On bad backs Brighton chiropractor Matthew Bennett says “Lots of people come in to see us wanting a quick fix for their back pain. They may have had their back ache off and on for years. They may be out of shape physically, having done no meaningful exercise since school. They may be sitting 8 hours a day in a poor chair working at a stressful job. And they want us to get them better in a visit or two. We tell them honestly – it isn’t going to happen that way”.
We do get patients with a bad back better. Lots of patients. We get great results and they are really happy with our care when we ask them for feedback. One reason we get great results with back pain is we know that for most it is going to take a while.
Healing bad backs takes time
We know that unlocking stiff spinal joints takes about 6 to 8 weeks of regular care. We know that our rehabilitation exercises will not achieve their potential for 12 to 16 weeks. We know that we may have to use several different techniques to get people better. We may need to prescribe orthotics, a new chair, a new mattress or even a change in lifetstyle.
One thing we won’t do is tell you that it will be easy and you’ll be better in a visit a two.
When a bad back goes bad it very rarely happens instantly even if the pain come on instantly. Minor injuries over many months or even years cause damage to delicate spinal joints and muscles. This affects spinal joint movements and can cause weakness in other areas.
These niggles ease off in a few days and are forgotten. The niggles often become more frequent; they may hurt more than before and they take longer to go. Slowly the elastic tissues of the back stiffen up until the back cannot bend and twist normally and then PING! Acute and severe pain develops.
Of course it is true that every once and while someone crawls in to see us in agony and skips out all straightened up again but that is rare. Of the thousands of people we see each year we only see that sort of response in one or two. Usually these bad back cases have a very specific joint locking that has come on recently in the last day or two and no previous history of back pain. For most however it takes several sessions and some hard work to get a good improvement.
If you have back pain and our get better slowly approach appeals to you then we would love to hear from you. We will work with you to get you better as quicky as we can. Give us a call to make an appointment. Your back will love you for it.