Stamford CT- Back Pain is it Muscle or Mechanical?

(Newswire.net — January 21, 2021) Darien, CT —

Mechanical Low Back Pain?

90% of patients who present with low back pain feel that their back pain is muscular in nature. They are right, but they are only partially right. Here is what I find when I examine a patient, I find that the muscle attaches to the bone in the area of pain is being stretched too far or is too weak. In effect, it is a muscle problem because there is much more nerve innervation to the muscles making the muscle more pain-sensitive. The underlying cause of muscle pain is due to stretching or weakness. So in this case the patient is both right and wrong.
Now if the typical approach is Advil or Aleve then there will be an improvement in low back pain due to the muscular component. If there is a structural misalignment the pain will return as soon as the effects of the NSAIDs wear off. This creates a cycle of pain where the back pain sufferer has good days and bad days. When there are good days it is natural to assume that the problem is solved. Only yesterday I encountered a patient who spent over a month in bed from the intense back pain she was having a few months back. Eventually, she was able to get back to work but still has back soreness on a regular basis. I tried to tell her that the problem still exists or she would not still have pain. The pain improved but the underlying mechanical deficit still exists. She preferred to wait until the pain came back hoping it would not. Experience tells me that the back pain will return and probably hurt as much as the month-long episode.
Back pain is rarely a one-time event. Yes, the pain may come and go but the issue causing it lives on. A bad lower back is easier and less expensive to fix when pain is not as bad. Try telling that to someone whose pain is not that bad even though it is chronic in nature.
Try and understand that the muscle attaches to the bone. When the bone loses mechanical efficiency the muscle has to work harder. When that happens the muscle will eventually spasm and tighten up to meet the increased mechanical loading. Over time the loading is too much and more muscles are recruited to hold up your skeleton. The bones shift and then adhesions form to sustain the mechanical load. Adhesions are like scar tissue but on a microscopic scale. Adhesions in the muscle help support the wayward bone causing the pain but tend to shorten the muscle. This can be really painful and cause further restriction.
This may come as a surprise but arthritis is pain, wearing away of the bone, and lack of mobility. So it should be obvious that a misaligned bone causes the muscle to overwork leading to adhesions to buttress the area and restrict motion due to the shortening of the muscle fibers.
So why would you come to see a chiropractor for low back pain? If your problem is structural you are in the right place. When the structure is able to support the body you have a solid foundation to start resolving soft tissue comorbidities that would have you thinking that there is a muscle problem.