Back Pain

What is causing my back pain?
Back pain is one of the most common ailments. In terms of the number of doctor visits per year in the U.S., it is second only to ailments of the lungs. Back pain is also one of the hardest conditions to properly diagnose; meaning it is difficult to come to a diagnosis that specifically points to one cause for the pain. Most of the back pain sufferers that I see have a combination of muscle, ligament, and sometimes disc injuries. In chiropractic terms, we would call this combination a subluxation. Often the subluxation occurs as follows:

1. The muscles of the spine are repetitively overloaded and develop inflamation, as some of the muscle cells are damaged.
2. If the inflamation does not carry with it sufficient enzymes, to repair the damaged cells, then scar tissue develops.
3. The scar tissue interferes with the normal metabolism of the muscles and the muscles consequently develop a low energy state, wherein they shorten and remain shortened.
4. The shortened muscles (when attached to the vertebrae) pull the spine into an abnormal alignment.
5. The abnormal alignment causes wear and tear, on the joints and discs, eventually wearing them out prematurely.

Note: All of the above steps usually involve pain.

Also, in my 17 years as a chiropractor (as of 2004), I have seen back pain caused by a very wide variety of other disorders. Here are a few examples to illustrate how diverse this group is. I have had two cases where the pain was caused by a rapidly expanding aortic aneurysm — fortunately, I diagnosed them correctly on the first visit in both cases, so emergency surgery saved their lives. Also, I have had one case of malignant cancer, of the pancreas, in which back pain was the patients only complaint. Lastly, I had a patient who was sitting on his billfold (which was always in the same pocket of his blue jeans) so often that it caused his low-back to be out of alignment and eventually led to chronic back pain.

What can be done for my back pain?
I have written, at length, in other sections of this website, about many of the techniques I use to help people recover from back pain. Because back pain can be caused by so many different factors, it is wise to choose a practitioner who specializes in back pain (as I do) and who has many different skills in dealing with the myriad of different causes.