Back Pain

It is estimated that over 100 million Americans suffer from some sort of back pain throughout the calendar year, which equates to over $600 billion per year in health care costs and lost productivity, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). 

In layman’s terms, that suggests that you have a 1 in 3 chance of suffering from back pain in the next year!

Here at Waldwick Family Chiropractic, we take pride in not only helping you alleviate back pain without the use of drugs or surgery, but to also educate you on how to prevent yourself from becoming a back pain statistic!

Patients who visit Waldwick Family Chiropractic for back pain usually complain of one or more of the following:

• Sciatica

• Pain or stiffness near the beltline

• Numbness and tingling into buttock or leg

• Pain when sitting or standing for too long

• Stiffness in the mid-back

• Back pain when bending forward

• Back pain when leaning backwards

• Pain between the shoulder blades

• Back pain associated with Arthritis

• Inability to walk or sit up straight due to back pain

Here are some common contributors to back pain:

• Improper lifting mechanics

• Tight Hip Flexors

• Poor posture

• Gym Injuries (most commonly squatting or deadlift injuries)

• Driving for long periods of time

• Too much sitting

• Car accidents and whiplash

• Sports injuries

• Arthritis

• Disc Injuries

• Pregnancy-related back pain

• complete spinal examination. 

After a thorough health history and consultation, you will undergo a detailed examination that helps us determine what exactly is causing your back pain. 

During the exam, one of our Waldwick Family Chiropractic team members will perform a range of motion examination, a neurologic examination, orthopedic examination, and a complete spinal examination. 

Is your back pain coming from a disc, a muscle, or a joint? These are the questions that our comprehensive examination process will help us answer. 

Once we have determined the root cause of your back pain and that you are a good candidate to receive chiropractic care, we will then assemble an individualized care plan that is designed to not only eliminate the pain and symptoms that you are presenting with but to also treat the root cause of your back pain. 

Individualized Chiropractic Care Plans

Our individualized care plans usually consist of a combination of the following:

• Consistent Chiropractic Care

• Passive Therapies (Electric Muscle Stim, Mechanical Traction, Therapeutic Ultrasound, etc.)

• Active Therapies (Muscle work, cupping, neuromuscular training, etc.)

• Homecare recommendations

• In-office and at-home exercises

Why Should I See a Chiropractor For Disc Related Back Pain?

One of the more common causes of back pain that we see in our office is the result of a disc injury.

The disc is much like a Jelly donut, a hard outer casing surrounding a jelly-filled center. There are 23 jelly donuts in your spine, and the jobs of each of these are to protect your spine against compressive forces (running, jumping, dancing, falling on your butt when you’ve had one too many, etc.).

Not many people realize that the disc (aka Intervertebral Disc) is actually a joint complex that exists in the spine. 

If the Intervertebral disc joint remains dysfunctional for a prolonged period of time there are three major injuries that we see, from least to most severe:

1. Disc Bulge: Excessive and repetitive unevenly distributed compressive forces (I’m looking at you sitters!) may cause the jelly to shift out of the center of the donut, causing the donut to become oblong, which may or may not cause irritation of the neighboring spinal nerves.

2. Disc Herniation: A prolonged bulge may cause the Jelly to begin to break through the donut, causing the jelly to leak out into the spinal canal. That jelly doesn’t get along with the spinal fluid very much, causing a chemical storm in your spinal canal usually resulting in you being bedridden for several days. NOT FUN!

3. Disc Rupture aka Prolapse: Uh oh, there’s no more Jelly in that donut! The body usually quickly follows with pretty significant degenerative changes.

Joints are designed to move, and just like everything else in the body, if it stops doing what it is designed to do, the body will shut it down. 

Through the adjustment, the job of your chiropractor is to make sure that all the joints in your spine, including the disc joint, maintain their optimal range of motion. 

This restores proper biomechanics to the disc, takes the pressure off of the nervous system, and helps slow the event of the degenerative process.

When Should I See a Chiropractor for My Back Pain?

If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, we recommend that you hop on our schedule: 

• Back stiffness lasting more than two days

• The need to constantly “crack” your back

• Sciatica

• Numbness & tingling into your arms

• If you’ve been in a car accident

• Pain when coughing or sneezing

• Hearing a “pop” while lifting heavy

• Trouble walking or sitting up straight due to back pain

What People are Saying about Waldwick Family Chiropractic 

You Don’t Have to Live with Back Pain

Schedule an appointment with one of our Waldwick Family Chiropractic wellness team members today.