Many of us spend a good portion of our workdays sitting at a desk. Too much sitting, of course, is not good for anyone. We are not meant to be sedentary creatures. And recent research has concluded that it’s important for anyone who needs to sit for extended periods of time to get up and walk around at least once every hour.
With support from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institute of Health, Gregory Hicks recently led a clinical trial with researchers at UD, Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh to test new ways of treating chronic low back pain in adults 60 to 85 years old. The study, called the Manual Therapy and Strengthening the Hip (MASH) Trial, is believed by the research team to be the first clinical trial to assess the efficacy of an intervention matched to an at-risk subgroup of older adults with chronic low back pain and coexisting hip pain and muscle weakness.
While your college student is home on break, you might want to have a discussion with her or him about the benefits of chiropractic treatment during the school year. After all, chiropractic treatment is not just for older adults with back problems. It’s beneficial for all people and college students are among those poised for benefit.
It’s not a comfort, of course, to know that millions of Americans are afflicted with lower back pain. Just know that if you are one of them, you’re not alone. As common as the problem is, there are steps you can take to minimize your exposure to the problem. Here are a few that are recommended by the American Chiropractic Association:
Exercise is generally beneficial for you, but there are right and wrong ways to go about it. You certainly don’t want to injure yourself while doing something that’s meant to benefit you. Here are a few things to consider:
The spine is divided into three areas: the cervical spine, which is, essentially, the neck; the thoracic spine, which is the upper back, and the lumbar spine, which is the lower back. The spinal cord runs through the individual vertebra — the bones that make up the spine — and nerves emanate between those bones to the various parts of the body, carrying signals from and to the brain.
A car accident or other serious trauma, like a fall, are likely causes of back pain. But the pain can develop from a variety of sources that are not quite so obvious. Here are a few of the conditions that can play a role in creating back pain:
Spinal stenosis: a narrowing of the space around the spinal cord. It’s a condition often caused by arthritis. In the narrowed chamber, pressure can build on the spinal cord.
The burden of spinal pain can be aggravated by the hazards of opioid analgesics, which are still widely prescribed for spinal pain despite evidence-based clinical guidelines that identify non-pharmacological therapies as the preferred first-line approach. Previous studies have found that chiropractic care is associated with decreased use of opioids, but have not focused on older Medicare beneficiaries, a vulnerable population with high rates of co-morbidity and polypharmacy.
“Chiropractic care and physical therapy are among the best options we have for treating low back pain, and can help reduce reliance on treating pain with opioids and other pain medications,” said Eric J. Roseen, DC, PHD, Director of the Program for Integrative Medicine and Health Disparities at Boston Medical Center. “Guidelines released during the study period went from recommending these approaches as second line treatment, after other treatments fail, to first line treatment to be used before traditional pain medications.
Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and a major driver of healthcare costs in the United States, according to the World Health organization. Over the last 20 years, recommended treatment of low back pain has shifted from use of pain medications including opioids to early use of nonpharmacologic treatments such as spinal manipulation and therapeutic exercise, which are commonly provided by chiropractors and physical therapists.