September marks Pain Awareness Month, the annual awareness event for issues regarding pain and pain management. Pain Awareness Month began in 2001, and is designed to help the over 100 million Americans who experience chronic pain confront the problem head on, by understanding the roots of their pain, and how treatment can stop their suffering. One of the most common sources of pain is back pain. As noted in this study from the University of North Carolina, around 80% of Americans will suffer from back pain at some point in their life. Chiropractic care is one of the best ways to help counteract back pain, and Pain Awareness Month is the perfect time to educate yourself about the benefits of chiropractic care.
What Is Back Pain?
Back pain is similar to headaches, in that there are many paths to a common suffering. Acute back pain, which lasts for six weeks or less, is often the result of a major fall or impact, such as a car accident. Chronic back pain, which lasts over three months, can be the symptom of many other problems. These include strain on the ligaments or muscles in your back, torso, or legs, a bulging disk, arthritis, spinal conditions, osteoporosis, and many more.
How Does It Affect Us
Whether you suffer from acute or chronic back pain, the effects can be devastating for your work and home life. Back pain is the injury that people most commonly miss work for, and often lasts for years, especially when left untreated. Common symptoms of back pain include aches and pains in your muscles, shooting pains, especially down your legs, difficulties bending, lifting, or walking, and even sleeping problems, due to the discomfort of back pain.
How Can Chiropractic Care Help
While back has many causes, including poor posture and weakened muscles in and around the spine, chiropractic care can help deal with any structural issues that are causing back pain. Spinal adjustments are a common method of addressing any damage done by a fall or impact, and can be used to relieve immediate pain after an accident.
Chiropractic care also helps to release the oxidative stress that many of us carry around in our spine, which often lies around the foundations of chronic back pain. Oxidative stress can lead to a wide range of diseases, including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer, so it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Additionally, attitude affects pain. Being proactive and seeking chiropractic treatment will help to relieve your pain in more ways than one, and show you that you have power over your pain, rather than vice versa.
Schedule an Appointment at Petett Chiropractic
At Petett Chiropractic, we know that everybody’s pain is different and responds to treatment in its own way. We take every part of your condition into account before treatment. If you are suffering from ongoing back pain, schedule a consultation with our Renton chiropractors to explore a safe alternative treatment to assist their healing.