Has Chronic Back Pain Taken Over Your Life?

San Francisco Chiropractor Comments:

We have been helping patients with severe chronic back pain for almost 20 years at Executive Express Chiropractic (formerly Front Street Chiropractic) in downtown San Francisco.

Chronic back pain is defined as back pain that has lasted for over 90 days.

The #1 predisposing factor to chronic back pain is a previous episode of back pain. When you consider that 85% of all Americans will have back pain at some point in their lives, it's a miracle everyone does not have chronic back pain.

Why does back pain become chronic and persist with one person and go away with someone else?

Well...that's a great question, for which there are many opinions. Since this is my blog, and I have 20 years experience treating thousands of patients with chronic back pain, I will give you mine.

I have noticed...and there are many exceptions...that in general, patients that live a healthier lifestyle, have a more normal body-weight, exercise frequently, eat right (especially a plant based diet), manage stress well, and have a stable family and work life...tend to recover quicker from back pain, and are less likely to develop chronic back pain.

Note: Smoking, drugs, or excessive drinking is a turbo-booster for chronic back pain. 

And...there is often times more to back pain than just the physical part (bone out of place, too much body-weight, etc). There is frequently an often overlooked mental component to chronic back pain...which is why we recommend visualization techniques, meditation, and yoga for our spinal decompression and chronic back pain patients.

Anyway, I believe health is a spontaneous occurrence when the conditions are right. When we eat right, exercise, get plenty of rest, maintain our spine, refrain from excessive drinking and drug use, and have a positive mental attitude, our body makes happy cells. Happy thoughts become happy molecules.

Health Update: Recent research suggests that people that sit all day but workout, are still at risk for chronic back pain and other health problems. Sitting all day also inceases the risk of heart attack. It seems we need to move around way more than we think. An hour a day at the gym 3x per week on the weights is not enough (great huh?).

So what can you do if you have chronic back pain that has taken over your life?

Well, at Executive Express Chiropractic we will first determine if there is a physical component to your back pain. Physical meaning a bone out of alignment putting pressure on a nerve. Is there a short leg? Is the pelvis rotated? Is there a herniated or bulging disc? Spinal degeneration? Do you have poor posture?

As part of our initial intake we will cover lifestyle "Red Flags" such as smoking, obesity, excessive alcohol or drug use, etc.

Physical, chemical, and mental stresses cause what chiropractors treat...Vertebral Subluxations.

Our San Francisco chiropractors will work to correct the subluxations with chiropractic and spinal decompression (if indicated) and teach you about what causes them with education about lifestyle choices.

If we can help you to adjust the factors that are responsible for creating the conditions of health, we can work together to break the chronic back pain cycle...which can be difficult at times. 

Chiropractic adjustments, Nonsurgical spinal decompression, Active Release Technique (ART), Deep Tissue Laser Therapy, Graston Method, Exercise, TLC, and Lifestyle Modification...That's our magic formula for chronic back pain.

Will it work for you?

We sure hope so...it's better then the alternative. Who knows...you might just get your life back.

Check out the Executive Express Chiropractic YouTube Channel to listen to what some of our patients have to say.

To find out if you are a candidate for chronic back pain treatment at Executive Express Chiropractic call 415-392-2225 or request an appointment online on our secure server.

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Comments

[Dr David Livingston]

Dr. Davis, your concept of the "why" people have chronic back pain is right-on target. Furthermore, your approach to not only fix it short term, but to offer lifestyle changes which will benefit your patients long term is quite remarkable.

[Dr. David Livingston]

Dr. Davis, I applaud not only our approach of treating the pain, but also getting to the cause AND educating the patient for long term relief.