Structural Weakness in the Spinal Discs

Back and spinal problems are one of the most prominent medical issues in the world today. Studies show that as high as eighty percent of the global population will experience back pain within their lifetime. In order for a potential chiropractic patient to avoid causing or worsening any spinal damage, the common ways in which a person can develop and prevent back problems must be known. While the risk factors for chronic back pain include smoking, obesity, and the improper lifting of heavy objects, there are also activities and healthy lifestyle choices involving good posture, exercise, and diet that are known to prevent back pain. Failure to properly avoid these risk factors or to regularly practice these preventative measures may lead to a patient requiring professional help from a chiropractor.

Though there are a plethora of ways that a person can theoretically present with back problems, like structural weakness in the spinal discs themselves, there are also certain risk factors that tend to dramatically increase the chances of one day suffering from back pain. Unfortunately for those who do not alter their lifestyles and eliminate these risk factors, the factors can and do compound upon one other, culminating as significant damage. For example, smoking can cause atherosclerosis, a condition in which plaque builds within the blood vessels. This plaque then disrupts the blood flow to spinal discs, inhibiting the spine’s ability to recover from damage. Eventually the lack of healing results in a chain of steadily increasing injuries in the back.

Strain on the back can result in injuries and damage, and while normally these injuries heal and the back becomes more resilient, if the back does not heal properly before of the greater strain put on it, then the injury will only intensify. One of the more common causes of people over-straining their back muscles is obesity, which adds unnecessary and unrelenting stress upon the back. Should someone with obesity then place even more tension upon the back by lifting a heavy load with their back for support instead of their knees, he or she may get a herniated disc from moving the disc out of place or from too much pressure and wear-and-tear on the disc, and now need a chiropractor’s aid. Not only could this hypothetical patient’s injury have been averted by he or she no longer smoking or with the knowledge of how one should lift weighty items, but by preventative changes to lifestyle and diet that reduce the likelihood of future chronic back pain.

With all the various behaviors and lifestyle choices that can aggravate or even lead to back problems come the preventative methods that can do the exact opposite, lowering the possibility of chronic back pain in the future, even for a young and healthy person such as myself. Many of the most prominent lifestyle changes that prevent continued back pain among those who both have and have not experienced it in the past deal with seemingly minuscule, often easily overlooked behaviors, such as correct posture, body strengthening exercises, and a nutritional diet. Having proper posture is a simple way for those like me, who do not have chronic back problems, to avoid them before they can come to fruition. Likewise, frequent exercise to strengthen the back muscles will lessen the likelihood of over-straining the back from heaving lifting and obesity, the latter of which is also counteracted by exercise. A proper diet can prevent obesity and its consequent extra stress on the back. However, patients who fail to prevent back pain because of their lack of knowledge or compliance may require a chiropractor to intervene.

Chiropractors have several techniques and methods at their disposal to help those with the misfortune of experiencing more severe and more prolonged back problems. For instance they may utilize the Gonstead technique, which employs X-rays to detect spinal misalignment. Others may favor the Activator method, using a hand-held instrument that utilizes a light force to restore the motion of joints or vertebrae. The aptly named chiropractic spinal adjustment, in which abnormally functioning vertebrae are manipulated and adjusted, relieves present patient pain and prevents any reoccurring back pain. Regardless of what treatment methods a chiropractor may favor, all are useful and have advantages that allow the doctor to determine which method should be applied per each patient’s back problems and specific health history. Nonetheless, a doctor’s main aim is to better a patient’s health so that he or she need not suffer with chronic issues that require long-term management by a physician. For that goal to be achieved, knowledge of the risk factors behind back pain as well as the preventative steps that offset it may prove to be the very best medicine.

To lessen the now global issue that back problems have become, it is necessary to not only be aware of how one may elevate the risk of these problems but also of how one may forestall or avoid them entirely. Thankfully, both the risk factors and preventative methods are based upon lifestyle choices, and more healthful living in general can ensure less back pain in a patient. Smoking, obesity, and misinformation on how to lift anything particularly heavy can lead to back problems in a patient, yes, but if that same person—or even one such as myself, without back problems—ceases these negative behaviors and includes positive ones to improve posture, diet, and back strength, then he can anticipate a life with a decreased prospect for chronic back pain. By maintaining a beneficial lifestyle of back-strengthening exercise and nutritious diet, educating myself on how to lift any heavy object with my knees and not my back, applying accurate posture, and of course, never smoking, I know that I can anticipate just such a life, a life without the difficulties that originate from chronic back pain, and I thank the doctors and staff of Arctic Chiropractic for the opportunity to learn how to enjoy this healthier state of living, free of chronic back pain.