Back pain is one of the most common medical problems worldwide. In fact, lower back pain remains the leading cause of global disability, with an estimated 619 million people experiencing a range of related symptoms, including dull aches or sharp pains.
Back pain can severely interfere with your daily life, making daily tasks difficult, if not impossible. Pain can also disrupt sleep, which further negatively impacts your quality of life. Suddenly, you’re in too much pain to enjoy your favorite activities, and you’re too tired to feel motivated to do anything about it.
At Family & Sport Chiropractic, we provide back pain relief near Iowa City using various chiropractic and regenerative medicine treatments. Our team provides comprehensive consultations, personalized treatments plans, and ongoing support. With a variety of services aimed to alleviate pain, we can help improve your overall well-being and quality of life. To learn more about back pain and your options for relief, read this article.
Back Pain: It’s Not All the Same
It seems simple, right? Back pain refers to pain or discomfort in your back. Unfortunately, back pain causes a variety of symptoms, some of which come and go, and others that persist. You may experience pain ranging in intensity from mild to severe; it can also spread to your hips, legs, or buttocks. Common symptoms include:
- Aching and burning
- Sharp, shooting pains
- Stabbing and throbbing
- Muscle tightness or stiffness
- Sudden muscle twitches
- Tingling, numbness, or weakness
Lower back pain (below the ribs) is common, but upper back pain (neck to ribs) also causes significant discomfort.
Anatomy of the Spine
Starting from the base of your skull and ending at your tailbone, your spine supports movement, protects vital organs and nerves, and gives your body support and shape. To help you find back pain relief near Iowa City, we always examine the spine to locate the source of the pain and understand the underlying cause of your symptoms. Your spine consists of 5 segments, 2 of which make up your upper and lower back:
- Thoracic Spine – Starting in the middle back and ending at the bottom of your ribs, this part of your spine supports your chest and abdomen, and allows you to twist and bend.
Lumbar Spine – This part of your spine begins where the thoracic spine ends and connects to the pelvis. Most back pain happens in this area because it carries more weight and allows your body to move in all directions.
The bones that make up the spine (vertebrae) have small cushions (spinal discs) between them to absorb shock when you walk, run, or jump. Surrounding muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves also provide spinal support and facilitate movement.
Injury, strain, chronic conditions, and infections affecting any parts of the back can negatively impact its function, leading to the symptoms mentioned above.
What causes back pain?
Back pain can result from the following conditions and lifestyle changes.
Sedentary Lifestyle
Just as the need for back pain relief near Iowa City rises, so does a sedentary lifestyle. With the rise in desk jobs, remote work, and car reliance, it’s estimated that nearly 1.8 billion adults don’t get enough physical activity.
You might think that sitting all day would help your back. Actually, prolonged sitting puts pressure on the muscles, causing soreness and stiffness. Added to the pressure is the common habit of slouching while seated, which weakens ligaments due to the stretching involved. At Family & Sport Chiropractic, we can teach you proper posture and help you develop a physical activity plan to keep you moving.
Repetitive Movements and Poor Posture
You always hear to lift with your knees, not with your back. Sometimes, we don’t always follow that advice. Along with this improper posture, repetitive strain injuries, which can occur when you perform the same motion repeatedly, strain the muscles, tendons, and nerves. Injuries from sudden falls, twists, or impacts can sprain ligaments by overstretching them. This pain can lead to tiny twinges or contractions known as back spasms.
Aging
The discs that sit between our vertebrae contain a hard outer shell that protects a jelly-like substance, allowing them to absorb shock. This outer shell can weaken and potentially crack as the body ages, resulting in leakage of the inner material. This can cause radiating pain in the lower limbs, and feelings of pins and needles due to altered nerve functions. For back pain relief near Iowa City, we have a number of treatments designed specifically for disc herniation treatment.
Being Overweight
Excess weight strains your spine, affecting your posture and increasing pressure on your vertebrae, potentially leading to disc herniation, pinched nerves, and spinal compressions. Fortunately, we offer back pain treatment and weight loss plans that include medications like semaglutide to help you effectively lose weight. Our weight loss program also includes nutritional counseling, gut health kits, and a weight loss kit. We create customized treatment plans for each patient based on their health history, biology, and goals.
Other Causes of Back Pain
Several factors, including smoking, stress, and various diseases (arthritis, infections, inflammation), contribute to back pain. Even nutritional deficiencies can contribute to back pain because our dietary intake supports the constant building and rebuilding of our bones (including the spine). So not getting enough calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin K can increase the risk of bone loss and back pain.
