Injuries
Chiropractic Care for Accidents & Injuries
Back Pain
A muscle strain often causes lower back pain or a back injury. The erector spinae, or large paired muscles in the lower back that help keep your spine erect, can become inflamed and spasm. In more severe cases, the pain may be caused by a degenerative condition, such as arthritis, disc disease, or disc herniation.
A degenerative disc condition can sometimes cause a chain reaction of other events in your spine. When a disc is not in its proper place or is malformed from disease or some other condition, it can allow an additional undue pressure on other healthy structures, such as neighboring discs, nerves, muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons.
Leg Pain
Many kinds of leg pain can be traced to problems with the sciatic nerve. Sciatica pain occurs when one or more of the spinal nerves become compressed. A disc herniation is often the culprit. Other causes include spondylolisthesis, spinal stenosis, and arthritis. While the pain typically travels down, or radiates, along with the sciatic nerve, it is often felt in the lower buttocks, the back of the leg, and even the bottom of the foot. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, and a burning or prickling sensation.
It is essential that you seek medical attention if you experience these kinds of symptoms because long-term compression of the sciatic nerve can cause permanent damage. Also, untreated sciatica nerve damage can cause such problems as loss of bladder and bowel control.
Neck Pain
Your cervical spine connects your brain stem to your spinal cord. It is an area rich in blood vessels and other soft tissue, such as ligament and tendons. Neck pain is slightly less common than back pain but no less critical or treatable.
Common causes of neck pain include, but are not limited to:
- Cervical herniated disc
- Cervical stenosis, which is caused by a herniated disc or degenerative joint, can cause pain to radiate down the arm, and lead to shooting pain and coordination problems in the arms and legs
- Muscle strain degeneration of the facet joint cartilage
- Osteoarthritis of weight-bearing joints, such as hips and knees
