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Sometimes in healthcare and life, it's good to take a step back and go back to basics. What is the number one cause of musculoskeletal pain? Lower back pain (no surprise here). What is the most common cause of lower back pain? Extension-biased or facet-mediated lower back pain. In other words, you have pain in your lower back caused by the extension of your spine, increasing weight-bearing forces on your zygapophyseal joints in your posterior spine region. There are two facet joints in the back and a large disc in front, that provides stability. Because of the high repetitive compressive forces, facet pain in this area can be quite common.
Common symptoms include
- Increased pain with lumbar extension, sit-to-stand position
- Dull, achy lower back pain with sharpness during exacerbations
- May present as leaning away from pain in antalgic gait
- Pinpoint lower back pain
In a previous post, I talked about how adjustments won’t help patients with lower back instability. However, facet-mediated lower back pain can benefit tremendously from chiropractic manipulation in the right spots. Accompany this with soft tissue therapy and modalities like the Winback tecar therapy, we can use this temporary period of increased range of motion and decreased pain to provide proper education and corrective rehabilitation that will give long-lasting relief.
Common myths I hear are that you should just “rest it” and hope it goes away which it rarely does and what you need in the case of facet-mediated LBP is to modify the provocative movements and to slowly reintroduce them to your body. Also understanding what is causing your lower pain is just as important because it is frustrating to hear patients who have been through the ringer diagnosed with lower back pain with no actual diagnosis or understanding of the root cause of their dysfunction.
If you are looking for a unique solution to managing your lower back pain and helping you
return to doing what you love, give us a call today at 727-228-3030 or schedule an
appointment online at strengthchiro.com
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