Most people will experience chronic back or neck pain at some point in their life. Acute pain is sudden, sharp pain that subsides after a few days or a couple of months. However, some people continue to be afflicted from the pain long term and this is what we would characterize as chronic back or neck pain. Chronic pain may last for a dozen plus weeks, numerous months, or even multiple years and be continuous or intermittent. There are levels to chronic back or neck pain ranging from mild all the way to disabling however both can restrict mobility and interfere with your quality of life.

What causes back and neck pain?

In most cases, back and neck pain may have many different causes, including any of the following:

• Overuse, strenuous activity, or improper use, such as repetitive or heavy lifting
• Trauma, injury, or fractures
• Degeneration of vertebrae, often caused by stresses on the muscles and ligaments that support your spine, or the effects of aging
• Infection
• Abnormal growth, such as a tumor or bone spur
• Obesity, which places increased weight on your spine, and pressure on your discs
• Poor muscle tone
• Muscle tension or spasm
• Sprain or strain
• Ligament or muscle tears
• Joint problems, such as arthritis
• Smoking
• Protruding or herniated (slipped) disk and pinched nerve
• Osteoporosis and compression fractures
• Congenital (present at birth) abnormalities of your vertebrae and bones
• Abdominal problems, such as an aortic aneurysm

What are the symptoms of back and neck pain?

Symptoms associated with back pain may include:

• Dull, burning, or sharp pain in your back.  The pain can be confined to a single spot or cover a large area
• Leg numbness or tingling above or below your knee
• Stiffness or achiness that occurs anywhere along your spine (from your neck to your tailbone)
• Sharp, shooting pain that radiates from your low back to your buttocks, down the back of  your thigh, and into your calf and toes
• Consistent ache in the middle or lower part of your back, especially after standing or sitting for an extended period

Symptoms associated with neck pain can be:

• Arm numbness or tingling
• Headaches
• Shoulder pain
• Sharp shooting pains or a dull aches in your neck

The chiropractic care profession is devoted to the non-surgical treatment of disorders of the nervous system and/or musculoskeletal system. Chiropractors manipulate the spine delicately with their hands (or a handheld device) knowing proper alignment of the body’s musculoskeletal structure will enable the body to heal itself without surgery or medication.  Spinal manipulation includes applying pressure at specific points, pulling, and skillfully repositioning of the head, shoulders, neck, back, or hips to help reduce back pain.

In a non-invasive, non-addictive treatment, known as a chiropractic adjustment, chiropractors reduce joint restrictions or misalignments in the spine and other areas in the body in an effort to lessen inflammation and better the function of both the affected joint and nervous system.  Mobility can be restored to joints restricted by tissue injury often from a traumatic event, such as falling, improperly trying to lift a heavy object, or repetitive stress such as sitting in an office chair without proper back support over time.

By increasing joint mobility and improving your nervous system function and spinal health, your body has the ability to better manage the discomfort in the back or neck.  The American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society, in their patient care guidelines, included spinal manipulation as one of several treatment options for trained practitioners to consider using. Including Chiropractors.

4 Benefits of Chiropractic Adjustments

Below are 4 research findings (evidence) supporting the beneficial outcomes from receiving chiropractic adjustments.

1. Sciatica: The European Spine Journal published findings from a clinical trial uncovering how chiropractic adjustments resulted in a 72% success rate in treating sciatica-related symptoms. This can be compared to a 20% success rate from treatment with physical therapy, and a 50% success rate from corticosteroid injections.

2. Low Back Pain: Another study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found patients with chronic low-back pain treated by chiropractors showed greater improvement and satisfaction one month following treatment compared to patients treated by family physicians. Satisfaction scores were higher for chiropractic patients, as a higher proportion of chiropractic patients (57% vs. 13% in the family physician group) reported that their low-back pain was better or much better.

