Disorders That Affect The Spine and Back

Chapman-Smith DA, Cleveland CS III (2005), once wrote that chiropractic care is a type of alternative medicine that accentuates diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine, under the belief that these disorders might affect general health of an individual via the nervous system, (Nelson, et al, 2005). It is known that many people are living today with these disorders, which very much result in pain as well as other ailments, and example of this is the development of back problems, which could lead to chronic back pains.

Furthermore, there could be different causes for many of these disorders that affect the spine and back, in this essay, I primarily want to address the cause of back problems, as well as the ways to avoid chronic back pains in the future, and lastly, talk about ways chiropractors such as the ones at Artic Chiropractic treat back pain. Many people such as myself suffer from constant back problems and one of the reasons that is, is that our genes are to blame. According to an article by Saylnn Boyles (2011), the same way people develop eye or hair color, there is the possibility of developing low back problems from disc disease which could be inherited. Research show that in the analysis of the health and family history of 2 million Utah residents, 1,264 with a diagnosis of lower spine disease were linked with herniated or degenerating discs; and people with an immediate family member, such as a parent, sibling, or child, with disc-related low back pain were more than four times more likely to have low-back pain themselves. My grandfather had some back problems, and this was according to my father who also has some back problems. It is very clear that one of the causes is of back problems is the inherited family genes.

In addition, people develop back problems through poor lifting techniques and osteoarthritis. According to KSC RehabWorks (2014), approximately 6,000 people die and 6.3 million are injured each year at the workplace, and over 1 million of these incidents result in acute or chronic back problems caused by improper postural lifting techniques. Lifting things in the wrong way, creates stress on the back muscles, which in turn might add force to the spine that could result in a herniation or degenerated disc. Lastly, another cause of back problems is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis, is also known as degenerative joint disease, which affects the spine of an individual and cause stiffness in the joints of the vertebrae. If this happens it results in a degeneration of the bones, and discs in the neck and lower back.

There is hope, because many of these disorders that causes pain can be managed to avoid pain in the future. Examples of such ways are through exercise, practicing better postural lifting techniques and maintaining proper posture. As mentioned above some of the problems are gotten through strain on the back muscles and bones, and exercising and staying active by stretching those muscles and joints should help prevent chronic pain in the future. Additionally, maintain proper lifting techniques such as lifting with the feet shoulder width apart, knees bent, and back straight does eliminate those stress on the back. Lastly due to bad posture many people have developed back problems from slouching of sitting the wrong way for too long. The maintenance of a proper posture while walking, standing of sitting, can make a big difference.

Likewise, there are also ways that an already existing back pain problem can be treated by chiropractors, three of those ways are spinal manipulations, physiotherapy, and traction. Spinal manipulations are better used and commonly referred to as adjustment of the spine. This treatment, can provide mid-to moderate relief from lower back pains, and this is very wildly applied by chiropractors everywhere. Coupled with physiotherapy which can help to speed up recovery and prevent the problem from reoccurring; examples of such treatment are the application of heat, cold, ultra sound, laser treatment and lastly the traditional acupuncture. The last form of treatment is called traction, and this deals with the treatment of herniation and bulging disc. It helps with spinal decompression; occasionally given to people with spinal stenosis, as it helps to make space around the compressed spinal cord. According to Anne Asher (2014), traction allows surface joints to slide, and it also relieves pressure on the spinal cord as well as its blood vessels and nerve roots.

One can see that there are many ways a person can develop back problems, associated with inherited genes, bad lifting techniques, and osteoarthritis. But most of them can be prevented from developing into chronic back pains in the future through exercise, practice of better postural lifting techniques and a maintenance proper posture. Finally, ways other existing forms of those back pains could be treated through the application of spinal manipulations, physiotherapy and traction. That is why it is the goal of Arctic Chiropractic, to help preserve and advance the spinal health of every patient that seek their service, while teaching the public and each patient about the benefits associated with chiropractic care.