Treatment for back pain

Causes

The leading cause of back pain is one-sided movements resulting in excessive tension in your muscles and fasciae. Several factors contribute to this tension:

• Prolonged sitting: Our modern, sedentary lifestyle often leads to weakened back muscles and increased pressure on the spine.
• Poor posture: Slouching or hunching over can strain your back muscles and spine.
• Lack of exercise: Weak core muscles can lead to inadequate support for your spine.
• Muscle imbalances: Overuse of certain muscles and underuse of others can create tension.
• Stress: Emotional tension can manifest as physical tightness in your back muscles.
• One-sided movements: Repetitive motions or favoring one side can create muscular imbalances.

These factors can lead to what we call “glued” or “matted” fasciae – the connective tissue surrounding your muscles. When these fasciae become rigid due to lack of varied movement, it can cause your back extensors to overwork, leading to increased pressure on your spine and intervertebral discs.

With this knowledge, you’re well-equipped to make positive changes that can significantly improve your back health and overall well-being.

How Awari Health Can Help

Good news! There are non-surgical, non-medicinal treatment options available. At Awari Health, we begin with an osteopressure treatment that often significantly reduces pain immediately by addressing the tension causing signal pain. This initial session serves as a litmus test – if it’s successful, it indicates that our targeted stretches can help long-term, and you’ll know right away if this therapy could work for you.

Our approach aims to rebalance muscular-fascial tensions, addressing root causes rather than just symptoms. Think of it like untangling a knotted necklace – we’re not just cutting away the knot, but carefully loosening each tangle. By doing so, we help you better understand and respond to your body’s signals, promoting long-term health and pain relief.

Additional Important Information

Understanding back pain goes beyond just muscles and bones. The “pain memory” theory suggests that pain can become an independent entity in the brain, persisting even after the original cause has been resolved. This concept has led to the idea of pain chronification, where pain is viewed as an illness in its own right. However, at Awari Health, we challenge this notion and focus instead on what we call “signal pain.”

Signal pain is your body’s warning system, designed to protect your spine from potential damage. It’s triggered when your body senses excessive pressure on your spine and intervertebral discs, often due to muscular imbalances. This differs from “overload pain,” which occurs when muscles are simply overworked, like the burning sensation you might feel after standing for a long time. Understanding this distinction is crucial for effective treatment.

The role of movement in back health cannot be overstated. Intercellular fluid plays a vital role in cell nutrition and waste removal. However, this fluid needs movement to flow effectively through the narrow passages between muscles and fascia. Without regular, varied movement, nutrient transport is impaired, and waste products can accumulate, potentially contributing to pain and dysfunction.

While most back pain is non-specific and can be addressed through targeted exercises and treatments, it’s important to be aware of certain “red flags” that require immediate medical attention. These include sensory disorders, paralysis, incontinence, fever and chills, or pain following severe trauma. If you experience any of these symptoms alongside your back pain, seek medical help promptly.

Conventional views often attribute radiating back pain to pinched nerves, particularly in cases of herniated discs or sciatica. However, our perspective challenges this idea. We believe that strained muscles and fasciae are often the real culprits behind most cases of back pain. This viewpoint explains why pain intensity often fluctuates and can sometimes disappear suddenly, even when structural issues (like disc protrusions) remain unchanged.

This understanding of back pain as primarily a muscular-fascial issue rather than a structural one has important implications for treatment. It suggests that many cases of back pain can be effectively addressed through targeted exercises and treatments that focus on releasing tension and restoring balance to the muscular-fascial system, rather than relying on surgical interventions or pain medications that may not address the root cause.

Conclusion

Your Achilles tendon might be giving you grief now, but don’t lose heart! Your body has an incredible capacity to heal when given the right support. Remember, healing is a journey, and Awari Health is here to guide you every step of the way. With the right approach, you can get back to doing what you love, pain-free. Your comeback story starts now!