3. Neck Pain: In a clinical trial compared was the effectiveness of manual therapy (chiropractic), physical therapy, and continued care by a general practitioner in patients with nonspecific neck pain. The success rate at 7 weeks was twice as high for the manual therapy group (68.3 percent) as for the continued care group (general practitioner). Hoving et al (2002), Annals of Internal Medicine

4. Neck Pain: In a Randomized controlled trial, 183 patients with neck pain were randomly allocated to manual therapy (spinal mobilization), physiotherapy (mainly exercise) or general practitioner care (counseling, education and drugs) in a 52-week study. The clinical outcomes measures showed that manual therapy resulted in faster recovery than physiotherapy and general practitioner care. Moreover, total costs of the manual therapy-treated patients were about one-third of the costs of physiotherapy or general practitioner care. Korthals-de Bos et al (2003), British Medical Journal.

Further studies that prove Craniosacral Therapy is effective in treating neck pain can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4894825/

How the Head is Involved

Your brain produces a fluid called Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF), it’s consistency is that of a liquid substance. It is encased and travels within the head and spine. This controls your nerves , which control your muscles and also provides the energy for the rest of your body to function properly.

When subluxations / restrictions develop in your body, the functional physiology of your nervous system is altered, it shifts and becomes impeded resulting in conditions of muscle tightness creating the symptoms of pain.

Allowing your body to have those restrictions released by a chiropractor and additionally with craniosacral therapy, will allow your body to improve its muscular function, energy distribution and result in the cessation of pain.

Research studies show that herniated discs, spinal stenosis and other physical internal bodily variances have very little to do with pain. Plenty of people without pain have herniated discs. Pain comes from the lack of CSF flow within the spine, and facilitating treatment to include the head and neck is a very effective approach.

How Does a Chiropractor Manage Chronic Pain?

Acute pain and Chronic pain respond well to Chiropractic care and Craniosacral Therapy (CST). CST improves the function of the Central Nervous System through the release of energetic flow restrictions within the body’s connective and fascial tissue networks. Once that is facilitated through hands-on care, conditions off all kinds and their symptoms resolve quickly.

Schedule a consultation and treatment with Dr. Kaminsky, and feel well again.

Articles:

Alex was born in March 1972. At the age of 7 he started to experience frequent headaches with all the conventional symptoms of a Migraine headache. His particular headache resulted in him experiencing auras, nausea and sensitivity to light with no particular trigger to the onset of the migraine.

After years of treatments, therapies and medications, his headaches were no better and Alex continued to experience them all throughout childhood and into young adulthood. Some years the headaches would come monthly, some years every two to three months and some years weekly. His headaches were incurable, there was nothing that could alleviate the symptoms and head pain. Until he experienced cranial manual therapy, which resulted in the complete eradication of his life-long Migraine Headaches.

At the age of 16 Alex noticed a mild deformity in the right side of his ribs, a slightly lower right shoulder and the experience of constant lower back pain. Although mild, a diagnosis of Idiopathic Adolescent Scoliosis had been labeled.

At the age of 18 he was involved in a serious car accident that exacerbated his lower back pain. Throughout the years Alex had tried a multitude of conventional treatments but continued to suffer on and off with lower back pain, even throughout Chiropractic school and beyond.

In 2015 and fifteen+ years out of Chiropractic school, Dr. Kaminsky participated in his first and life changing Craniosacral Therapy seminar and he was fascinated, intrigued and hooked. It all made sense, he was immediately astute to its methods and since that first seminar, and as a result of trading sessions of Craniosacral Therapy with his colleagues, his back pain subsided and till this day has never returned.

Dr. Kaminsky decided to enhance his skill-set to better serve his patients. He began reaching out to other craniosacral therapists, cranial osteopaths, and many types of leading practitioners from various fields for advise and consultations He also enrolled in Upledger continuing education seminars with a focus on mostly hands-on manual and alternative therapies.

And, as he gained knowledge with his own health issues, he has learned to help more and more patients achieve great health results.

Dr. Alex Kaminsky is headache free and low back pain free, and has committed himself to a life of learning, teaching and treating patients. His emphasis is on the patient’s stored patterns of the body and each individual healthcare needs.