As you grow older, you tend to develop lower back pain or lumbago. Acute pain is the most common type of back pain. Acute back pain is short term, generally lasting from a few days to a few weeks. Acute pain comes on quickly and often leaves just as quickly. The commonest reasons for acute lower back pain are damaged muscles, ligaments and tendons in the lower back. Acute back pain can also be caused by kidney stones, pelvic inflammation and even some bowel conditions like constipation, inflammatory bowel disease or diverticulitis may have some back pain associated with it. These are much less common.
In rehabilitation there is basically one overriding difference and that is the pain is induced over and over in acute injuries by rehabilitation exercises. The process of movement slowly creates micro tears in the tissue which aids in increasing muscle flexibility as well as allowing cellular differentiation minimizing the ever increasing scar tissue. According to some literature it has been reported that scar tissue likes to become bone tissue which is extremely inflexible. The muscle chemicals and electrical charges can communicate with our central nervous system and the induced pain is created by our muscle stretching. In essence for gain there is pain and the carryover relief period is due to constant micro re injury for overall long term gains.
A study conducted by physiotherapist L.J. Nosse2 found that EMG activity, declined over 35% within 10-seconds of inversion, the effect was found to start at the very shallow angle of 25°. It is suggested that the stretch to the muscles while inverted allowed the circulation to enter the sore muscle, bringing oxygen rich blood; inversion also stimulated the lymph system to clear the muscle of the toxin build-up. The user therefore would feel a decrease in pain and the stiffness in the muscle would subside. As noted in previous sections, inversion also encourages re-alignment of the spine and decreases pressure on nerve-roots.
Now, put both hands on your side on the bed and push yourself upwards up to sitting. While pushing your body in such a way, you should gently bend your legs at the knees and hips. Don’t forget that iron rod in your spine – move your spine as a unit. Don’t twist it. Try to anchor your position by using the weight of your legs. This way, the rest of your body will easily be pushed up without applying extra force or pressure from your spine or back. If you seriously want to avoid back pain, you should not hurry up. Go slow in a comfortable manner in order to accomplish the movement safely.
Traditional Acupuncture is based upon the belief of ‘Meridian Points’ in our body. Acupuncturists believed that these meridian points were energy channels that related to different vessels in our body – the Liver, Large Intestine, Heart etc. These energy channels run all through our body. The traditional belief in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture for pain relief, is that by tapping into these energy channels through the use of a ‘needle’, anything from acute to chronic pain, back aches, buttock pain and back spasms caused by these areas can be relieved. Because of this, the needle is often not placed anywhere near the actual point of pain.
Follow-on exercises are necessary to reverse the original imbalance that may have led to chronic pain. For example, when we have upper back pain, the solution is more strength in the upper back and more flexibility in the front of the chest and shoulders. The resting position of the shoulder is behind the midline with the middle edges of the shoulder blades close to the spine. For low back pain, the remedy is stretches for the front of the thighs and inner thighs. Back strength is essential. Often, what we are missing is flexibility in the deep muscles of the back. Applying Reposturing treatment to the hips also works for people who have chronic feet problems. With better alignment, the balance gets better and foot pain usually reduces. The feet are free to provide balance and support and stability in movement.
The key to carryover pain relief with acute injuries is rehabilitation or stretching of the repaired tissues. It is necessary for the patient to regain function and not be limited due to inelasticity of the repaired tissues or rigidity of the cell walls. Where there is an abundance of non-natural cells which combine to form tissues there needs to be more cells with the exact functions as the structure had prior to injury. In rehabilitation exercises it is a process of constant stretching of the cells and tissues to maintain and increase flexibility. In knee replacement surgery it can be something as simple as a ‘constant motion device” which is nothing but a device that moves the knee joint back and forth immediately post surgery to maintain flexibility. The key is the “re injury” on the cell walls allows for better cell differentiation which is beneficial in the overall healing process. Lack of mobility generally leads to extended injury and permanent painful limitation of motion.
What we do in Reposturing is ascertain where imbalances exist in a person’s entire body. On your very first assessment appointment, we want to know what physical activities you engaged in throughout your life. We’re interested in any injuries, surgeries, illnesses or conditions, as well as the physical demands of your work and more. All of these situations have an effect on your experience of your body. When we understand the byproduct of your chronic pain and what conditions exist in your life, it will help us understand how to help, if we can at all.
In fact, low back pain is prevalent enough that in the United States, it’s the most common reason people see a doctor. It’s also the biggest reason why people under the age of 45 become disabled. Its costs are expensive not just because of the direct health-care costs involved, but also because of work time and productivity lost. If the acute low back pain is treated properly and it’s begun soon enough, the pain itself can be treated and corrected before it becomes much more severe and harder to treat, thus causing more discomfort and more time and money lost from work or extra health-care costs caused by the delay.
Scientists have known for a long time that human epithelial tissues loses elasticity with aging. It has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many progressive diseases of aging, including hardening of the arteries, joint stiffness, cataracts, Alzheimer’s and dementia. However, previous researchers believed the reason for the loss was only the “glue” that seals the epithelial tissues, so called extra cellular proteins such as the elastic protein titin, rather than the cells themselves. Many treatments of diseases caused by cell elasticity loss have been based on this assumption. Many post injury treatments are also predicated upon maintaining muscle elasticity.
Inhibition of the stabilising musculature occurs with an episode of acute spinal pain and this can persist beyond the resolution of the pain to generate a long-lasting instability which puts the segment at increased risk of re-injury over time. Longer term effects include the occurrence of degenerative alterations in the spinal structures such as joints and discs, causing segmental levels to develop stiffness and eventually chronic back pain. The discs have fluid forced out of them by gravitational compression forces and must counteract them by generating a fluid absorption force.
Several studies have looked at the effects of advice to stay active in the treatment of acute low back pain and found that advice to stay active was better or similar to advice to rest in bed. In an update of a 2004 Cochrane Review of trials on bed rest for acute low back pain and sciatica, it was found that for patients with acute pain, advice to rest in bed was less effective in reducing pain and improving an individual’s ability to perform every day activities than advice to stay active. For patients with sciatica, there was little or no difference between advice to rest in bed and advice to stay active.
Back pain is one of the main symptoms of preterm labor and is the second most common reason for a visit to the physician. By far the most common causes of back pain are “mechanical” caused by disc degeneration, muscle or ligament strain. But can sometimes be caused by a problem with the kidneys. Acute low back pain is usually a problem that can work itself out over a period of time. Hamstrings work with the quadriceps to stabilize movements of the knee and pelvis. This requires that the muscles are equal in strength, length and flexibility. If the hamstrings are weaker than the quadriceps, then the pulley system formed by the muscles is disrupted. The tighter, shorter quadriceps will pull downward on the pelvis in front and upward on the knee, since the hamstrings are too weak to exert a counterbalancing pull.