What are your
symptoms?
Find out more about what might
be causing your symptoms
and how we can help.
Specialist chiropractic care in the centre of Monmouth.
All services are now also available in British Sign language.
Your symptoms.
Chiropractic is a regulated primary healthcare profession. Chiropractors are trained to diagnose, treat and can help with:
Why is my back
aching?
It's estimated that 80% of us will experience lower back pain at some point in our lives. Lower back pain is most commonly caused by irritation of the joints in your spine (your Facet joints), muscle strains or sprains and/or irritation of one or more of the nerves in the lower back. Very rarely, there is a more serious underlying condition that is causing the back pain. As Chiropractors, we are trained to spot these.
Why do our joints
get irritated?
There are several reasons that joints get irritated and can become pain producing. Some of the most common are:
Repetitive Movements
Doing something repetitively like lifting or twisting can
cause irritation over a period of time.
Poor Posture
We all aim for good posture however long periods sat at a desk, in a car or curled up on the sofa can also cause irritation and inflammation in the facet joints.
Falls & Trauma
Such as a road traffic accident, mountain bike fall, rugby tackle or a fall from a ladder can cause joints to become irritated.
Stress
Stress can exacerbate the issue and slow your bodies healing time by up to 30%. The tightness in your muscles during periods of stress can pull on the spine and leave you feeling achey and sore.
I think I have strained
a muscle.
There are several groups of muscles in your lower back that help you to bend, twist and move whilst protecting your spine. It is easy to pull a muscle and this can often feel initially like a sharp stabbing pain. Often, patients report that their back simply feels tight or that they have lost mobility. Muscle spasm and tightness is often a sign your body is protecting you from moving too much, often as a result of underlying dysfunction in the spine, hips or pelvis.
Sciatica.
The most common cause of Sciatica is a pinched nerve in your lower back. There are 5 nerves in your lower back that supply your legs, bowel and bladder. They form the sciatic nerve and travel down your leg to your foot. It is the largest nerve in the body which often makes it the most painful!
Sciatica can feel different for different people. Most commonly it feels like a sharp pain and is often accompained by numbness, pins and needles or tingling. It can also feel like a constant dull toothache type pain or a 'dead leg'.
Have I bulged
a disc?
The discs are the shock absorbers of our spine. They are made of strong interlinking fibres and despite the common phrase 'slipped disc' they are firmly fixed and cannot 'slip.' As we get older and as a result of a lifetime's work, the discs can dry out and small tears can form. This is common and many of us will have them and never know! However, for some people, the 'jam' that sits at the centre of the disc can move into these cracks and bulge at the edge of the disc, pressing on the nearby nerve. This is very painful, it often hurts to cough and sneeze and there is lots of muscle spasm. As Chiropractors we are trained to diagnose and treat sciatica and disc bulges.
Piriformis Syndrome.
The Piriformis muscle is a small muscle in your glutes (bum muscles) that helps you with actions such as lifting your leg in and out of the car. The sciatic nerve often pierces this muscle or lies very near to it. If the Piriformis muscle becomes very tight it can pinch the Sciatic nerve. Piriformis often becomes tight in runners or those sat down at a desk all day. This is often a fairly easy problem to fix with some Chiropractic care and stretching.
I am worried it might be
something else.
A mass lesion or infection in the spine - This is very rare and often accompanied by a distinct set of symptoms. Your Chiropractor or GP are well-trained to spot these signs.
