Low back pain is without a doubt the most common area that people injure. In fact, it is one of the top 5 reasons people go to the doctor in the United States. A recent study indicates that 80% of the U.S. population will have low back pain at some time in their lives. Let’s take a minute and look closer at low back pain.

The spine is made up of 26 vertebrae. You have 7 in your neck called the cervical spine. You have 12 in your mid-back with ribs attached called your thoracic spine. You have 5 in your low back called your lumbar spine and below that you have you tail bone made up of your sacrum and coccyx. The lumbar spine is the area that most people have difficulty with.

The lumbar spine can be thought of as the crossroads between your upper body and your low body. In general, it is supposed to be a very stable and strong part of your body. It is designed to be stable so that the rest of your body can move around it. The lumbar spine is not made to be a very mobile segment of your body. Most injuries that occur to the lumbar spine are due to excessive movement within the segments that are designed to be stable.

Excessive movement occurs at the lumbar spine from one of two reasons. First, the surrounding muscles aren’t strong enough to hold the lumbar spine stable. If the muscles aren’t strong enough then too much motion occurs at the lumbar segments. The second reason is the joints above and below are too stiff. Below the lumbar spine you have the hips which are suppose to be very mobile joints. Above the lumbar spine you have the mid back, shoulder blades and shoulders, which are again supposed to be very mobile joints. Injuries to the lumbar spine occur when these “mobile joints” get stuck or lose mobility over time. Now you’re asking your lumbar spine to pick up the slack, which usually doesn’t end well.

Find Back Pain Relief

A successful treatment plan for addressing back pain must include a thorough inspection of not only the back, but of the joints around it as well. Once the problems are found, a laser focused treatment plan can be put into place. We remove the guesswork in addressing what is putting unnecessary stress on your back.