At some point in life most of us will suffer from soreness in our lower backs, whether from forgetting to lift with our legs, poor posture, or simple wear and tear from an active lifestyle. If the pain radiates down your arms or legs or does not dissipate with exercise and time, it could be a result of compression of the spine and the nerves inside the spinal column.
Unless the compression is addressed, you will never be free from the pain and resulting nerve damage. There are ways to get relief without invasive procedures or potentially addictive pain medication, and one of the most effective of these is spinal decompression.
Causes of Back Pain
While some back pain can be caused by muscle strain, acute back pain is more often caused by damage to the nerves within the spinal cord.
Injury to the cushioning disks between the vertebrae can cause pressure to be placed on the nerves.
Herniated disks, bulges, or tears in the protective cartilage can cause the spine to become misaligned. Instead of a healthy curve with plenty of cushioning between the bones and the nerves, patients can develop areas of intense pressure on the myelin sheaths that protect the nerves.
The resulting pain can radiate down the spine and into the lower extremities in the case of sciatica. Once a doctor has determined that the spine is out of alignment and this is the cause of your pain, several treatment options are available, but one of the most successful is spinal decompression.
How Does Spinal Decompression Work?
The procedure involves a careful examination of the affected areas so that the precise tension can be applied to the patient to relieve the pressure on the spine. Once the patient is on the table they are fitted with a special harness that receives prescribed amounts of tension, controlled by a machine.
The spine then stretches and straightens, the tension relieving the pressure on the nerves within the spine, restoring the proper balance to the musculoskeletal system in the lower back.
The bulges or herniations in the disks have a chance to repair themselves once this pressure is removed, which in turn frees the patient from the pain. Once the proper alignment is restored, the nerves are no longer being affected by the pressure from the disks.
While there are surgical procedures that offer depression as well, beginning with the least invasive method is always the preference. A few visits to the chiropractor can provide you the relief you have been seeking from the back pain without long recovery times, expensive surgeries, and the side effects that come with pain medication.