If you are experiencing frequent back pains, headaches, or stress, please do not resort to pain medication immediately because they might not fix your problem; instead, they might lead to more damaging effects on your body.
One of the most common problems that adults typically experience is chronic pain. People are interested in alternative treatments for pain relief. One of the most effective pain management options is chiropractic treatment, which focuses on dealing with back and neck pain.
Back and neck pain are familiar to adults. But some adults choose alternative medications because of the underlying illnesses they are currently experiencing that may affect or worsen their condition. In this case, they look for other options like chiropractors.
A chiropractor is a health care professional who treats neuromuscular disorders without prescribing pain medications. Instead, they focus on treating strains, aches, and pains anywhere in your body by improving your body’s ability to heal.
They can also perform tests like x-rays to examine the spine’s position and muscle reflex to devise the right treatment plan and constant monitoring to ensure that the patient is adequately guided with the treatment.
Their therapy focuses on spinal manipulation, where they apply force using their hands or instruments to move joints for better alignment.
What causes spine problems?
Spinal cord injuries are a severe type of physical trauma that may affect your daily life because it requires more extended medication. The different causes of spine problems depend on the patients’ activities; they can range from non-traumatic to traumatic, depending upon how severe the injuries are. Slow internal damage results in non-traumatic injuries, while traumatic injuries are abrupt hits and more damaging to the spine. Spinal injuries must be treated as soon as possible because this may lead to further damage.
Common causes of spine disorders may include the following.
- Accidents or falls. This includes any vehicular accidents and being struck by vehicles at the pedestrian. Although accidents are the last thing we want to happen, they happen often, and we are usually unprepared. Vehicular accidents or accidental falls may cause fractures in our spine. These fractures can cause excruciating pain to a patient.
- Infection and inflammation. Vertebral osteomyelitis is one of the most common infections in the spine. The bacteria from the blood spread to the vertebra, which causes pain and discomfort. In addition, some bacterial infections in the spine may cause a spinal epidural abscess located at the outer covering of the spine or between the bones.
- Sports injuries. Sports may cause spine damage to athletes, but they understand that playing sports can lead to possible fractures or injuries, whether in an accident or on purpose. This also includes diving into shallow water, which causes you to hit bottom.
- Diseases. This injury usually occurs at the age of 65 and older. This includes cancers, osteoporosis, and arthritis. As we grow older, we tend to lose the typical structure of our spine, which results in tumors, infections and other diseases.
- Congenital disorders. These are conditions that are already present from birth. It is either inherited or caused by some environmental factors that are not often severe.
- Acts of violence. This includes gunshot and stabbing in the back that may cause damage to the spine.
Working often demands lifting heavy objects or sudden awkward movements that can cause low back pain. This pain is due to muscle ligament strains and sprains. However, there are problems in the spine that are more severe, so it requires surgical considerations.
How can chiropractors help treat spine problems?
Chiropractors believe that our body has the ability to heal itself. However, studies show that manual therapies effectively treat patients with spine problems, and chiropractors commonly use this method. This method is known as chiropractic treatment. This treatment may help the patient relieve pain that affects the connective tissues, joints, muscles, bones, and cartilage.
The focus of this treatment is spine injuries, which may also be used in other parts of the body. Physical therapy and chiropractic treatment have similarities and may benefit patients if treated using both medicines.
The treatment for spinal problems varies depending on how severe the injuries are. Surgery, steroid injections, and stem cell treatment are options for severe injuries. However, you may choose other options like chiropractic treatments depending on the prescription by your doctor.
Chiropractors often ask patients about their medical history before performing any physical therapy. This enables them to know the cause of the problems. Then, they will perform a series of physical examinations to determine what kind of treatment is appropriate for you. The goal of chiropractic care may include restoring function and preventing injury. With this, chiropractors may advise you for nutritional counseling and exercise.
Other treatments may also include adjustments on your back to realign joints further while decreasing the pain and increasing the ability for movement. Therapy is included in their treatment because it will help muscles to relax and release tension.
Preventing Spine Problems
Spine problems are one of the most serious injuries that affect a person. Severe injuries in the spine could lead to paralysis and are therefore life-threatening. Therefore, preventing severe injuries is the best way to protect your spine.
Accidents happen unexpectedly, so we cannot guarantee our safety always, but some measures can decrease your chance of having spine injuries.
Vehicular accidents are one of the causes of spine injuries; therefore, wearing seatbelts, driving without the influence of alcohol and drugs, texting and taking phone calls should be refrained from while driving. Also, following traffic signs is still effective in preventing road accidents.
Elderly and children are often prone to falling; in this case, you might consider keeping your home clean and installing handrails to staircases that might prevent someone from falling. A playground is a place where children can enjoy and have fun. This is where children climb, jump and slide, which may also cause spine injuries, so it is advised that adults always supervise children.
Sports accidents are typical. However, it is still a must to wear safety equipment that may lessen the chance of having injuries. If possible, avoid extreme sports like bungee jumping and skydiving. These activities are not proven fatal, but they may cause long medications if you become injured. Horseback driving is enjoyable, but this is considered one of the most dangerous activities even for trained riders. Diving is good for your health, but you must take precautionary measures by learning and following the rules because it might lead to another case of a spine injury.
Our lifestyle choices like lack of regular exercise, poor diet, stress, and smoking are examples of a lifestyle choice that affects our health. Chiropractors will help you understand how to adequately address these unhealthy habits so that they may not cause or affect your long-term health.
Chiropractors and their chiropractic treatments do not only focus on spinal manipulation. Instead, they will give you different kinds of treatments that will help your body to heal itself.
So if you have constant back and joint pains, this is the right time to call Peak Potential Family Chiropractic – Houston Heights. We have the best chiropractors that can help you lessen the pain.
