Low back pain is one of the most common conditions we treat at Harbour Medical Centers. Up to 80% of all people will suffer from low back pain at some point in their life, and it’s the number one cause of disability in the United States. Low back pain is so common because the lower back, the lumbar spine, absorbs the most stress throughout your lifetime.
It’s important to treat low back pain quickly because it can lead to degeneration down the road. We see many people in the office who may have gotten into an accident or had an injury in high school that they didn’t treat for 10 or 20 years, causing the effects to escalate over time, making them much more challenging to fix.
There’s a difference between acute and chronic low back pain. Acute pain means something traumatic has happened and you can pinpoint the cause of the pain, usually within the first 72 hours of an injury. Chronic pain means you’ve been dealing with this problem for more than three months; at that point, you may not even know what caused it in the first place.
Many things can create low back pain, such as muscle, ligament, joint, and disc problems. While each one of these individually can lead to low back pain, it’s important to find the root cause of the problem. In our office, we make sure we address all four of these potential problem areas by doing an exam to decide what’s actually causing the problem.
How Our Low Back Pain Care Plan Works
1. Tell Your Story
When you arrive at our brand new, state-of-the-art facility, you’ll be greeted by two of the friendliest faces you’ve ever met. They will assist you with a simple intake form and escort you to one of our comfortable and elegant consultation suites. Then, your very own case manager will sit and listen to your story and document your areas of discomfort and loss. After your consultation is complete, the case manager will introduce you to all of our medical providers, who will individually perform an appropriate exam based on their experience and specialty and then determine what other additional testing, such as X-ray, MRI, CT or Diagnostic Ultrasound will need to be performed. Once completed, we will schedule your follow-up visit, typically within 24-48 hours.
2. Team Meeting
Between your Day 1 and your Day 2 visit, the medical, therapy, and chiropractic teams go into action. We pull together the clinical and intake data, the X-ray imaging, and the orthopedic and neurological testing results and determine a multidisciplinary approach diagnosis, utilizing over 50 years of healthcare experience. This enables every treatment team member to have a say in your unique condition, diagnosis, and purpose for why you want to be healthier. We can then produce a comprehensive and specialized treatment plan that will help you get better faster, address the cause of your painful condition, and effectively stay healthy to enjoy a future quality of life.
3. Accelerated Recovery Program
Our comprehensive program is designed to restore your quality of life efficiently and effectively. We may employ a variety of modalities to accomplish this goal including but not limited to Regenerative Medicine, Lumbar and Cervical Spinal Decompression, Class 4 Laser Therapy, Radial Pressure Wave, Neurocure, NeuroMed, In-House Active Therapy, Spinal and Extremity Adjustments.
4. Quality & Quantity of Life
At Harbour Medical, our goal is to quickly remove your pain points, address and correct the underlying condition of those areas, and provide you with the simple tools to maintain, preserve, and protect the new and amazing level of function and well-being that translates into your ability to enjoy the moments that give your life purpose and joy.
How We Treat Low Back Pain in Stuart, FL
Comprehensive Consultation and Exam
Treating low back pain starts with a comprehensive history and consultation with a doctor who’s really going to listen to what’s been going on. One of the common issues we hear from patients who come into our office is that they feel like they haven’t been heard when they’ve spoken to other doctors. We make sure we get a complete history of what’s been happening.
The next step is a thorough, comprehensive exam where we administer diagnostic ultrasound, digital imaging, functional orthopedic, and neurological exams. Our goal with these exams is to find the root cause of the problem. Sometimes, pain is a symptom of the problem, not the root cause of the problem itself. Finding the root cause allows us to fix the situation permanently.
Specific Chiropractic Care in Stuart, FL
In our office, specific chiropractic care is one of the most important things we do for patients suffering from low back pain. Most spinal dysfunction is due to subluxation – where a single vertebra in the spine has either become misaligned or is not moving correctly with the vertebra above and below. When that happens, it irritates the nerves that come out between the vertebrae, leading to symptoms like pain down an arm or a leg, tight muscles, and even disc issues.
Our goal with specific chiropractic care is to take pressure off the nerves and restore proper function to your spine. After restoring proper nervous system function, many of the symptoms you may be suffering from will start to go away.
Spinal Decompression in Stuart, FL
Multiple structures can create lower back pain. One of the most important is the spinal disc – the cushion between the individual vertebrae. At Harbour Medical Centers, we use a technology called Spinal Decompression. This allows us to restore bulged discs – which can create low back pain and pain that radiates down the leg – to their proper place.
Spinal Decompression works by tractioning the lower back, opening up the disc space to create negative pressure inside the middle of the disc, and pulling the bulge away from the nerve. This is critical to relieving pain.
