Low back pain

What it usually is

I have suffered with Chronic pain. I know how it feels to be fine one moment and absolutely unable to move the next. Often the offending 'trauma' is so insignificant, like bending over to pick up a pen, that we don't connect it with our current pain. Almost all low back pain is the ordinary mechanical kind: sore joints, cranky muscles, an irritated disc. It hurts a lot, but it is very rarely dangerous.

What it often feels like

Stiff getting out of bed, sore standing at the sink, a sharp catch when you bend or put on socks. Sometimes it goes into the buttock or down the leg. There is nothing like a bad back day to remind you how often your spine has functioned without complaint.

What we look at

Your story first, then how your back and hips move, which movements bother it and which ones don't. We check the nerves to your legs: strength, reflexes and feeling. And we ask about sleep, work, stress and worry, because those turn the volume up on back pain too. Your MRI might say "degeneration", but plenty of people with no pain at all have the same findings.

What usually helps

Adjusting and soft tissue work to get things moving and calm things down. Exercise, so you trust your back again and it gets stronger. Neurodynamics when a nerve is involved. Understanding pain, because knowing your back is not broken can change how it feels. The adjustment is only one small component to get you feeling better and back to feeling like your regular self!

What you can do at home

Keep moving; short walks beat lying on the couch. Pace yourself: do a bit less than you think you can, then build. So ice or heat? Use ice if it works to decrease the pain, or use heat if that works better, or do both at the same time! And sleep, as much as your back will let you.

When it's not a chiro problem

Go to emergency now if you have numbness around your bottom or between your legs, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, or weakness getting worse in one or both legs. That can be cauda equina syndrome, and it can't wait. See your medical doctor for back pain with fever, unexplained weight loss, a history of cancer, long-term steroid use, or after a serious fall or crash.