Many people experience some degree of lower back pain at some point in their lives. The pain becomes chronic if it lasts longer or if the pain keeps getting worse. Even so, frequent bouts of back pain often bring frustration and discomfort, pushing you to seek treatment other than wishing it away. If surgery doesn't seem like a viable option to eliminate back pain, this piece will cover some non-surgical methods to treat your lower back pain.
1. Physical Therapy and Chiropractic Care
If you are looking for more natural ways to treat your back, you might want to try out physical therapy alongside chiropractic treatments. This therapy aims at realigning your spine and offsetting pressure or tension from the affected areas. Through treatments such as spinal manipulation, electrical nerve stimulation, and massage therapy, your chiropractor can help relieve discomfort and pain.
Physical therapy, on the other hand, aims to strengthen your core back muscles. If you have conditions such as scoliosis or sciatica, your physiotherapist will tailor certain exercises and stretches to improve your condition and offer back pain relief.
2. Injection Treatments
Pain management experts may recommend the use of injection-based treatments to treat lower back pain. They may include nerve ablations, corticosteroid shots, and nerve blocks that bar the nerves from sending pain signals to the brain. Although they work to relieve you from discomfort and pain, the effects are not long-lasting. You will need to combine the shots with other forms of treatment such as physical therapy or chiropractic care to enjoy lasting effects.
3. Dietary and Lifestyle Changes
In some cases, poor lifestyle and dietary habits are the key causes of your constant lower back pain trouble. For example, obesity puts immense pressure on the discs and spine, causing intense back pain. In this case, the answer to treating your back pain is at the palm of your hands. Therefore, consider changing your dietary habits to maintain a healthy weight that your spine can manage to carry comfortably. Chiropractors can offer nutritional guidance and recommend exercises to manage a healthy weight.
4. Psychological Treatment
Psychologists and psychiatrists have identified treatments that may help you train your mind to cope with pain, meditate, relax, and learn distraction skills. Psychological intervention can treat lower back pain by changing your mindset. Of course, you need additional treatments such as physical therapy, but progress requires a strong mind willing to pursue its goals.
Are you ready for this exciting journey? You have many choices to make when treating lower back pain before thinking about surgery. Contact a chiropractor to learn more about lower back pain treatments.
