- If you’re having chronic pain in the lower back, you’re not alone. Nearly 80% of adults will experience at least one bout of debilitating spine pain in their life. In fact, it’s one of the most common reasons that people seek out a physician. Many of these cases can be linked to work-related injuries, an accident, injury, or muscle strain. However, it occurred, there may be some other issues that are related to this current bout of low back pain. These issues can be herniated discs, spinal stenosis, or degenerative disc disease to name a few.
- Oftentimes, patients report that they are unsure as to what might have caused this. It could be due to lifting something in an awkward manner, poor posture, and in some cases even picking up a pencil from the floor! We must keep in mind that this recent event of low back pain didn’t happen when you started feeling pain. Likely, it had been developing over time and you experienced the fabled “straw that broke the camel’s back.”
- This pain can manifest in a myriad of different ways. Some patients report the pain is a mild annoyance whereas others are debilitated. It can radiate down your leg or arm. In some cases, it can be sharp, dull, or even diffuse. Regardless of what caused the pain, the severity of the pain can be unrelated to the actual level of tissue damage. Without a thorough exam and diagnostic imaging, it can be difficult to pinpoint where the pain is coming from.
- The severity of lower back pain varies greatly. It can be a relatively short-lasting episode, or it can last significantly longer. Each case is unique and should be treated as such. However, there can be similarities in the cause of low-back pain. The spine is a complicated structure that has thousands of muscular, tendinous, and ligamentous attachments. This causes many cases to be mechanical in nature, meaning that the bout of pain is caused or exacerbated by a particular movement. Even easy tasks like sitting, standing, or walking can be almost impossible depending on the severity of the pain.
- If there is a biomechanical distortion present in the spine for a long period of time, it can lead to intervertebral disc degeneration. This occurs when the shock absorber between two vertebra loses integrity and begins to thin due a lack of fluid. A thinning disc reduces the cushion between vertebra causing expedited degeneration.
- Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression using the DRX-9000 has shown outcomes in the 90th percentile in clinical studies in the treatment of low back pain. Crossroads Brain & Spine is currently the only office in central Indiana utilizing the latest of this technology.
Testimonials
Dr Michael Lea and Lauryn are an incredible team. They have built this business together thoughtfully and with intention, and it shows in the excellence of care they provide. Dr Lea has provided me over 6 months of care to address my chronic health issues that I have been trying to resolve for over 10 years. I’ve seen countless physicians, PTs, chiropractors, etc – and lost faith in the possibility of ever really getting better (therefore, I follow through fairly poorly in what I was being offered). But after 6 months of consistent upper cervical care, the proof is in the pudding: my pre-treatment and post-treatment x-rays are drastically different. My skull, jaw, and pelvis are more aligned/level, my cervical and lumbar spine disc spaces have increased, and I’m putting more equal weight through my feet. I will be honest- even though I’m a medical professional myself and upper cervical care is evidence-based, I didn’t think it would work for me (mostly because nothing else ever has). But, I’m grateful for this improvement, and for the functional outcomes that are starting to bloom, like less headaches. I super appreciate Dr Lea’s model – let’s start with getting good data about your body (functional assessment, weight plates, x-rays, thermographic scan of your spine), decide if you even need upper cervical care – then start with frequent, consistent care, reassess after a period of time, and then decrease frequency, hopefully getting to a point where you need less and less care. I’ve been to so many doctors that just use me to fill their schedules- they provide a formulaic treatment and they never reassess to see if it’s working. Dr Lea and his team know what they’re doing. They’re bright, they’re person-centered, they’re kind, and they’re your kind of people. Trust me.
Johanna
