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LOWER BACK PAIN
Lower back pain is one of the most
widely reported types of pain in the
United States today. It is the most
common cause of industrial
disability, and the leading cause of
physical disability payments taxing
our Social Security system.
Studies suggest that the prevalence
of lower back pain in the adult
population of the United States is
at least 60% and its incidence,
about 30%. Astonishing as it may
sound, 10-12% of the population is
seeking health care for low back
pain at any given moment.
Because the structures of the
lower back are very complicated,
and the specific symptoms of
lower back pain are highly
varied, lower back pain is one
of the most difficult to
diagnose and treat.
While
some forms of back pain are
transient—such as simple bruises
caused by light trauma, which
require at most an analgesic
treatment to ease the pain until it
heals naturally,—persistent or
chronic lower back pain usually
develops over an extended period of
time, due to interacting causative
factors involving the vertebrae and
their supporting tissues. Although
these two types of "extended pain"
are similar in many respects,
researchers have distinguished them
according to a few basic guidelines.
Generally, pain is described as
"persistent" if it does not heal
promptly, based on statistical
standards; or, if it recurs
regularly, in defiance of any
treatments provided. "Chronic" is
the term usually reserved for pain
lasting longer than three months,
which, in both cause and effect,
often involves psychological as well
as physical factors, or combinations
of the two.
As
with all types of pain, there are
many possible factors causing or
contributing to both types of
extended lower back pain. The two
main causes are
spondylosis, or
degenerative disk disease, and
muscular or ligamentous
inflammation.
In fact, damage to
ligaments
is
estimated to be responsible for
up to 70% of all cases of lower
back pain. In my clinic, I would
estimate these causes to be a
high as 95% of back pain.
The
chronic lower back pain patient
typically experiences some type of
trauma to the lower back that causes
injury to the interspinous and
supraspinous ligaments.
This
may causes some forward slippage of
the fifth lumbar vertebra onto the
sacrum, which in turn causes
excessive pressure on the vertebra
disk. Fissures may occur at the
annulus fibrosis, and this begins
the degenerative disk problem.
Ligaments are designed to handle a
normal amount of stress that will
stretch them to their natural limit,
and will return to their normal
length once the stress is removed.
If additional (traumatic) stress is
applied— stretching the ligament
beyond its natural range of
extension—the ligament will not
return to its normal length, but
will instead remain permanently
overstretched, diminishing its
power. Such a condition is called
ligament laxity. Ligament laxity in
the lower back, as elsewhere in the
body, may be caused by a major
traumatic injury, repeated minor
injuries to the same area, or simple
normal aging. Unlike muscle tissue,
ligaments have a very limited
circulatory system that means a poor
supply of blood to replenish them.
This is why ligaments do not heal
well on their own, and why
Prolotherapy
is needed in these
types of injuries to stimulate
circulation and to promote new cell
growth.
With its overburdened matrix of
ligaments, muscle, nerves, and
small, interlocking bones, the
spine is an area that benefits
greatly from Prolotherapy.
More>>>
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DARROW
WELLNESS INSTITUTE
