Ouch! Where did that come from?!
I’ve had so many patients wake up one morning, turn to look at their phones, and all of a sudden experience excruciating neck pain. Or maybe they bent over to tie their shoes, and now they have radiating pain down the back of their leg.
This is what I call the “straw that breaks the camel’s back.” The pain may have started today, but the problem has actually been developing for a while now. It may have started with a car accident or sports injury from 10 years ago. Or it could just be the years of repetitive stress on your spine, like sleeping on your stomach with your head turned to one side or even poor posture.
The spine is made up of bones called vertebrae, and fibrous tissue called discs. Years of wear and tear on your body can create micro tears in the disc. This allows the nucleus in the center of the disc to start pushing toward the outside. This is the process of degeneration and disc herniations.
Very often, we can have these disc bulges in our spine without feeling any pain. According to the American Journal of Neuroradiology, 20% of people younger than the age of 50 had disc bulges without feeling any pain. Additionally, 75% of people who are 75 and older showed signs of disc bulges without feeling pain.
So, as you get older, there are obvious signs of wear and tear on the discs in your spine. By continuing to practice poor habits like hunching over your laptop, lifting incorrectly with your back, or tilting your head to hold your cell phone, it is really only a matter of time til you stress the spine enough to cause pain.
Another reason that you may begin feeling pain is when the joints in your spine have become misaligned. This may have happened for the same reasons: a minor car accident years ago, a high school sports injury, trips, falls or normal wear and tear on the body.
When the joints in your spine become misaligned, it puts pressure on the sensitive nerves that exit your spine. That excess pressure can lead to localized or radiating pain. The pain level can range from mild to severe depending on the amount of pressure on the nerve and where the pressure is.
The key to getting out of pain is finding where the nerve is becoming irritated. In our office, specific tests and technology help us to pinpoint what is causing the problem. Once we assess the spine with proper diagnostics, we can understand what the problem is and create a plan to fix it.
In our office, we don’t believe in just covering or masking the symptom. Our goal is to work on getting pressure off the nerve to allow your body to function and heal naturally.
If that sounds like something that can help you, schedule your complimentary consultation today! Or if you have any questions, we would love to hear from you at info@ahavachiropractic.com.