Most Common Causes of Neck and Back Pain and How Chiropractic Can Help

About 22 million Americans visit a chiropractor each year, most often to find relief for back and neck pain. These individuals know the benefits that chiropractic adjustments, manipulation, massage, and instrument care offer when it comes to back and neck pain.

As a chiropractor, Dr. Palamone helps your musculoskeletal structure come into proper alignment. When your spine is in balance, your body can better heal itself without surgery and without medications that have uncomfortable side effects and are potentially addictive.

Chiropractic can restore your joint mobility which frees up nerves to relieve your pain and heal dysfunction. Dr. Palamone shares how he addresses some of the most common causes of back and neck pain and helps you find relief.

Common causes of back pain

The back is the axis of the body. From the spine, nerves radiate to your extremities, and when the tangle of tendons, discs, bones, muscles, and ligaments are compromised, back pain results.

While numerous issues can arise in the back, some of the most common are due to trauma, such as falling, or poor posture.

Disc issues: Your discs are jelly doughnut-like structures that sit between the vertebrae of the spine. When these discs experience damage, the jelly insides spill out and irritate the surrounding nerves. Disc herniations and bulges lead to shooting and stabbing pain, particularly in the legs.

Misalignments in the vertebrae: The bones that make up the spinal column, called the vertebrae, can become misaligned due to physical stress, a toxic lifestyle, and trauma. These subluxations limit your movement and interfere with your everyday comfort.

Sprains and strains: Men and women commonly experience everyday strains and sprains in the back by lifting something a little too heavy or twisting beyond their normal range of motion. You may experience a sprain or strain during trauma too, such as in a car wreck or during a fall. You may have swelling and bruising as a result.

Common causes of neck pain

Neck pain often occurs as a result of injury and accidents. You’re probably familiar with whiplash, which happens when your head is whipped suddenly in one direction and then back. Your neck muscles and surrounding connective tissue can’t react fast enough to support the movement, resulting in pain and stiffness. Sometimes, whiplash causes injury to the cervical vertebrae, discs, and nerve roots.

Other common causes of neck pain can be structural (such as misalignments of the vertebrae or disc issues) or pain can be caused by your lifestyle.

Osteoarthritis: Osteoarthritis refers to the progressive deterioration of cartilage between the vertebral joints, which leads to pain.

Poor posture: When you don’t hold your head upright, such as while sitting at a computer or over a phone all day, your spinal balance gets disrupted.

Spine disease: Issues such as spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease can cause narrowing of the spinal canal or bulges in the cervical discs, both of which can cause neck pain.

How chiropractic helps

Chiropractic treatments don’t just try to mask your symptoms, they get to the root cause of your pain. Dr. Palamone uses hands-on spinal manipulation to help put your body back into better alignment, thus relieving pain, improving blood flow, and improving range of motion.

He can also give you recommendations for postural improvements and physical therapy exercises to improve your overall daily function to promote back health. When you implement his nutritional advice and supplement recommendations, they can help improve the health of your body, including your connective tissues and bones.

Dr. Palamone is available to help members of the Eldersburg, Maryland, community heal from back and neck pain. If you suffer from back or neck pain, don’t hesitate to call our office or schedule an appointment using this website.