods.

If you come in for a chiropractic adjustments, you can expect a full medical evaluation and customized plan for getting your spine health back in top shape. Our chiropractor will position your body in specific ways, moving and popping misaligned areas back into their proper position. Many patients feel relief right away once their spine is realigned. Adjustments can significantly help patients with spine health problems such as sciatica, compressed discs, and chronic pain. We often pair chiropractic care with other therapies to accelerate healing.

Better Spine Health

Our center is unique because we provide Active Release Technique (ART) Therapy. This is a therapy designed to treat injuries of muscles, tendons, fascia, nerves, and soft tissues caused by repetitive motions and injury. We not only realign the spine, but we work to break down scar tissue in the body that causes neuropathy, aching and pain. Patients who moved poorly for years can see better range-of-motion, reduced pain and symptoms and a better life with this therapy.

Having great spine health not only requires proper manipulation and alignment, but also proper nutrition and circulation. The better your diet, the fewer health problems you will have. Your body needs essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, carbohydrates and water in order to function and be free of pain. Getting a nutritional assessment can help you see where you lack nutrients and why. We also use therapies such as electrostimulation, ultrasound, massage therapy and more to help our patients improve their spine health.

Staying Healthy and Strong

If you take care of your body, you can expect to have fewer health problems. However, sometimes these problems simply just happen. Many times (as is the case with injuries), your spine health problem isn’t even your fault. Some conditions or accidents can leave you with poor spine health, but we never want it to stay that way. Eat well and take care of yourself. When a back injury or health problems arise, see what our spine health therapies can do to improve your life. Call Texas Spine & Sports Therapy Center at (512) 806-0015 and get back better spine health today!