Lower back pain can have a number of causes: improper lifting, poor posture, repetitive action, weak muscles, and more. Lower back pain can be severely debilitating and can impact your everyday life. Often when people experience back pain they take pain medication to suppress the symptoms, but this does not treat soft tissue injury in the back. Sometimes back pain is addressed using steroid injections, but these eventually lose effectiveness and can have unpleasant side effects. While chiropractic adjustment can help to relieve lower back pain, this is not the only form of non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical treatment. Instead, your chiropractor can help relieve lower back pain through the use of innovative and effective chiropractic treatments.
How Chiropractors Can Treat Lower Back Pain
Cold Laser Therapy
Unlike other forms of medical lasers, the laser your chiropractor uses for Cold Laser Therapy is low-level and does not feel hot or cause any damage to the skin. This non-invasive treatment uses carefully controlled wavelengths to stimulate the body’s natural healing processes. The light waves in the near-infrared energy of the cold laser pass harmlessly through the skin and affect the underlying tissues. Cold Laser Therapy can help to stimulate blood circulation, which in turn reduces inflammation of the tissue, decreases swelling, and minimizes pain.
Active Release Techniques (ART®)
If your back pain is caused by trauma, repetitive use, or imbalanced movement, Active Release Techniques may be the best treatment option for you. When the back muscles develop fibrous adhesions (when soft tissue collagen fibers stick to adjacent tissue), inflammation, and other issues within the soft tissue, mobility is limited and often painful. If you have suffered an injury to your lower back, it can become stiff and sore with reduced mobility that impacts your everyday life. When a chiropractor administers ART®, they will determine the specific primary cause of pain. Once the treatment area is determined, your chiropractor will utilize pressure and movement to help break up developed adhesions. Active Release Therapy improves mobility in your lower back while relieving pain by reducing inflammation. Learn more about how active release therapy can reduce your pain by reading Active Release Techniques For Soft Tissue Injuries.
Movement Therapy
Lower back pain is often caused by insufficient muscle strength elsewhere in the body. For example, if your leg muscles aren’t very strong and you try to lift something, your back muscles will also engage, which can cause strain and injury. Movement Therapy helps you to strengthen various parts of the body while moving in a controlled and purposeful manner to ensure back injuries do not occur. Your chiropractor will create a personalized Movement Therapy plan for you that takes into account your goals, any injury either past or present, and your strength. Your chiropractor will create a program that is challenging and efficient while also addressing underlying issues that would otherwise limit performance and predispose you to injury.
Visit A Chiropractor To Reduce Back Pain
A chiropractor will be able to examine your back muscles and ask you questions to determine possible causes of your back pain. They can use this information to administer the appropriate treatment. While ART®, Cold Laser Therapy, and Movement Therapy are all great chiropractic techniques, there are also other techniques and chiropractic equipment available at Performance Health And Wellness in Irvine. Our chiropractors will recommend the treatment or combinations of treatments that will best treat your lower back pain so you can get back to living a pain-free life. To schedule an appointment with one of the Performance Health And Wellness chiropractors, call 1-949-476-1250 or fill out the online contact form.
FAQ
Can any chiropractor administer ART®?
No, only chiropractors who are trained and qualified in ART® can administer this technique.
Why should I consider Cold Laser Therapy?
Cold Laser Therapy at Performance Health And Wellness provides pain relief and accelerated healing for many patients, especially those seeking treatment without the use of pharmaceuticals or surgery. Although you will feel the laser device touching your skin during the treatment, the procedure is painless and non-invasive. Cold Laser Therapy offers many benefits including:
- Rapid cell growth
- Faster wound healing
- Increased metabolic activity
- Reduced fibrous tissue formation
- Anti-inflammatory action
- Increased vascular activity
- Stimulated nerve function
Is ART® the same as chiropractic adjustment?
With a chiropractic adjustment, you will experience a gentle, controlled manipulation to reposition your back and spine, and other joints of your body. Active Release Technique (ART®) involves functional movement assessments and deep tissue massage accompanied by therapist-directed patient movements for various areas of the body.
