BACKPAIN

MID-BACK

Backpain is a very general word, caused by hundreds of different chiropractic conditions. Most of them originate in the spine or ribs joints or back muscles, but referred pain from the organs does occur occasionally. A stomach ulcer can give you back pain. So can a tumour in the pancreas cause mid backpain. Rarely, fortunately! It's a 100% fatal, even if diagnosed early, which it only rarely is.

Because "back pain" is so general, click on the links to the relevant part of the back. Short Anecdotes from the Coalface.







The mid-back is called the thoracic spine. The name comes from 'thorax' which is that part of the spine between the neck and the diaphragm, the large muscle separating the chest from the tum.

The thoracic spine has twelve bones or vertebrae, and a myriad of joints and muscles relating to the ribs. Each ribs makes three joints with the spine and one with the sternum, or breast bone. Twelve pairs of ribs ... you get it, 12 x 2 ribs x 3 joints in the back each plus one in the front with the sternum ... 12x2x(3+1) = 96 joints! You get it! Pain!

For more information about pain in the breastbone (sternum), click here. COSTOSTERNAL CHEST PAIN >>



Treatment of midback and rib pain.

The treatment of rib pain is something that chiropractors specialise in. For more information about chiropractic rib pain treatment, both in the back and by the breast-bone, Click here. RIB PAIN TREATMENT ...





Scheuermann's disease



Scheuermanns disease is a condition affecting about 5% of teenagers. Sadly, parents have often been told it's 'growing pains' (a condition which does not exist) and by the time they get to us, it is already chronic, and a spinal deformity is inevitable. This need not be so. As with adults, any pain that your child experiences which does not of itself go away should be investigated. When it comes to backpain, prevention is better than a cure.

Interestingly, researchers have shown that people with Scheuermann's disease have a much higher incidence of diseases of the stomach. This is because the stomach (really just a specialised muscle) is ennervated (in part) from the mid thoracics, where Scheuermanns usually is found. Suffering from indigestion heartburn?

Gelatine powder, proved to give enormous help to everything from ulcers to the cartilage in diseases such as Scheuermann's. Make your own at home. It's so easy ...


LOWER MID-BACK: THORACO-LUMBAR REGION.

Maigne's Syndrome

The junction between the very stable thoracic spine (owing to the ribs) and the highly mobile lumbar spine is a vulnerable area often causing backpain that may spread into the buttock and side of the leg, giving the appearance of a sciatica. For more, about Maignes Syndrome, click here.






THE LOWER BACK

The lower-back or lumbar spine stretches from the diaphragm to the pelvis, and consists of five bones. This is where most serious backpain comes from.

Low back pain used to be called lumbago, but we don't use the word any more. It's too vague. Lumbago can be caused by anything from a slipped disc, to a sacro-iliac joint problem, to arthritis, to cancer ... forget the word. If you have arthritis in the lower back, or even are planning to go into the garden, think exercise.

Referred pain can also occur, for example menstrual cramps often refer to the back.

Every man must, it's compulsory!, eat a tomato a day. Whilst metastatic disease in the spine and pelvis is relatively uncommon in comparison with all the other causes of back pain, prostate cancer is still the most common terminal cancer in men. For more about how tomatoes drastically reduce the rate of prostate cancer, click here … TOMATO PROSTATE >>









In Vincent van Gogh's days probably nobody knew about back exercises, but today every gardener should do a few exercises before venturing out. Gardening and backpain are so synonomous that in Holland they use the same word for gardening (spitten) and acute back pain (spit).

If you sign up for Chiropractic Tips (they're free), you'll get a simple set of basic back exercises. Chiropractic Tips.

Slipped disc

The so-called slipped disc, a very broad layman's term for a very complex syndrome, is a condition that Chiropractic excels in. The trick is to prevent a Grade I from progressing to a Grade 4. If you suffer from low back pain, then you ought to know about the FOUR grades of slipped disc.
• Click here for more about slipped disks.
  
  
• SLIPPED DISC SYMPTOMS Case File >>
  
  
• Lateral disc herniation and chronic disabling low back pain.
  
  
• Postero-lateral disc herniation …
  
  

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Lumbar facet syndrome

Small joints in the spine are probably the most common cause of low back pain, characterised by pain when bending backwards and to the side. For more about how chiropractic excels in the treatment of this very common malady, click here. LUMBAR FACET SYNDROME >>

Seven good reasons NOT to take analgesics. FREE PAIN PILLS.


Spondylolysthesis




This is one cause of chronic low back pain. It may be caused either by a stress fracture (usually in early childhood) or by degenerative change in the older person. These abnormalities allow one vertebra to slide forwards over the vertebra below it. This can also trap the nerves travelling to the legs causing pain and weakness in the legs. Read more about the Chiropractic management of Spondylolysthesis. It's not at all uncommon.

Leg pain with NO low back pain

There is an unusual condition that causes pain in the leg, with exercise, with no low back pain. Read more about INTERMITTENT CLAUDICATION …LEG PAIN >>



FROM THE COALFACE

Mrs S taught me a new Dutch word. "I have ontiegelijke pijn." I had no idea what the word meant, but I grasped her meaning. Totally unbearable. And, she had had it for two long miserable years.

At 83 she had been told by numerous doctors that she had arthritis, and at her age simply had to live with the pain. Little do doctors know!

Bending over backwards caused severe pain, so she walked like she had a carrot up, to put it crudely, you-know-where.

In chiropractic terms, Mrs S had what we call a Lumbar Facet Syndrome. Her various doctors had refused to take x-rays of her low back, and so I really don't know just how severe the wear-and-tear in her lumbar spine is. Quite advanced I expect. Thank goodness it's not cancer. The long and the short of it is that Mrs S has about 60% less back pain (after about two months of treatment) and she can now walk upright, like the good God-fearing woman she is. Cured? Certainly not, she'll have to wait for heaven for the new back that brings no tears. She now comes in once every three weeks, and we are both well pleased. The carrot is out, and the two-year "ontiegelijke pijn" is of the past.

She is doing my exercise program faithfully, and knows that digging in the garden, and even vacuuming her home, is a thing of the past. Luckily Mr S is in good spirits!

THE PELVIS and the SI-joints.

Financial burden of LOW BACK PAIN

FOOT PAIN

If you backpain, or your neck for that matter, is not responding the way you would like it too, ask your chiropractor to look at your foot, and the length of your leg.