For patients with back pain, chiropractors can use spine manipulation to correct misalignment issues within the back. When considering a patient’s level of pain associated with their spinal misalignment, chiropractors work towards a wellness philosophy that removes the mechanical stressors that irritate the spinal joints to improve musculoskeletal conditions. Most patients that come in to see chiropractors often experience back pain from mechanical misalignment in the spine, referred to in chiropractic as a subluxation, and other non-organic causes. The back’s complicated structure often diverts the cause of the patient’s back pain, but chiropractors can realign the spine back to health through optimizing motion at the spinal joints.

Can A Chiropractor Help With Back Pain?

Despite the common assumption that chiropractors only treat back pain, chiropractors that adopt a philosophy of optimizing health and wellness aim to work towards bringing the entire body into a more balanced and aligned state. Relieving back pain as a result of these corrections often occurs as a side effect of treatment. The complicated structure of bones, joints, muscles, and ligaments can be heavily influenced by the simplest of movements, and symptomatic conditions such as arthritis, obesity, and psychological stress can further complicate back pain.

Often, one of the most reoccurring causes of back pain occurs from spinal misalignment, referred to in chiropractic as a subluxation. Research shows that back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the National Institute of Health. Spinal misalignment is one of the main causes of back pain, and by adjusting subluxations and soft tissue components chiropractors treat and relieve back pain. Spinal misalignment can cause a cascade of side effects that ultimately result in more symptoms than back pain, including:

• Uneven Posture: Spinal abnormalities that cause pain can be simply evaluated by observing the patient’s posture. Uneven posture can cause crooked hips or shifts in the spinal column that can contribute to pain.
   
• Movement: Spines that suffer from misalignment often impact a person’s range of motion, causing a significant impact on overall health and quality of life. Having a limited range of motion throughout the spine can lead to challenging and painful reactions just from attempting simple tasks.
   
• Stiffness: Experiencing stiffness in the spine can create strong physical feelings of discomfort, leading to a lack of flexibility and a difficulty in accomplishing daily tasks resulting in higher amounts of stress.
   
• Fatigue: Fatigue often results as a side effect alongside pain from spinal subluxation. Heavy amounts of fatigue can increase the severity of misalignment and pain levels associated with a misaligned spine.
   
• Illness: Illnesses such as arthritis, obesity, and nervous system degradation can result from spinal subluxation and the altered biomechanics, becoming more commonplace and increasing in severity over time.

Moving Forward With Optimal Health

Today’s growing emphasis on quality of care turns to spinal manipulation as a more acknowledged treatment form. Spinal manipulation works to treat the spine’s subluxations through pushing, pulling, and repositioning of the spine to alleviate this pain and optimize the patient’s movement. Spinal adjustments perform just as well as anti-inflammatory and pain relief medications, without the medication side effects which is a major benefit when compared to the traditional medical model of care. This treatment works within our wellness model, emphasizing the body’s innate natural healing process and systematically correcting the mechanical problems affecting the patient’s overall health.