Decompression is a great short-term way to help with a bulging disc. In the long term, we make sure that we combine this with chiropractic adjustments and therapeutic exercises to help strengthen the core so that the problem doesn’t persist.
Custom Therapeutic Exercise Plan
Many low back pain cases are due to muscle weakness or imbalance, particularly in the core muscles. At Harbour Medical Centers, we have a functional fitness facility where our active therapy technician will customize a plan based on your functional assessment. In your exam, we’ll assess how you move, and we’ll create exercise plans that address those specific functional deficiencies. Not only will we be helping you in the office, but we’ll also give you a plan to do at home to restore function as quickly as possible.
Our deep tissue laser is one of the technologies we use to speed up the healing process. Laser allows us to reduce your pain, decrease inflammation, and speed up the healing process, sometimes by five times. Using photobiomodulation, the laser sends light down into the mitochondria – the cell’s energy producer – stimulating it to speed up the healing process at the cellular level. Many people wonder if it hurts, but most patients say it is gentle, warm, and soothing. Treatments usually take between five and 10 minutes.
Common Causes of Lower Back Pain in Stuart, FL
Bulged Lumbar Discs
The spinal disc is the shock absorber or cushion between individual vertebrae. They’re like jelly doughnuts. The fibers around the outside of the disc are like the doughnut, and the nucleus, which is a gelatinous material, is like the jelly of the doughnut.
Over time, the discs can wear down and dehydrate. When that happens, those fibers tear, especially if you have an injury, pick something up incorrectly, or get into an accident. If those fibers tear enough, the gelatinous nucleus takes the path of least resistance and moves toward the outside of the disc, creating a bulge. That bulge puts pressure on the nerves that travel through the spine, creating pain in your lower back that can also radiate down your leg.
Herniated Lumbar Discs
Like bulged discs, the outside fibers can begin to tear, and the nucleus can start moving toward the outside of the disc. If the fibers tear enough, the nucleus can break through the disc’s exterior and sit on a nerve ending. Herniated discs tend to create more intense leg pain than lower back pain. When the disc ruptures, that pressure in the lower back area but creates a lot of pain down into the leg because the nucleus is out of the disc and sitting on the nerve.
A natural way for the herniated disc to resolve itself is called fago se cytosis. Your body sees the nucleus as a foreign object, so it will inflame to help eat up that nucleus and reabsorb it. If that doesn’t work, it can create pain that is usually enough to cause people to start to look into surgery. We try to treat herniated discs naturally, but after a certain course of treatment, surgery may be the only option.
Degenerative Disc Disease
Degenerative Disc Disease is an age-related condition where the discs begin to break down. (Obesity, smoking, and work that is hard on the spine can also contribute to Degenerative Disc Disease.) Similar to bulging or herniated discs, as discs become dehydrated and break down, they lose their natural height. A fully hydrated disc creates enough space for the nerves to emerge from the spine and travel throughout the body. When the disc starts to shrink, the foramen – the holes that the nerves come out of – get smaller, compressing and irritating the nerves. This creates low back pain and potentially radiating pain. Unfortunately, with Degenerative Disc Disease, whatever damage is done can’t be reversed but can be slowed. This is why it’s so important to get treatment as soon as possible whenever you’re dealing with low back pain.
Muscle Strain
Muscle strains are the most common causes of low back pain. They tend to be dull and achy, and the pain is intensified with movement or putting yourself into certain positions. Usually, the pain stays localized in the lower back versus radiating into your legs or other areas. Muscle strains can be caused by sudden activity, repetitive motion, poor posture, or weak core muscles over time.
Muscle strains usually resolve in four to six weeks, but we want to address them early because they are often a symptom of a more significant root problem. This is why, at Harbour Medical Centers, we always try to attack the root cause of the problem versus just addressing the symptoms.
Spinal Stenosis
Spinal Stenosis puts pressure on the spinal cord itself, creating significant symptoms. Usually, people find that standing or walking can aggravate their pain and that resting, sitting down, or even bending forward can help relieve some of that pressure. Not only can it cause pain, but it can also cause weakness, numbness, or organ dysfunction – like your bladder or your bowel. Those are emergencies, and you need to contact a medical doctor immediately.
Facet Joint Dysfunction
Facet joints are at the back of the spine where each vertebra meets. There’s cartilage inside of those joints that, over time, can start to break down and become inflamed. People with facet joint dysfunction normally feel pain when they go into extension, meaning they lean back, or if they’re standing for long periods because that loads those joints.
Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction (SI Joint Pain)
The sacroiliac joint is where the sacrum – the triangle bone at the base of your spine – meets the pelvis. The SI joint absorbs the shock between the upper body, pelvis, and legs. This joint isn’t built to move a lot, and problems can be created by hypermobility, moving too much, or hypomobility, moving too little. SI joint dysfunction accounts for 15-30% of all low back pain cases. Causes of SI joint dysfunction are leg length discrepancies, pregnancy, giving birth, or repeatedly stressing the joints.
