One of the things I’ve noticed after years of working with people who have back pain is how badly we want the answer.
“What caused it?”
“What exercise fixes it?”
“Should I use heat or ice?”
“Do I need an adjustment?”
“Should I stretch?”
We want one culprit and one solution.
Unfortunately, bodies don’t always cooperate with that plan.
Back pain can be influenced by a lot of things—how you’re moving, how much you’re moving, what you’ve been doing lately, strength, an injury, sleep, stress, your work environment, and sometimes things we can’t neatly identify.
That’s why I tend to think of back pain as something that may need a toolkit rather than a single tool.
Chiropractic can be one of those tools
Obviously, I’m a chiropractor.
I wouldn’t have spent all these years doing this if I didn’t believe chiropractic care could be useful.
But I’ve never thought that means everything else should be ignored.
If I can help improve the way you’re moving or decrease some of the discomfort you’re experiencing, great.
Then let’s use that opportunity.
Move.
Walk.
Get stronger.
Work on the things your body isn’t doing particularly well.
Because ultimately, I’d rather have you able to do more than simply have you coming into my office because your back hurts again.
Movement doesn’t have to be complicated
People sometimes think they need the perfect back exercise.
Usually, I’m much more interested in finding something you’ll actually do.
Walking can be useful.
Strength training can be useful.
Yoga or other forms of mobility work may be useful for some people.
Sometimes it’s simply getting someone who’s afraid to move comfortable with moving again.
The important part is that we don’t turn the back into something so fragile that we’re afraid to use it.
Your back is supposed to bend.
It’s supposed to twist.
It’s supposed to carry things.
That doesn’t mean you should ignore pain and start deadlifting a refrigerator tomorrow.
It means the long-term goal usually isn’t to protect your back from movement forever.
It’s to gradually help your body become more capable of it.
Don’t underestimate the rest of you
Here’s where things get interesting.
Pain isn’t just about muscles, joints and discs.
Sleep matters.
Stress can matter.
How worried you are about the pain can matter.
What you believe the pain means can matter.
That doesn’t mean the pain is “in your head.”
The pain is real.
It means your nervous system is part of the experience, too.
That’s one reason approaches like relaxation, breathing exercises, mindfulness and simply understanding what’s happening can sometimes be useful pieces of the same puzzle.
You don’t have to pick a team.
You can use more than one tool.
Try this this week
Think about something you’ve stopped doing because of your back.
Not something crazy.
Just something ordinary.
Maybe you’ve stopped walking as far.
Maybe you’re avoiding gardening.
Maybe you don’t pick things up from the floor anymore.
Maybe you’ve convinced yourself you can’t bend a certain way.
Ask yourself:
“Is there a smaller version of this that I could comfortably start doing again?”
You don’t have to go from zero to 100.
Sometimes you just need to go from zero to five.
Then see what your body tells you.
A little trivia
Your spine is supported by much more than the muscles you can see in the mirror.
There are layers of muscles around the spine, abdomen and pelvis working together to help you move, stabilize yourself and respond to changing loads.
Your “core” is a lot more interesting than six-pack abs.
Which is fortunate for some of us.
And because we can’t be serious all the time...
My back went out last week.
I didn’t even know it had plans.
Apparently it had a better social life than I do.
— Dr. Dan
