Back pain is prevalent in society. And YOUR back pain could be all too prevalent for you. The pain can range from a mild stiff ache to an incapacitating sharp pain. It happens for different reasons like accidents, injuries, repetitive use, etc. Or it can seemingly happen for no reason at all. Even sneaky things like bad posture can cause aches and pains. Does this sound like YOUR back pain too?
At the root of back pain is often a similar origin or culprit. The stories behind our back pains may be different, however the cause or source in our bodies may be the same. That’s why this could be YOUR back pain too.
And this is how it goes…
Have you ever purchased something that came with a manual or user guide? Think about televisions, smartphones, kitchen gadgets, computers, power tools, cars, etc. How often did you read the manual versus jump right in and start using whatever you bought?
Many times, this turns out ok, especially if we’ve had an item like that before. Other times, things can go wrong, and we end up either breaking, ruining, or never properly utilizing what we bought. Sometimes reading the manual, although it takes some time, is the best way to optimize the experience.
How we started out in life can be like the scenario without a manual. Out we came, so much ability and function available to us, but no idea how to use it. Even the people around us probably had less idea of what to do with us than we would have wanted!
Fortunately, we had two guides.
One was our instinct and programming. We inherently knew some stuff without anyone telling us. It was natural to know when we were hungry and when we needed a hug. Of course we did not necessarily know not to touch that sharp object or hot flame. But we got by on trial and error, learning things along the way.
The other guide was our environment, especially the people around us. And this may have worked out in our favor but might have also been a pitfall. Being told not to run across the street or touch that flame may have saved us some grief, or maybe our lives. While being told not to hold our pen that way, not to speak unless spoken to, or not dress like that may not have seemed quite right.
More in line with the origin of YOUR back pain, you may have had some bumps and bruises along the way from all that learning. When we started to walk, we inevitably fell a bit. Then walking wasn’t good enough, we had to run, bicycle, skateboard, rollerblade, and drive. These too likely caused some accidents and injuries on our journey. A manual might have helped, but would we really have read it?
Back Pain and Sciatica are common chiropractic treatment conditions. Read about them here.
If we fell or had an incident, it could have caused macrotrauma. This would cause sprained joints, torn muscles, and heaven forbid broken bones here or there. Even if we didn’t fall or have an injury, the amount or way that we did what we did for fun, fitness, work, and life may have accumulated some microtrauma. Either way, this inevitably causes changes to our structure and function. (even sitting, either too much or the wrong way, can cause back pain…check out this previous blog article for more info)
This is where things get similar for most of us.
You might have danced, I might have done martial arts, they might have taken pottery and water painting. It’s challenging to get through life unscathed when it comes to use, overuse, misuse, or even abuse of our muscles, bones, joints, and other tissues. It all results in changes almost no matter what we do. The manual might have shed some light on this, but maybe not given that the lives we live in our similar bodies are in reality very different.
How much our health and function changes, how fast it changes, and how that feels or plays out in our lives is proportionate to the degree that all of it happened. Furthermore, it’s also affected by who we are as a person, our level of resilience, our constitution, our character, our habits or patterns, and our personality. But health and function does change. That’s life.
YOUR back pain is indeed yours and yours alone. No other back pain like it exists in anyone else due to the many variables that make it unique. It may feel like other back pains and be diagnosed as other back pains. Yet, like the differences between sons and daughters that come from the same family, each pain is also one-of-a-kind.
Spinal Manipulation like a chiropractic adjustment has been around for over 100 years.
Here’s a summary of that story that led to YOUR back pain:
“Through life, I’ve done some stuff. That stuff has affected, good and bad, how every part of me functions. My physical body sits and moves the way it does because of what I’ve put it through. I’ve enjoyed some of it, some of it was hard, and the rest was somewhere in between. Now, whether I’m in pain or not, there is a story there to tell. And here I am in the present day because of it.”
The great news is that YOUR back pain likely has a solution. That solution is less dependent on what the story is behind it than what story you’re going to write today, tomorrow, and for the future. The decisions, actions, and events in your history make you who you are today, back pain and other health factors included. The same decisions, actions, and events of today will guide you to a better tomorrow and beyond.
In the clinic, a person starts to get better not when they’ve been diagnosed or given a treatment for their back pain or other condition. They start to get better when they decide to get better. Quite often, that decision happened with a call to a chiropractic or neck and back pain clinic like ours. Then, the story starts to change.
Your story can change. YOUR back pain can change. Start today.
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Dr. David Koivuranta is a Toronto Chiropractor who practices chiropractic care in the Yonge and Davisville neighbourhood. He provides treatment for back pain, neck pain, headaches, and other related health conditions.
The Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic is a member of ChiroTrust and has taken The ChiroTrust Pledge:
“To the best of my ability, I agree to provide my patients convenient, affordable, and mainstream Chiropractic care. I will not use unnecessary long-term treatment plans and/or therapies.”
Same day appointments are available for neck pain treatment, back pain treatment, and headache treatment, as well as other health related concerns, problems, accidents, and injuries. Walk-ins are welcome during regular clinic hours. Visit torontoneckandbackpain.com to schedule or learn more.