Back Pain

Back pain takes a toll on your life, draining your energy, preventing you from working, and keeping you away from the activities you love. Back pain also seldom improves with standard medical care, but you can get effective pain relief when you turn to Aaron Martin, DC, and the team at Iowa Chiropractic Clinic & Sports Injuries in Altoona, Ankeny, and Grimes, Iowa. Spinal manipulation and other common chiropractic techniques are recommended as the first line of treatment for back pain. Call the nearest office or request an appointment online to get back pain relief.

What causes back pain?

Acute lower back pain often occurs after a spine injury, when a muscle spasms, or when you develop a locked back. Chronic back pain may develop when acute pain lasts longer than several months. You can also end up with long-lasting pain from other causes.

Injuries caused by sports accidents and falls often lead to chronic back pain. Many people have ongoing back pain because their activities (jobs, hobbies, and athletics) require repetitive movements.

Spinal structures degenerate over the years, leading to painful conditions such as:

• Herniated discs
• Disc injuries
• Osteoarthritis (degenerative arthritis)
• Degenerative disc disease
• Spinal stenosis
• Bone spurs
• Slipped vertebrae (spondylolisthesis)

These conditions protrude into open spaces in the vertebrae, pressing against the nerves and causing neuropathy (damaged nerves).

What symptoms accompany back pain?

Each person experiences back pain differently, depending on the cause and their pain sensitivity. You may have a dull ache, burning, or sharp pain. The pain may come and go, be constant, or occur only when you move a certain way. Every type of back pain can be debilitating.

If you have a pinched spinal nerve, you may also experience pain and tingling that travels down your leg. A compressed sciatic nerve causes sudden, excruciating pain shooting down one leg, a problem commonly called sciatica.

How is back pain treated?

The team at Iowa Chiropractic Clinic & Sports Injuries creates customized treatment plans that safely and effectively provide spine pain relief. Your provider learns about your medical history and back pain, completes a physical exam, and may take digital X-rays, depending on what they discover during your exam.

Their advanced chiropractic techniques restore spinal alignment, remove pressure from nerves, and create a healing environment for spinal discs, muscles, and ligaments.

As experts in the Cox® Technic, the team uses an advanced table to stretch your spine slowly. This technique, spinal flexion-distraction, reduces pressure on discs and decompresses nerves by widening the spinal canal.

Your provider may also employ many other healing techniques, including:

• Manual spinal manipulation
• Multiwave Locked System® (MLS®) laser therapy
• Electrical muscle stimulation
• Trigger point therapy
• Ultrasound therapy
• Myofascial release
• Structured exercises
• Acupuncture

Iowa Chiropractic Clinic & Sports Injuries have helped patients of all ages overcome back pain and return to the activities they love. Call the office or use online booking to schedule an appointment today.