Back pain is a pretty common complaint among patients, and at least 85% of people in America complain of back pain at some point in their lifetime. If you have ever experienced, or are currently experiencing lower back pain, now you know that the dull throbbing and even sharp pain happens a lot. Back symptoms could be present while either sitting, standing, performing physical activities, and you may ask yourself, “Should I see a specialist about this pain in my back?” Especially if it’s not going away by itself, this type of consistent pain can be scary and limits your daily life with what you can do.
Symptoms of Back Pain
There are many different types of back pain and/or lower back pain that can prevent you from living a well-balanced lifestyle. To determine which type of pain you have, take a look at several of these diagnoses to see which one closely fits what your body is struggling with today.
#1 – Muscle Spasms
Muscle spasms are erratic tension in a specific muscle group which isn’t limited to just lower back pain. Muscle spasms can happen anywhere in the body, but listen to your body, perhaps the pain you are feeling is coming from a tightening in the muscles around the back. Spasms can also be the result of an older injury your body has experienced or even a new injury you don’t know about.
#2 – Back Strains/Back Sprains
When your body experiences back strains and sprains, it usually means you have overexerted yourself in a way that has possibly torn the ligaments and/or tendons around a specific joint. Strains can happen very easily when you don’t pay attention to something as simple as picking up something small off the floor. These injuries are usually done with enough force to cause discomfort and even abnormal function in the joints of the spine.
#3 – Injuries to the Discs
Many people are plagued with back pain due to the fact that they have damaged discs in the spine. Having a damaged disc in your back means you have probably had a lifting injury, sustained a fall or were involved in a motor vehicle accident. These disc injuries occur when forceful movements cause the spine to do an unusual motion. It is quite possible to treat disc injuries with a chiropractic professional and more often than not, surgery is not needed.
#4 – Sciatica Pain
The most common cause of lower back pain and sciatica leg pain is the direct result of lumbar spine misalignment, or muscular dysfunction in pelvic region. The vertebrae in the lower back have been forced into an awkward position for long periods of time, which causes nerve compression, limitation of muscle function, aberrant movement in lumbo-pelvic region, lower back pain, and eventually leg pain as a result of prolonged compression of the sciatic nerve.
In everything we do, we search for the underlying root problem. In sciatica or lower back pain situations, we create opportunities that will allow us to find hidden causes of the pain you are enduring now. Through the use of our consultation, we will search for the problem using differential diagnosis along with functional medicine practices, which include a complete history to rule out any other problems as well. Our orthopedic, physical, and neurological examination will go a long way to help us find out how to treat you successfully.