Subluxation
Subluxation is the dysfunction that chiropractors are looking for and that they treat. Subluxation is dysfunction in the spine, or misalignment of the spine, which creates pressure on the nerves. This nerve irritation results in symptoms like low back pain.
Specific chiropractic adjustments are the only solution to a subluxation. You can do all the stretches and exercises you want, but if a vertebra is stuck out of alignment or is not moving properly, you’ll continue to have issues until you get the motion back or correct the alignment.
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1411 SE Ocean Blvd, Stuart, FL 34996
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I be worried about low back pain?
You should be worried about low back pain as soon as you start to feel pain in your lower back. Low back pain is your body’s alarm system telling you something is wrong. Usually, pain is the last thing to show up and the first thing to leave, so we want to address it as soon as it starts so it doesn’t turn into more of a chronic issue.
What can I do to relieve my lower back pain in Stuart, FL?
We talked a lot about ways to relieve your lower back pain in the sections above, but the BEST THING you can do is reach out to our office or another professional to get an exam and find out what exactly is causing the lower back pain. The cause of the low back pain will determine what will help relieve it.
How do I know if my back pain is serious?
All back pain is serious. Any dysfunction in your spine is a problem. If ‘serious’ means a medical emergency, if you’re noticing any nerve issues – tingling, numbness, weakness, inability to control your bladder or your bowels – those are a step above just general low back pain. That would be something where you need to consult with a professional.
What Causes Low Back Pain?
There are many causes of low back pain. It could be acute, like an injury or an accident. It could be chronic or long-term, like improper body mechanics, poor posture, or weak core muscles. It’s essential to address not just what’s been going on in the last couple of days but also what’s been going on over the last few weeks, months, or years.
How should I sleep with lower back pain?
The best way to sleep is on your back with your spine in a neutral position, meaning that it’s not too arched and it’s not pushed forward more than it should be. Having a pillow that allows you to keep your neck in a neutral position, as well as using a pillow underneath your knees to take any pressure off your low back, even a small pillow in the small of your low back for support.
Sleeping on your side is the next best. You just want to make sure that your pillows aren’t pushing your head to one side more than the other. You want your spine in a neutral position. A pillow in between your knees will help keep your hips in alignment.
Sleeping on your stomach is the least ideal position for sleeping.
How do I tell if lower back pain is muscle or disc?
Typically, the lower back pain will be dull and achy with a muscle strain. It may diffuse over both sides of the lower back but mainly stays within the lumbar region.
With a disc issue, you not only have low back pain, but you also can have radiating pain into the buttocks, the hip, or even into the leg or the foot. Discs tend to have more nerve involvement than a pulled muscle or muscle strain. The best thing to do would be to get it examined by a doctor who specializes in determining the underlying cause of the problem.
How does a slipped disc feel?
How does a slipped disc feel?
A slipped disc is another way of saying a disc bulge. Depending on the severity of the nerve compression, the pain can run down into the foot or toes. You can tell if a disc is pushing hard against a nerve based on how far down the leg the pain travels. You also may feel more pain when you increase the pressure inside your body. So, holding your breath or sneezing can create more pressure inside your body and therefore more intense pain.
Why won’t my lower back pain go away?
The body is capable of self-healing in a lot of situations. If you have chronic low back pain, however, it can point to a bigger problem. It could be something that’s been there for years and has just never met the threshold of creating pain. It could be a new injury, or it could be something more serious. The only way to really know what’s going on is to seek professional care.
Can a chiropractor in Stuart, Florida, help with lower back pain?
ABSOLUTELY. Low back pain is the number one musculoskeletal condition we treat at Harbour Medical Centers. Chiropractors specialize in musculoskeletal pain, and it’s always best to try a natural approach before the traditional invasive medical route.
What is better for lower back pain, chiropractic or massage?
It depends on what is causing the lower back pain, but I always recommend going to a chiropractor first. They can assess whether the problem is related to your spine, muscles, or discs. If it’s just a muscle issue, then soft tissue and massage work will significantly help. If the tight muscle or the muscle spasm is a symptom of nerve pressure, it will not resolve until that stress is relieved. You may be able to get the muscle to relax or feel better in the short term, but if you don’t address the root cause, it will continue to come back.
How can you tell if your spine is out of alignment?
Chiropractors are trained to assess and correct the structure of the spine. If you have some type of spinal issue, muscle tightness, spasms, or nerve pain, there will usually be a subluxation or a spinal misalignment. But, like I said, the best thing to do would be to visit a chiropractor and have them do a comprehensive exam.
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