Symptoms

Low back pain is primarily caused by joints between the vertebrae (the bones in your spine) becoming irritated. This discomfort can be felt in various ways (e.g. achy, dull or sharp pain). But, when nerves in your back are pinched, by inflammation or a disc bulge, then you may also experience numbness, tingling or pain in your legs.

 

 

Cause

Irritation is caused by one of three forms of stress on your body:

• chemical

• emotional  or, more commonly,

• physical stress

Examples of Chemical Stress are pollution, smoking, medication or simply the food you’re eating.

Whilst Physical Strain is often a result of poor posture (e.g. slouching on the sofa or having a poor PC/desk set-up), over-exertion (e.g. lifting heavy objects or carrying schoolbags), trauma, inherited abnormalities or sporting injuries.

 

 

Prevention

• Carry only what you can easily lift

If you’re at school or have a long journey to work, make sure you’re carrying only what you need and best of all use a rucksack – over BOTH shoulders.  As we age or our fitness changes, we should recognise that we may need to ‘re-learn our capabilities’.

 

• Keep active

By keeping fit, you keep your body strong, making it more stable. This helps reduce your risk of injury. Your body is designed to be active. So when you are sat in front of a computer or the tv, you should get up and move around, at least every 40 minutes.

 

• Posture

Here at The Health Tree we feel like we talk about this all the time: it’s SO important. Our bodies have evolved to stand up STRAIGHT.  21st Century living, though, often means we curve our spine over a desk, in front of a PC or gaming console. Stand up as tall as you can and ensure your desk/car/workspace etc is set up just right for you.

 

Advice for Reducing Low Back Pain

By the time you’re reading this, following the prevention steps won’t help much until any subluxations (abnormal joint positioning) are dealt with.

The aim of Chiropractic is to locate these subluxations and get the joint/s more functional. This in turn reduces stress, inflammation and pain, and enhances nerve function.