Back Pain

Has back pain been restricting your daily activities, interfering with work, or compelling you to give up on your favorite activities? Have you tried everything to no avail? Are you looking to avoid surgery? Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT), the all-natural alternative to pain relief, may be the answer for you.

Studies have shown:

• OMT can be applied to patients who cannot be treated with pain medications.
• A large study population has responded well to OMT and has not shown relapse.
• OMT offers clinically relevant and statistically significant pain relief for chronic low back pain and reduces the need for rescue medication.
• OMT has been found to be safe and well-accepted by patients.
• The large scale positive outcome has made OMT an attractive first-line option for chronic low back pain of high severity, before opting for more invasive and costly therapies.
• OMT is effective in treating back pain and disability due to sciatica.
• OMT improved short-term spinal pain.
• OMT altered levels of back pain biomarkers.
• Pain medication plus OMT treated back pain better than either medication or OMT alone.

Back pain is a common medical complaint that most people face in some point in their life. Back pain or backache is the pain felt in the back that may originate from muscles, nerves, bones, joints or other structures in the spine. Back pain can be acute, lasting from a few days to a few weeks, or chronic, lasting for more than three months.

Symptoms
Some adjectives to describe back pain are: constant, sudden, intermittent, dull, sharp, or achy. It may be confined to one area or may radiate to other areas such as the arm and hand, leg or foot. Apart from pain, you may have weakness, numbness or tingling in your arms or legs.

Causes
Common causes of back pain include:

• Muscle or ligament strain/sprain
• Pregnancy
• Herniated discs
• Arthritis
• Skeletal irregularities
• Scoliosis
• Osteoporosis
• Infection such as pyelonephritis (kidney infection)

Diagnosis
Diagnosis is done by reviewing your medical history and performing a physical examination. A complete examination includes examination for signs of unusual curves of the spine, presence of a rib hump, tilted pelvis, tilting of the shoulders, and a test of your sensations. Other diagnostic tests, such as labs or imaging, may be needed to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment
Most back pain improves gradually over a couple of weeks, but persistent pain may require a myriad of different treatments. Treatment options include:

• Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT)
• Cold packs, heat packs or alternating both
• Anti-inflammatory medications/NSAIDs or Tylenol
• Sleeping with a pillow between the knees while lying on one side or placing the pillow under your knees when lying on your back may help relieve back pain.
• Specific exercises can be performed to strengthen your abdomen and back muscles.
• Homeopathic treatment
• Antibiotics for infection
• Surgery may be considered if all conservative treatment fails or in emergent situations.

For a list of articles supporting OMT, please click here.