Upper Cervical Relief for Back Pain
Introduction
Back pain affects nearly everyone at some point during their lives – and it’s the number one reason for days lost from work each year.
People may experience low back pain, middle back pain or upper back pain. The pain can be excruciating or barely noticeable. It can be chronic or intermittent. Many people turn to all types of medications, and even surgery, for relief, but there’s a natural alternative that’s getting fantastic results.
Symptoms of Back Pain
There may be a number of symptoms that accompany back pain. Depending on where the pain is and the cause and severity of the pain, these symptoms might include:
- Pain that radiates down the front, back, or side of the leg
- Stiffness
- Loss of mobility
- Muscle spasms or cramps
- Leg pain
- Tingling, numbness in the legs, ankles and/or feet
- Sleep problems
- Depression
- Spine sensitivity when touched
Pain is the primary symptom whenever there is back pain – and pain as a symptom always signals that something is wrong.
Causes of Back Pain
There are many different causes of back pain – some are related to a specific disease or condition, such as kidney disease, bladder infections, ovarian disorders and pregnancy, while others are related to some type of injury or condition that affects the bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, discs and/or nerves of the spine.
Let’s focus on some specific injuries and conditions that affect the spine and cause pain. They include:
- Strains that may be caused by the use of incorrect posture when trying to lift heavy objects
- Disk problems – disks are the soft material between each set of vertebrae that act as cushions to prevent bone from rubbing on bone. A disc can become displaced (bulging, herniated, ruptured) causing pressure on a nerve, which causes the associated pain
- Osteoporosis – a brittle bone condition that mainly affects post-menopausal woman
- Scoliosis or other types of spine curvature abnormalities, such as loss of normal spinal curves, usually in the upper cervical spine
- Osteoarthritis – a type of arthritis that affects the joints in the lower back – this condition becomes more common as you age
- Fractures of the vertebrae that are caused by accidents (i.e., a car accident) or some type of force (a blow to the back)
- Spinal misalignment in the upper cervical spine caused by a fall, accident, sports injury, physical or emotional stress, poor posture or even the birth process
Conventional Treatment of Back Pain
Some episodes of back pain get better by themselves after a few days. Some people choose to start with over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers for their pain along with some bed rest. This isn’t advised because bed rest can actually have an opposite effect on back pain, because lack of movement can make back pain worse instead of better.
After a period of home treatment, a patient may turn to a doctor for more aggressive treatment that might include:
- Prescription medications, such as anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, pain relievers (narcotics), or antidepressants, which are used to relieve pain. The problem with many of these medications is their potential side effects, particularly with pain relievers that have the risk for abuse and addiction.
- Physical therapy – recommended to relieve pain through the application of ice/heat, electrical stimulation, deep tissue massage and ultrasound that increases blood flow to reduce pain, swelling and stiffness.
- Injection Therapy – epidural steroid injections that deliver pain medication (anesthetic) to a pinched nerve root in the epidural space (the space around the spinal cord)
- Surgery – usually recommended as a “last resort,” when all other methods fail to relieve pain and inflammation. Unfortunately, many patients experience Failed Back Surgery Syndrome after having back surgery, meaning that their original symptoms are the same or worse after they’ve had the surgery.
These options, for the most part, treat the symptoms of back pain; they do nothing to correct the cause of the pain. Upper Cervical care, however, provides an all-natural alternative to drugs and surgery and many patients under care have experienced complete relief from their pain and other symptoms.
Back Pain and Upper Cervical Care
Many health conditions, including back pain, result from trauma to the upper cervical spine. This trauma may have been caused by whiplash, chronic poor posture, an accident or some type of injury, such as a sports-related injury, a fall down stairs or off a bicycle, or even the birth process. This trauma can create imbalance (misalignment of the spine) that causes a person’s head to sit incorrectly on the Atlas, the top vertebra of the spine. This imbalance can cause a reactive domino effect down the spine and throughout the body.
The top two vertebrae of the spine, the Atlas and Axis, are the most mobile vertebrae of the spine because they have the greatest range of motion; therefore, they are the moist prone to injury and trauma. If left untreated, an Upper Cervical misalignment can cause spinal degeneration and many other chronic health conditions. Depending upon the nerves affected by the misalignment, trauma to the upper cervical spine can result in pain in the lower back or even sciatica – pain that radiates from the lower back, down through the buttock and into the leg.
Upper Cervical care is designed to correct spinal misalignments and restore balance, which can alleviate back pain altogether or at least decrease its frequency and severity. By adjusting the atlas, the body’s natural state of balance can return, relieving back pain, without drugs, injections or surgery!
Using diagnostic tools, such as precision x-rays and thermographic scans, Upper Cervical doctors can locate the area of misalignment and apply a series of gentle, hands-on or instrument-assisted adjustments to the upper cervical spine. These adjustments correct the misalignment, which helps to relieve the cause of the back pain, rather than just treating its symptoms.
Post-adjustment x-rays and thermographic scans are taken to ensure that the adjustment has restored proper spinal alignment.
If you’re experiencing chronic back pain, you owe it to yourself to try a natural health care alternative that allows your body to heal on its own, without drugs or surgery!