What to Do When You Notice Back Pain
A lot of people wait to see if their back pain will go away, and sometimes it does. We recommend alternating heat and ice to ease pain and reduce swelling. You should also refrain from strenuous exercise, as it can exacerbate your pain. More than anything, we recommend coming in to speak with our team about back pain relief near Iowa City.
Often, you might think that you should lie down and rest to ease your pain. That could help, but gentle movements and stretches can also help, depending on the cause and type of back pain you’re experiencing. To ensure correct posture and technique, and thus effectively manage your pain, seek personalized guidance from physical therapists and chiropractors.
Comprehensive Consultations
Back pain can be debilitating, and you want a doctor who truly listens and understands your pain. During the consultation, we will discuss your symptoms and goals for treatment. To understand your unique case, we conduct a thorough examination to assess your spine and identify the cause of your pain. We’ll work together to create a personalized treatment plan that aligns with your goals, budget, and schedule.
Treatment Options
Family & Sport Chiropractic integrates chiropractic care and wellness services, sharing a building with Iowa Wellness Center. We designed our services to help you find effective relief that treats the source of your pain, instead of masking it with medications. A few of our treatments for back pain relief near Iowa City include the following.
Chiropractic Care
People of all ages and all walks of life can experience back pain. We typically plan 5 chiropractic care sessions to adjust your spine, relieving stress points and pain. We may use a back traction technique to gradually stretch your vertebrae and relieve pressure on your discs and nerves to reduce pain. This can reset your spine back to its default state, providing you with long-lasting relief and improved mobility. We perform back traction as a back spasm treatment, as the stretching can relax the muscles and prevent painful spasms.
Did you know that lower back pain—or any spinal pain—can cause headaches and migraines? With improved posture and reduced stress, back pain relief can also be a chronic migraine treatment.
Hako-Med Horizontal Therapy
Hako-Med uses electrodes on your skin to deliver electrotherapy and electrical stimulation, mimicking your body’s natural signals and stimulating a chemical healing response. It alleviates muscle spasms, improves strength and mobility by inducing muscle contractions and relaxations, and encourages collagen production for tissue repair.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy helps you recover from an injury that may be causing your back pain. Using our Ergo-Flex Technology, Back on Trac, we can perform a hands-free and restraint-free spinal traction to ease pressure on your spinal discs and nerves. This technology was made for physical therapy, and works gently to stretch your spine and reduce pain.
Ozone Therapy
Ozone therapy uses medical-grade ozone to promote wound healing, treat chronic diseases, and enhance circulation. This works as an effective option for back pain relief near Iowa City because it shrinks the disc and lessens pressure and inflammation around the nerves.
Ozone Therapy contains an extra oxygen molecule, making it a “supercharged” form of oxygen. This can improve more than your spinal health, because it also enhances your immunity and has anti-aging benefits. Learn more in this blog on ozone therapy.
PRP Injections
PRP injections work for aesthetic services like hair restoration, but can also improve the following symptoms:
- Back and neck pain
- Arthritis
- Foot and ankle pain
- Ligament, cartilage, and tendon injuries
- Neuropathy
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy involves drawing a sample of your blood, centrifuging it to isolate platelets (blood-clotting cells with growth factors), and applying the concentrate to the treatment site via injection. By utilizing your body’s own natural reparative properties, this treatment can help streamline injury recovery and reduce chronic pain. Targeting the cells from the inside out, PRP therapy provides relief from deep-rooted injuries that just won’t go away.
Shockwave Therapy
Shockwave therapy uses pulsed acoustic waves to produce micro-trauma, thereby stimulating the body’s natural healing process and relieving pain. This also enhances blood flow and improves oxygen absorption, which also accelerates recovery. This noninvasive therapy has customizable settings, allowing us to tailor the treatment to your specific pain.
Results
Results for your back pain relief vary depending on the severity of your symptoms and your personalized treatment plan. With each session, you should gradually feel better and notice improved mobility. Your lifestyle changes also affect your results, so be gentle with your body and support it from the inside out with proper nutrition. If you need a vitamin and mineral boost, try our IV therapy!
Come to Family & Sport Chiropractic, We Have Your Back!
At Family & Sport Chiropractic, we have your back when it comes to back pain relief near Iowa City. You don’t have to accept chronic pain and reduced mobility as just another part of life—we sure don’t. Don’t wait for your pain to become severe. Start now with a consultation. You can also try our treatment planning tool to pinpoint specific areas of concern.
