What causes back pain and how can we fix it?
July 26, 2023
Lower back pain can be caused by many factors. Therefore, a comprehensive model that combines chiropractic, physical therapy, and neurology can often restore healthy function by addressing all components of pain, including inflammation, joint, muscle, disc, nerve, and brain involvement.
Addressing all structures involved in pain is essential for complete recovery. Chiropractic Neurology utilizes a comprehensive model that provides rehabilitation muscles, joints, nerves, discs, and brain when needed. Treatments may even involve hyperbaric oxygen therapy when chronic or slow healing due to comorbidities such as age, diabetes, cancer or other.
Why the need for a comprehensive model? Our body is an integration of a skeleton, muscle, brain and nerves, working together to provide movement and sensation. If any of those are injured, all are affected. Our goal is to locate the source of your problem, and provide treatment to restore propioception (feedback) to the brain. This heals all components of the injured lower back causing your pain. Restoring movement also helps us remove inflammation and swelling that irritate nerves that also contribute to pain.
Pain is a signal that our brain receives if there is not healthy movement within our joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. When there is proper movement of our joints and muscles, they send an inhibitory signal to our spinal cord that inhibits painful messages to our brain so that we don't perceive pain. This is known as the pain-gait theory. Healthy movement in our joints and muscles act as a gait to pain. This is why stiffness in our back and poor range of motion is often associated with pain.
To achieve healthy function and reduce pain, evaluating the body as a comprehensive stucture is often essential to reaching your goals. At Portland Chiropractic Neurology (PCN), we correct pain through a neuroplasticity model. Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of our brain and nervous system to change. The goal of care at PCN is to establish better communication throughout the brain and body by restoring all components of the problem to normal function. 
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