Have you ever had sudden back pain that just came out of nowhere? You are going about your day like normal, no new dangerous activities, and yet you simply get up from your desk or go to pick up something from the floor, and – BAM! Back pain.
Not just a vague low-level pain, but sharp and terrible pain, maybe more than you’ve ever experienced before.
This inexplicable onset of pain happens to many of us, and we are left in the dark when it comes to figuring out what happened. We rack our brain – what caused it? What did I do differently? How could I have avoided this? What changed?
Combination of Causes
There is a lot of confusion about back pain out there. Some people think it’s all about improper nerve function, some point to disc degeneration, others argue muscle imbalance, and yet more say it’s just bad posture. It’s most likely a combination of some or all of these. So do we have to study each of these and go to a handful of specialists to keep our back safe from harm? Maybe.
In these next 3 weeks, be prepared to learn more about back pain, and what I feel are the 3 most common non-traumatic causes for our hurts. By non-traumatic I mean injuries that don’t involve being hit by a car, bucked off a horse, falling on ice, or anything like that. We’re talking about standing up after a long work meeting and being hit with sudden back pain, or waking up to a stiff neck and pain zinging into your shoulders.
Honestly, I think these 3 causes might still play important roles in trauma cases as well. But I’ll leave that thought for another day.
CAUSE # 1 – REPETITIVE MICROTRAUMA
We often do things over and over that irritate the same muscles and joints of our bodies. This is what I call a repetitive microtrauma. Instead of one big injury (macrotrauma) it is a small injury that happens again and again.
The body can deal with these minor insults for quite some time, but eventually it gets fed up and starts letting us know. We may not pay attention to the beginning stages of these injuries – the tightness, loss of motion, or even areas that are tender to the touch. So the body sends us messages in the form of pain, headaches, numbness, tingling, fatigue. We pay more attention to these, and hopefully we do something about it before it’s too late.
At Favero Chiropractic we apply chiropractic adjustments and therapies for this type of injury, but also give you specific exercises for home so you can get better long-term. We will look into your posture and daily activities to find if there is something repetitive contributing to your pains. This way we can treat the cause of your problems and not just the superficial symptoms.
It may take some time to heal from a repetitive microtrauma. You probably took a long time to get to this point with your body undergoing continual insults. As we discover these aggravating factors, and provide treatment to the injured areas, you will begin experiencing more significant and long-lasting relief.
Return next week for Part 2 of this 3 part series on Sudden Back Pain. Please also take a moment to share your thoughts as you chew on the content of these posts.