Most people suffer from back problems one time or other during their lifetime. Backache often develops from bad posture – standing, sitting or sleeping – and if not corrected degenerates into serious health problems. The majority of back injuries however happen while working, i.e. sports, fun activities, DIY tasks, and so on. People who suffer from osteoporosis are more prone to develop work-related back injuries, especially as their age advances.
Generally speaking, work related back injuries are broadly categorized under three groups:
1. Sudden Injuries – these injuries are also known as acute injuries for the pain may be severe as well as sudden. You may observe swelling, bruising and tenderness at the site following the injury. The good news is that this type of pain normally last no more than 5-6 weeks. Some types of sudden injuries are:
– Sprain of the back muscles – you are dancing, cleaning the house, bending to pick up a paper that fluttered to the floor and BANG – you get a blinding pain in your back. What happened? A ligament or muscle got sprained or strained. The pain will often take your breath away when it happens – but as mentioned earlier it will subside within 4-6 weeks.
– Dislocation Of The Vertebras – this is a very serious injury which can result in partial or full paralysis; hence, it is imperative that the affected person be transferred to a medical facility at the earliest possible. The person should be immediately immobilized to prevent aggravation of the injury and pain. Without immediate medical attention the person could become permanently paralyzed or even lose his life.
– Fracture Of The Spinal Cord – this is yet another very serious injury to the back. As with the dislocation of the vertebral bones, fracture of the spinal cord can cause partial or temporal paralysis or even death if not referred to a medical facility as urgently as possible. Besides blinding pain, there is always the risk that the injury would get aggravated by movement and delay in medical attention.
– Ruptured Disk – the vertebral column has discs in between that cushions and facilitates smooth movement of the spinal cord. Dislocation or rupture of this disc can cause acute pain and discomfort. When the injury causes a major breach in the disk, the jelly-like substance inside the disk would leak out and squeeze the neighboring nerve. This would cause excruciating pain until a proper alignment of the bones is done – which would relieve the pressure on the nerves.
– Compression Of The Lower Back Of The Nerves – similar to the ruptured disk, there are times when owing to improper posture the bones simply get compressed against one another. In other words, the bones shrink against one another creating friction and pain. This is known as the ‘cauda equine syndrome’.
2. Injuries Caused By Misuse – these injuries are passive types. It happens gradually owing to wrong posture, improper movement, incorrect posture while sleeping, standing, sitting or even walking. You sleep in the wrong way, walk in the wrong way, sit in the wrong way, etc. and your back gets injured. You might not feel massive pain immediately, but within a week you will develop many indicative symptoms. Among the many signs that would indicate wear and tear back injury are back stiffness, muscle spasm, acute back pain, inability to move in certain directions, and so on. Fortunately this pain usually goes away in 4-6 weeks – even without treatment.
3. Wear and Tear Injuries – this is very similar to the ‘misuse injuries’. However, this type of back pain will definitely NOT go away in 4-6 weeks. It will linger on until you bring in corrective measured to realign the body. In this case, if you neglect the pain and do not pay attention to the misalignment of the spinal cord, you would end up with excruciatingly painful back that could prevent you to even get up from your bed.
In all the above cases, medical intervention would definitely provide quick relief from pain. In majority of the cases chiropractic treatment would provide immense help and relief. Depending upon the age of the person affected chiropractic treatment can significantly reduce the pain and promote healing within 2-6 weeks.
The best thing about chiropractic care is that it is 100% natural and has absolutely no side effect. Rather, when the treatment will set your spine right you would experience not only tremendous relief from pain, but overall improvement in health. This is because with the correct alignment of the body, chiropractic care facilitates optimal functioning of all the organs in the body.