Lower back pain is extremely common and painful – it seems that most everyone suffers from debilitating lower back pain at some point in their lives. When your lower back pain is excruciating, it can significantly lower your quality of life as you modify your lifestyle and the way you move in order to protect your back. When your back pain becomes severe, it's time to schedule an appointment with a professional instead of toughing it out. Here's when you should see a chiropractor for your lower back pain.
Your Pain Interferes With Work
Both active jobs and sedentary jobs can cause lower back pain to flare up, making it a common reason for calling out of work. Sitting all day long at a desk reduces circulation and tends to cause the muscles in your back to tense up. Many people also have poor posture while sitting – a slouched posture places a significant amount of stress on your lower back. Both of these factors can contribute to you suffering excruciating pain by noon, causing you to have difficulty concentrating and impairing your performance at work.
Active jobs, especially if they involve lifting heavy objects, can also cause your lower back pain to worsen. Twisting, turning, and bending over all day places stress on your back and your core muscles. When people suffer from back pain, they often overcompensate and tense their back muscles all day long in order to protect the spine. Your back muscles eventually tire out, resulting in painful muscle fatigue.
Instead of calling out of work all the time due to your lower back pain, schedule an appointment with a chiropractor to have your spine adjusted. You'll also learn strategies for how to adjust your desk at work to be more ergonomic or how to lift heavy objects at your job without stressing your spine.
Pain That Started After an Injury Isn't Going Away
When lower back pain is caused by an injury, the pain should eventually subside as your back heals. While your spine and back muscles are notoriously slow to heal after an injury, your pain should subside significantly six weeks after you were injured.
If six weeks have passed since your back injury and your pain has not subsided at all or if it seems to be getting worse instead of getting better, schedule an appointment with a chiropractor. Your injury may have caused a slipped or compressed disc that won't easily heal on its own. The chiropractor will help you discover the source of your back pain and discuss treatment options.
Pain Radiates Up to Your Neck or Down to Your Legs
If your lower back pain radiates up towards your neck or down towards your legs, that's a classic sign of a pinched nerve. Pain due to inflammation or muscle injury tends to stay localized in the lower back – the pain may be very severe, but it's not the shooting pain you experience when you have pinched a nerve.
Relieving pressure on your pinched nerve with a spinal adjustment from a chiropractor can help alleviate your back pain. When you suspect a pinched nerve is the cause of your pain, you should schedule an appointment.
Chiropractors are spine and back experts, making them a good choice to treat your chronic lower back pain. If your back pain is constantly flaring up or is significantly affecting your quality of life, it's a good idea to make an appointment with a chiropractor for a spinal adjustment.
Share10 July 2018
Hi there, my name is Georgette Limerick. I am excited to share my knowledge about chiropractic procedures with you today. I was a softball player through middle school, high school and college. I often stood on the pitcher's mound and lobbed the ball over the plate. The constant movement of my shoulder pulled the ligaments and joint out of alignment. Eventually, I developed an immense amount of pain throughout my neck, back and shoulder. The pain even shot down my arm to my fingertips, making it difficult to work at an acceptable pace. I visited a chiropractor several times to see if some precise adjustments would help. After the third visit, I was convinced the procedures healed me. My site will explore the benefits of chiropractic procedures in detail. Thanks for coming by.