AN A-Z OF LUMBAR OR PAIN AND LEG PAIN: BACKACHE
This can have many causes, the most common of which is a pelvic sprain, requiring ice. Another cause is an irritated (commonly termed pinched) nerve which causes spasms of the muscles and requires heat. Knowing the difference is the chiropractor’s work. The sooner you have your back adjusted the better.
If a child has backache, don’t ignore him/her when he suffers and complains. Too often the child is accused of attempting to gain attention. Injuries can occur easily when a healthy child is active and vigorous. A child who cries after a fall needs to have his back checked for a possible spinal strain.
Headaches are an indicator that a child needs his neck felt by an expert to identify if there is a problem. Other signs of spinal problems are changes to the usual patterns of sleeping and eating, or changes to a normal, happy personality. Ignoring these facts could be the beginning of troubles at school – fatigue and inattention.
When you child gets a ‘stitch’ while running, it means that there is an imbalance in the pelvis throwing the spine out of line, car that he/she has rib sprains that need adjusting. Why ruin their sporting career just for the sake of a spinal check up!
Check your child. Turn him/her away from you. Is the spine forming an exaggerated ‘S’ bend (scoliosis)? Turn sideways, is the stomach well forward in front of the shoulders (lordosis)? Good posture isn’t a matter of telling them to hold their shoulders back! Once the middle spine is adjusted, the child can’t slouch. Follow lap with a few specific exercises and the posture problem is solved.
Does your child stand on one leg all the time? This is another indicator of pelvic strain! Get this one fixed (often in one treatment), and many times it straightens a spinal scoliosis (curvature) immediately if it is not a congenital deformity.
These injuries are easily sustained in sport or at play. A heavy fall on the hip sprains the sacroiliac (pelvic) joint . . . not an easy one to fix unless you know what you’re doing! And who would, unless it is their profession? My son tells me it’s great to have a chiropractor in the house to fix him after soccer!
Bed rest certainly can be a good thing and the inflammation will usually settle in three days. Be warned, however. The uncorrected misalignment will remain until it is adjusted. This situation is an ‘accident waiting to happening’ — which it will, one day, perhaps when you bend over to pick up the soap.
Warning signs that a child needs a spinal adjustment include:
• Always tired, interested in nothing.
• One hip or shoulder is higher than the other.
• Shoulder blades flare out (catch them in their swimmers).
• Neck tilts (are the ears level?)
• One leg is apparently shorter than the other.
• Stands on one leg, with one knee bent constantly.
• Droopy shoulders.
• Constant sinus congestion.
• Skin conditions.
• One foot turns in and the other turns out.
• Joint aches through incorrect balance.
• Finds it difficult to stand (or sit) still.
• Growing pains.
• Clumsy or frequent falling.
• Noisy bones or ‘clicky’ joints.
• Nervousness. Insomnia.
• Headaches with neck pain.
• Backache after injury.
• Restless legs.
The first question asked when adults complain of an acute backache is ‘Are you icing it or heating it?’ They nearly always reply that they have been heating it all night and, although it feels more comfortable, they can’t walk! This is a classic situation and shows ignorance of back care.
Would you put your sprained ankle in a bucket of cold or hot water? The answer is obvious. The sprained pelvic joint, which is the one that takes the weight, needs to be iced – especially if there is leg pain.
The three classic moves for a sprain are:
1. Ice the injured joint.
2. Take the weight off it.
3. Support it with a bandage or elastic belt until the pain eases (if you have to walk around).
You won’t get into trouble, as you wait for help, if you apply these rules. Icing will ease the pain in about three hours and then you can walk to your chiropractor or osteopath. Heat is helpful when you have tight or cramped muscles: not when you are suffering from a sprain which has torn tissue, and is inflamed and swollen. Then the answer is ice, but be sure to first apply a little petroleum jelly on the spot to avoid chilling the skin.
Lying down (but not on a mattress that dips) takes the weight off the joint. Two or three days later the pain has decreased and healing is under way. When you get around to going to the toilet, a support belt allows you to get up and down easily. Just because the pain is easing, don’t think that you are out of trouble. You aren’t until the joint is adjusted and realigned.
Latest studies show that chiropractic is highly effective relative to cost and application in the management of chronic and severe back pain. The benefits of adjustment hold over a twelve-month and two-year follow up. Studies also show that back pain is the most rapidly increasing cause of disability, with work and play becoming more sedentary and intensifying stress.
A so-called ‘pinched’ or aggravated nerve is a different problem from a strain and this requires a quick direct adjustment.
Many orthodox X-rays are useless for us diagnostically, especially if taken in a lying position. The patient is left with pain and frustration when the report reads ‘no obvious injury’. Only standing X-rays show a soft tissue injury (one that involves muscles, ligaments and tendons), because they show the effect on the injury when gravity and body weight affect the joint.
X-rays do show if there is any pathology, such as arthritis, cancer or fractures. This is rarely the case in simple strains or sprains. But it is the reason that chiropractors like to X-ray a new case to eliminate these possibilities. Osteopaths don’t routinely X-ray unless it is called for by past history or needed for clinical diagnosis.
Adjustments which quickly fix back pain have given chiropractors and osteopaths an excellent reputation over the past fifty years.
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