The Most Common Causes Of Back Pain and How Osteopathy Helps

As an Osteopath treating patients within the Oxford and Abingdon area, I find that back pain is one of the most common health conditions people suffer. Understanding the cause of back pain is essential in finding the proper treatment. Here are some significant causes of back pain: Muscle injury. Injured muscles, ligaments, or tendons lead to spasms, strains, or sprains. In addition, vigorous work, bad posture, and prolonged sitting, among others, can stress your soft tissues, resulting in back pain.

Slipped or herniated disks

Twisting, pulling, lifting or bending leads to pressure on your disks. The pressure makes them slip or bulge. As disks in the lower spine bulge, they irritate the sciatic nerve, leading to sharp back pain.

Spinal stenosis

When degenerative changes occur, the body responds by laying down new bone within the joints. In addition, the ligaments thicken to offer better support. However, with time, the thickened ligaments reduce the space around your spinal cord, irritating the nerves. The irritation of the nerves causes back pain. 

Instability of the spine

When the joints and disks wear out, they do not offer the proper support to the spine, leading to increased vertebrae movement. In some instances, the increased vertebrae movement makes a bone slide forward, leading to back pain.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a condition that leads to tear and wear of the disc and facet joints; this leads to inflammation, instability and back pain.

Tumours

It's a scary thought but not as uncommon as you might think. Unfortunately, 1 in 2 of us are now affected by cancer. Spinal tumours usually begin in other areas of the body and metastasize to your spine, leading to pain. Autoimmune diseases and autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus and others also cause back pain.

How Osteopathy helps with back pain

Osteopathy is the best option that can help relieve back pain in an effective manner. This procedure involves treating and preventing the pain through massage, joint movement, stretching and mobilization. The musculoskeletal system is vital to overall well-being and health in this procedure. It is a non-invasive treatment that helps relieve back pain by reducing muscle tension, enhancing blood flow, boosting muscle elasticity and reducing stiffness in joints and muscles. Osteopathy involves the following procedures that help relieve the pain.

Massage

Massage helps restore your body's vitality. It uses traction where your feet, hands, and back are slightly lifted and pulled to reduce all the stress leading to the pain. 

Spinal manipulation

This procedure helps restore joint movement that might be causing pain in your back. The stress in your spine and other joints is also reduced, thus enhancing the pain relief process. 

Muscle energy technique (MET)

METs are techniques in which you use your muscles in a particular direction and from a specific position against a counterforce your osteopath applies.

Cranial osteopath

This bodywork addresses the bones of the spinal column and head. Your osteopath applies a therapeutic touch to reduce stress and pain.

Counterstrain technique

In this technique, you are moved from a specific position with restricted movement to a more comfortable position to help relieve the pain. 

If you live in Oxford or Abingdon and feel that niggling back pain is harming your day-to-day, get in touch with me to see how I can help.

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