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Understanding Chiropractic and Low Back Injury. |
What
has happened to our otherwise healthy gardener to cause
a locked joint and injured low back muscles resulting
in spasm and pain? Explaining the reasons for even a
minor back strain can get complicated. To keep it simple,
we are going to say that the gardener overstretched
and injured her muscles during repetitive motions involving
stooping over to pick up weeks.
The
repetitive nature of her work caused the body to develop
protective muscle spasms to prevent further injury to
the spinal joint. This led to a fixated joint and continuation
of the patient's symptoms. Not unlike the previously
mentioned example of the wrist, the low back muscles
are pulling against a fixed joint that further aggravates
inflammation and the muscle injury.
Chiropractic
Solution: Return Motion to the Fixated Spinal Joint
The chiropractor has found low back strain with low
back subluxation diagnosed as a fixated or locked joint.
In chiropractic, the specific spinal joint that was
found to be fixated and the exact nature of that fixation
has been noted by the chiropractor as a listing of that
joint.
The
chiropractor's primary goal is to return motion to the
fixated low back joint. The chiropractor may apply ice
(i.e. ice pack) if the muscle inflammation is acute,
or use some type of physiotherapy instrument, or muscle
therapy to reduce muscle spasm. As long as the patient
is not too acute, and no contraindications are found
on examination, the chiropractor will turn to the central
and primary therapeutic tool of chiropractic -- the
chiropractic adjustment.
Chiropractic:
Adjusting or Manipulation of the Spine
Chiropractors use the terms adjusting and manipulation
almost interchangeably. The term adjusting is used more
commonly because it implies a specific correction to
the spine that distinguishes the chiropractic approach.
Chiropractors use a wide range of techniques that include
specific adjustments, general manipulation, low force
and non-force maneuvers, and an array of eclectic procedures
tailored to the individual patient.
The
Specific Adjustment
The
main chiropractic technique remains the specific adjustment
of a joint in the spine. Specific adjustment (also called
osseous adjustment) is the technique the chiropractor
will use to treat the amateur gardener's locked or fixated
joint. The adjustment will begin to return normal motion
to that joint.
Chiropractors
may talk about 'putting a bone back in place' to help
a patient understand the purpose of the adjustment.
However, spinal bones (vertebrae) do not go out of place.
The spine's architecture includes incredibly strong
sets of ligaments, tendons, and muscles governed by
an always attentive nervous system that works together
to hold the vertebrae in place.
Spinal
Ligaments
Therefore, the chiropractor is not putting a bone back
into place or cracking the spine. Instead, the purpose
of the spinal adjustment is to return motion to an abnormally
locked (fixated) spinal joint that causes bio mechanical
disturbance (i.e. pain).
The
adjustment begins with the patient (amateur gardener)
on her side. The chiropractor places the patient's low
back in a position dictated by the diagnostic findings
and slowly brings the low back muscles into a state
of resistance. Application of a specific and gentle
force will overcome the resistance and rapidly stretch
the tissue at the fixated joint.
Part 1: Chiropractic
Care
Part 2: Chiropractic
Diagnosis
Part 3: Understanding
Chiropractic
Part 4: Chiropractic
Spinal Adjustment
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