Struggling with Back Pain This Summer? Ease Your Pain with Chiropractic Care
Are you skipping your favorite summer activities due to back pain? If you don't want to miss another minute of summer fun, give your chiropractor a call. Chiropractic care is ideal for both upper and lower back pain and offers a drug-free alternative to pain relief.
Why Back Pain Often Occurs During the Summer
With so many ways to be active during the summer, it's not surprising that back pain complaints increase as the temperature rises. Twisting and turning when gardening, forgetting to use your leg muscles when lifting furniture, or using poor technique when exercising or playing sports can trigger pain in the joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves that make up your back.
Chiropractic Care Offers Natural Back Pain Relief
Contrary to popular belief, back pain doesn't always go away on its own. In fact, pain could become a chronic problem if you don't receive treatment for your symptoms. Although medication is effective in easing pain, it only offers a temporary solution. Pain often returns as soon as you stop taking the medication. In addition to providing natural pain relief, chiropractic treatments target the source of the problem, reducing the likelihood of flare-ups in the future.
A Misalignment Could Be Responsible for Your Pain
Painless, smooth movements are only possible when the vertebrae of your spine are perfectly aligned. If one or more of these small bones are misaligned, you may experience back pain, inflammation, stiffness, muscle spasms, and tight muscles and tissues. Misaligned vertebrae and tight muscles and tissues may also press on nerves, increasing your pain.
Your chiropractor realigns your vertebrae using a treatment called spinal manipulation. Commonly called an "adjustment," spinal manipulation involves quick thrusts to your spine that move the vertebrae back into their normal position. Once your spine is properly aligned, pain, stiffness, and inflammation decrease. At the same time, blood flow to your back increases, promoting healing. Adjustments treat your pain and also help you avoid flare-ups in the future, as you're much more likely to experience back injuries if your vertebrae are out of alignment
Your chiropractor also offers treatments that relax your muscles, ease pain, and quicken healing, like massage, soft tissue manipulation and mobilization, and ultrasound therapy.
Chiropractic care can be used alone or in conjunction with standard care. In a study of low back pain in 18- to 35-year-old activity military personnel, patients who receive chiropractic therapy in addition to standard medical care reported significantly less pain than those who only received standard medical care. The study appeared in Spine in 2013.
Could Poor Posture Be a Contributing Factor in Your Pain?
Slouching or contorting your body in unusual positions while you garden, carry supplies to your campsite, lift heavy luggage, or attempt a new waterskiing trick could cause or worsen back pain.
Spinal manipulation and other chiropractic treatments counteract the effects of poor posture and help you avoid back pain throughout the summer. Chiropractic treatments keep your body balanced and help prevent muscle strains and sprains that are more likely to occur when your vertebrae are misaligned. During your visits, your chiropractor can provide helpful advice on posture and recommend lifting techniques that will minimize strain on your back.
Chiropractic Helps You Manage Chronic Back Pain
It's only natural to want to have fun in the summer despite your chronic back pain. Unfortunately, ignoring your condition can lead to painful flare-ups that last for weeks. Keeping arthritis, degenerative disc disease, sciatica, herniated discs, scoliosis, sacroiliac pain, and other conditions under control becomes much easier when you add chiropractic appointments to your summer schedule.
Are you dealing with back pain? Relieve your pain with a visit to the chiropractor. Contact our office to schedule a convenient appointment.
Sources:
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: Spinal Manipulation: What You Need To Know
CDC: Acute Low Back Pain, 1/31/2022