Do You Ever Suffer from Low Back Discomfort?

Low back discomfort can be a serious and debilitating condition that can be acute or chronic in nature.  Acute injuries or exacerbations typically only last hours to days, while chronic injuries may last months to years.  If left untreated, most injuries will heal by themselves without medical or alternative intervention.  However, the first reason why people seek medical or chiropractic care is to get out of pain.  What most people don’t realize is that pain is the last thing to come on in an injury, so the body goes through a slue of reparative and rebuilding processes before that happens.  The single reason why people seek out chiropractor care is the relief of low back pain and discomfort.  Back pain may be caused from several different things such as: trauma, congenital abnormalities (scoliosis, hemi-vertebra and block vertebra), repetitive stress and overuse syndromes, systemic infections, malignancies, and various neoplasms and arthritides.

Chiropractic can treat or co-treat most conditions but proper evaluation and referral are crucial to patient survival in some instances.  For example, if a patient comes in complaining of low back pain but they also say they have numbness throughout their pelvis (saddle paresthesia) and bowel and bladder problems; the number one thing to rule out is Cauda Equina Syndrome.  This is an immediate referral to the emergency room and the chiropractic should never follow through with an adjustment at that time.  Prostate cancer may also complicate low back pain and go unnoticed.  Males over 40 years of age with low back pain should always be evaluated for the possibility of prostate cancer, especially if there is a family history.   This can be evaluated with a digital rectal exam, PSA levels checked, and an x-ray.  Symptoms include urinary urgency and frequency, pain while urinating, and pain and discomfort at night.  Pain at night is the number one sign of cancer.  Less scary forms of low back pain include facet encroachment and radiculopathies.  If left untreated, this can lead to chronic low back pain causing extremity pain, weakness and sensory deficits.